False Confessions
Cognitive Interview- goal is to collect as much accurate information about events as possible
Goals can change throughout interview from taking information to getting a confession from a now suspect
Confessions are most convincing piece of evidence the prosecution can present against a defendant
1997- Kassin and Neumann found presence of confession resulted in 73% conviction rate in a fictional trial involving mock jurors, eyewitness identification of suspect resulted in 59% conviction rate
Moston and colleagues in 1992 estimated between 39% and 48% of suspects make full confessions
Innocence Project 2008 study suggested almost 25% of cases involved some type of false confession
Why do people falsely confess?
Coerced compliant false confessions- confessions made due to custodial pressures, to escape or avoid aversive interrogation or to gain some promised reward
Coerced internalized false confession- innocent person comes to believe they committed a crime as a result of the interview or interrogation, memory of event may be changed in their head permanently
Interrogations
goal is to gain a confession
enhanced interrogation techniques- military detention camps
Nine-Step Approach- First confrontation to present evidence of the suspect's involvement in the crime, second is psychological theme development maximisation can be used to scare or intimidate them into confessing, third step interrupting all statements of denial aiming to end suspects repetition of their denial of guilt, step four overcoming objections to the charges guilty suspects will raise objections, step five retain suspects attention, six involves urging suspect to tell the truth by showing sympathy and understanding to them, seventh is about creating an opportunity to confess by providing an explanation or excuse for the crime asking questions such as- was this your idea or did someone talk you into it?, final two steps encourage suspect to recount the details of the crime as part of a confession and then convert it to a written statement
Activity
Watch 3 short excerpts of interviews with Shari, Neil, and Scott
In all there is no sound, pay attention to the non-verbal behavior
Then indicate whether or not you think they are telling the truth
Shari - Does not make a lot of direct eye contact, looks at hands, seems nervous, scared to tell her story, traumatized from event (she did find her friend in alley stabbed)
Neil- Eye contact, seems to be telling as he goes along, comes easily
Scott- Angry, tries to leave in beginning, settles down and gets to talking
Detecting Deception
When non-verbal and verbal messages do not match, non-verbal behavior is a better indicator of the truth because it is harder to control, automatic links between emotions and non-verbal behaviors
Emotional approach - being deceptive leads to guilt, fear or excitement which then causes higher blood pressure or increased heart rate then a non-verbal behavior is displayed
Cognitive approach (Burgoon)- being deceptive gives a large cognitive load, reducing overall movement slower speech and more pauses in speech
Attempted control approach (DePaulo)- will attempt to control behavior but because they are not practiced in being deceptive behavior will be off or seem rigid
Slower speech rate occurs when attempting to falsify information and create a story, less hand movement when being deceptive
difficult to stimulate high levels of motivation to get away with lie
Prisoners are best at detecting who is lying- based on experience
More experienced police officers were able to detect deception with an accuracy of 65%
The Polygraph
Machine that simultaneously records a number of physiological responses from sensors placed on the body, can be displayed on paper or a screen, output can show galvanic skin response (sweating, blood pressure, heart rate and respiration)
Been used in Canada, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Pakistan, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, and USA, some trials in UK
USA Polygraph Protection Act of 1988
Control questions- ask a relevant question about the crime, than a control still related but more general to make the suspect think
Innocent people will show more arousal for control questions but will be able to respond truthfully to the relevant ones while guilty will be opposite, should have a stronger physical response to the lie
Guilty knowledge test - if you have piece of evidence from crime scene show among other such a a knife, show line of knives one by one and ask if they have seen before, innocent person will say no to all but guilty may have hesitation before saying no to the one used to commit the crime and this will show up on test
Using Polygraph:
78% of guilty suspects classified correctly
69.7% correctly classified as innocent
15.5% incorrectly as guilty
9.7% incorrectly classified as innocent but are guilty
Cognitive Interview- goal is to collect as much accurate information about events as possible
Goals can change throughout interview from taking information to getting a confession from a now suspect
Confessions are most convincing piece of evidence the prosecution can present against a defendant
1997- Kassin and Neumann found presence of confession resulted in 73% conviction rate in a fictional trial involving mock jurors, eyewitness identification of suspect resulted in 59% conviction rate
Moston and colleagues in 1992 estimated between 39% and 48% of suspects make full confessions
Innocence Project 2008 study suggested almost 25% of cases involved some type of false confession
Why do people falsely confess?
- Pressure from police to have crime solved
- Length and nature of interrogation
- Anxiety, depression, fear
- delusional from trauma
- age - vulnerability
Coerced compliant false confessions- confessions made due to custodial pressures, to escape or avoid aversive interrogation or to gain some promised reward
Coerced internalized false confession- innocent person comes to believe they committed a crime as a result of the interview or interrogation, memory of event may be changed in their head permanently
Interrogations
goal is to gain a confession
enhanced interrogation techniques- military detention camps
Nine-Step Approach- First confrontation to present evidence of the suspect's involvement in the crime, second is psychological theme development maximisation can be used to scare or intimidate them into confessing, third step interrupting all statements of denial aiming to end suspects repetition of their denial of guilt, step four overcoming objections to the charges guilty suspects will raise objections, step five retain suspects attention, six involves urging suspect to tell the truth by showing sympathy and understanding to them, seventh is about creating an opportunity to confess by providing an explanation or excuse for the crime asking questions such as- was this your idea or did someone talk you into it?, final two steps encourage suspect to recount the details of the crime as part of a confession and then convert it to a written statement
Activity
Watch 3 short excerpts of interviews with Shari, Neil, and Scott
In all there is no sound, pay attention to the non-verbal behavior
Then indicate whether or not you think they are telling the truth
Shari - Does not make a lot of direct eye contact, looks at hands, seems nervous, scared to tell her story, traumatized from event (she did find her friend in alley stabbed)
Neil- Eye contact, seems to be telling as he goes along, comes easily
Scott- Angry, tries to leave in beginning, settles down and gets to talking
Detecting Deception
When non-verbal and verbal messages do not match, non-verbal behavior is a better indicator of the truth because it is harder to control, automatic links between emotions and non-verbal behaviors
Emotional approach - being deceptive leads to guilt, fear or excitement which then causes higher blood pressure or increased heart rate then a non-verbal behavior is displayed
Cognitive approach (Burgoon)- being deceptive gives a large cognitive load, reducing overall movement slower speech and more pauses in speech
Attempted control approach (DePaulo)- will attempt to control behavior but because they are not practiced in being deceptive behavior will be off or seem rigid
Slower speech rate occurs when attempting to falsify information and create a story, less hand movement when being deceptive
difficult to stimulate high levels of motivation to get away with lie
Prisoners are best at detecting who is lying- based on experience
More experienced police officers were able to detect deception with an accuracy of 65%
The Polygraph
Machine that simultaneously records a number of physiological responses from sensors placed on the body, can be displayed on paper or a screen, output can show galvanic skin response (sweating, blood pressure, heart rate and respiration)
Been used in Canada, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Pakistan, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, and USA, some trials in UK
USA Polygraph Protection Act of 1988
Control questions- ask a relevant question about the crime, than a control still related but more general to make the suspect think
Innocent people will show more arousal for control questions but will be able to respond truthfully to the relevant ones while guilty will be opposite, should have a stronger physical response to the lie
Guilty knowledge test - if you have piece of evidence from crime scene show among other such a a knife, show line of knives one by one and ask if they have seen before, innocent person will say no to all but guilty may have hesitation before saying no to the one used to commit the crime and this will show up on test
Using Polygraph:
78% of guilty suspects classified correctly
69.7% correctly classified as innocent
15.5% incorrectly as guilty
9.7% incorrectly classified as innocent but are guilty
Much better format!
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