Forensic Psychology For Dummies (35 page)

Interviewing suspects

Questioning someone who’s suspected of a crime is rather different from interviewing a victim or witness. What they say may be used in evidence against them. (The more challenging matter of whether they may not be telling the truth is dealt with in the next chapter.) So the law in most countries tries to control how those interviews take place. One problem though is that police interrogators may have the belief that the purpose of their questioning is to gain a confession. This can lead to people admitting to crimes they have not committed.

Dealing with false confessions

Sometimes a person is guilty of confessing to committing a crime when he’s innocent. This strange situation can come about in a number of ways:

Through being drunk or on drugs at the time of the crime and so having no actual memory of what happened, and therefore being susceptible to suggestions.

Having a mental illness, such as schizophrenia, making it difficult for the person to distinguish fantasy from reality.

Someone with a learning disability not understanding enough of what’s happening.

Cultural differences in which what an authority figure says is accepted without question, causing a person from this culture to accept they have done what they’ve been told they’ve done.

A person who may be being threatened or coerced into making a confession.

Someone with a personality that’s susceptible to the influence of others, which is shown by recognised personality tests.

In the UK, police officers are trained in an interview procedure that emphasises that the point of questioning a suspect is to find the truth, not necessarily to get a confession.

Recognising the importance of improving police interview procedures, authorities in England and Wales have introduced the PEACE system, which draws on ideas from the cognitive interview. PEACE gives weight to what the police do before and after the interview as well as highlighting the importance of engaging with the respondent: building rapport and listening carefully. The aim is to encourage the interviewee to give an uninterrupted account in response to open questions of the kind, ‘Tell me what you remember’. PEACE is a mnemonic for:

P
reparation and Planning

E
ngage and explain purpose of interview and process

A
ccount – free recall

C
larify, challenge and conclude

E
valuate – new lines of inquiry?