Police Interrogation Methods
Contrary to what TV and movies portray, police interrogation techniques are subtle and cleverly deceptive. Everyone has heard of the "good cop, bad cop" routine, but in reality, this method is no longer used. The police now use a sequence of psychological manipulation and careful observation in hopes of gaining a confession from a suspect. However, it has been also known to illicit false confessions, and defense attorneys have gone as far as to call it "brainwashing." With this in mind, knowing some of the techniques police use could prevent you from being wrongly convicted.
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The Reid Technique
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The Reid Technique is named after polygraph expert John E. Reid. After lie detector tests were not allowed to be used as evidence, the police instead relied on their operators. Polygraphists noticed certain behaviors when a suspect was being deceptive during a test, and they decided to see if that happened in an interrogation room. Sure enough, Reid noticed the same reactions and his method of carefully observing the suspect's behavior is still applied with other methods to this day.
Kinesic Interviewing
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Kinesic interviewing is the next step of the Reid Technique. The police officer will ask the suspect about his hobbies or interests, then pretend to have something in common with him. Many interrogators will even wear the same brand of clothes as the suspect. The principle here is that people are more likely to talk to those who are like them. This also allows the interrogators to establish a "baseline," which shows them the suspect's body language when answering truthfully. Once they know this, it becomes easier to pick up signs of deception or discomfort during the interview.
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Neurolinguistic Interviewing
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Next comes neurolinguistic interviewing, which also relies heavily on body language, but it focuses strictly what is going on in the suspect's head. The entire purpose of this method is to see how a suspect reacts when remembering information as opposed to thinking or lying about an event. This is an ideal way to see if the suspect is simply remembering an honest alibi, or making one up. Universally, if a person is trying to remember something, he will turn his eyes in one direction, while his eyes will go the opposite way when inventing a story.
Theme Development
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Theme development, follows. However, in this case the officer does not give the suspect a chance to speak. The interrogator may say it is important for the person to listen, or some other way to deter responses. If the person being questioned gets too many chances to deny the charges, he will become more psychologically resistant. Any protests or statements made by the suspect will be turned against him. Another big objection to this is that it forces the individual to be silent, reducing the chance of him declaring his constitutional right to an attorney.
Criticism
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The Reid technique has come under a great deal of criticism over the years, because of its tendency to produce false confessions. The pressure, length and demoralizing nature of this process has resulted in cases like that of the Central Park Jogger case in 1989. Five men from New York were accused and falsely confessed to raping and killing a woman. Richard Ofshe, a U.S. expert on false confessions, says, "If you got the wrong person in the room, and you use those methods, it's going to be a punishing experience." In other words, the process can be so stressful on some people, that they may be willing to confess just to remove themselves from the situation.
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References
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