copyright © 2012 pearson canada inc.1 chapter 3 the psychology of police investigations 3-1

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Canada Inc. 1

Chapter 3

The Psychology of Police Investigations

3-1


Learning Objectives

• The Reid model of interrogation

• Potential problems with the Reid model

• Types of false confessions

• Studying false confessions

• Criminal profiling and its goals

• Types of profiling

• Potential problems with profiling

• Geographic profiling3-2


Police Investigations

• Police rely on witnesses, victims, and suspects to fill in details about crimes

– Who was involved, what happened, where and when did it happen, how did it happen, why did it happen

• Evidence is often collected through interrogations

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Police Interrogations

• In North America, there are generally two goals of a police interrogation (Kassin, 1997):

– Obtain a confession

– Gain information that will further the investigation (e.g., the location of evidence)

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The Coercive Nature of Interrogations

• History of coercive measures:

– Mid-1900s: Whipping suspects to get a confession

– 1980s: Stun guns used by the NYPD to extract confessions

– More recently: Psychological methods such as trickery and deceit (e.g., lying about evidence)

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The Reid Model of Interrogation

• The Reid model is a common interrogation method

• Involves 3 general stages:

– Gather evidence

– Conduct a non-accusatorial interview to assess deception (guilt)

– Conduct an accusatorial interrogation to obtain a confession

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The Nine Steps of Reid

• The third stage involves 9 steps to break down the suspect’s resistance to confessing

• Designed to make the anxiety associated with deception (i.e., by maintaining one’s innocence) greater than the anxiety associated with confessing

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Minimization and Maximization

• In general, interrogations techniques included in the Reid model can be broken down into two categories:

– Minimization techniques: Soft sell tactics that provide a sense of false security (e.g., justifying the crime)

– Maximization techniques: Scare tactics that attempt to intimidate suspects (e.g., making up evidence)

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Use of the Reid Model

• Despite the fact that Canadian police officers are trained to use the Reid model, actual interrogations do not always include Reid techniques

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Canadian Interrogations

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Reid Techniques Percentage

Appeal to suspect’s pride with flattery 57%

Play one suspect against the other 43%

Minimize the seriousness of the offence 36%

Sympathize with the suspect 25%

Suggest non-criminal intent for the crime 9%

Exaggerate the seriousness of the crime 0%

Source: King and Snook, 2009 (based on 44 interrogation tapes)


Potential Problems with the Reid Model

• There are a number of potential problems with the Reid model:

– Deception detection

– Comprehension of legal rights

– Investigator bias

– False confessions

• These problems have led some to propose changes (e.g., use of the PEACE model)

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Detecting Deception

• It is assumed that investigators can detect deception when moving from stage 2 to 3 of the Reid model

• Little research supports this assumption (Memon et al., 2003)

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Comprehension of Legal Rights

• It is assumed that safeguards (e.g., knowledge of legal rights) are in place to protect individuals being interrogated

• Research indicates that people often do not understand their legal rights (Eastwood & Snook, 2010)

• Comprehension can be improved if cautions are delivered in an appropriate format (e.g., written vs. verbal)

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Investigator Bias

• Officers enter the accusatorial phase of the interrogation with the belief that the suspect is guilty

• This can lead to biased perceptions and behaviours on the part of the interrogator and observers of the interrogation (e.g., jurors; Kassin et al., 2003)

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False Confessions

• Research suggests that the Reid model may also elicit false confessions

• A false confession occurs when an individual confesses to a crime they did not commit or exaggerates their involvement in a crime they did commit

• Must be distinguished from disputed and retracted confessions

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Types of False Confessions

• Three types of false confessions:

– Voluntary false confessions

– Coerced-compliant false confessions

– Coerced-internalized false confessions

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Voluntary False Confessions

• A voluntary false confession occurs without being prompted by the police

• Can be the result of a desire for notoriety, an inability to distinguish fact from fantasy, an attempt to protect the real offender, or a need to be punished (Gudjonsson, 1992)

• Example: The Lindbergh case

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Coerced-Compliant False Confessions

• A coerced-compliant false confession occurs in response to a desire to escape further interrogation or to gain a promised reward (Gudjonsson, 1992)

• The confessor knows that they did not commit the crime

• Example: Gerry Conlon and the IRA bombings

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Coerced-Internalized False Confessions

• A coerced-internalized false confession results from suggestive interrogations

• The confessor comes to believe they committed the crime

• People suffering from brain impairments, extreme anxiety, or confusion may be more susceptible (Gudjonsson, 1992)

• Example: The Paul Ingram case

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Studying False Confessions

• Laboratory studies are conducted in an attempt to understand the nature of false confessions

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False Confessions in the Lab

• The classic study is the computer key study by Kassin and Kiechel (1996)

– Participants accused of committing a mock “crime”

– Suspect’s vulnerability manipulated as was the presence of false evidence

– Percentage of false confessions recorded under various conditions

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Kassin and Kiechel (1996)

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No False Evidence

False Evidence

Slow Pace

Fast Pace

Slow Pace

Fast Pace

Compliance 35% 65% 89% 100%

Internalization 0% 12% 44% 65%

Confabulation 0% 0% 6% 35%

Source: Kassin & Kiechel, 1996


Criminal Profiling

• Criminal profiling is a technique for identifying the personality and behavioural features of an offender based on an analysis of the crimes they have committed

• Used in serial crime investigations, particularly homicide and rape

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The Goals of Profiling

• Criminal profiles are used for a variety of purposes:

– To prioritize suspects

– To develop new lines of enquiry

– To flush out offenders

– To determine risk

– To provide interrogation advice

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Types of Profiling

• In general, there are two approaches to criminal profiling:

– Deductive profiling: Profiling an offender from evidence relating to that offender’s crimes

– Inductive profiling: Profiling an offender from what is known about other offenders who have committed similar (solved) crimes

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Organized-Disorganized Model

• The most widely known inductive profiling approach is the organized-disorganized model developed by the FBI (Hazelwood & Douglas, 1980)

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Assumptions of the Organized-Disorganized Model

• Crime scenes can be categorized as organized (methodical) or disorganized (chaotic)

• Background characteristics can be categorized as organized (high functioning) or disorganized (low functioning)

• Organized crimes are committed by organized offenders and disorganized crimes by disorganized offenders

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Copyright © 2012 Pearson Canada Inc. 283-28

Organized Behaviours Disorganized Behaviours

Restraints used on victim No restraints used on victim

Use of vehicle in the crime No vehicle used

Little evidence at scene Evidence left at scene

Organized Characteristics Disorganized Characteristics

High intelligence Low intelligence

Skilled occupation Unskilled occupation

Maintains residence Does not maintain residence

Source: Ressler et al., 1986


Problems with the Organized-Disorganized Model

• Little research has examined the model, but that which has raises doubts as to its validity (Canter et al., 2004)

• Cannot account for offenders who display a mixture of organized and disorganized features (Douglas et al., 1992)

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Potential Problems with Profiling

• Criminal profiling is often criticized on the following grounds:

– It lack a strong theoretical base

– Profiles are too ambiguous to be useful

– Professional profilers are not accurate

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Theoretical Base

• Many forms of profiling are based on a model of personality that lacks strong empirical support – the classic trait model (Alison et al., 2002)

• The model incorrectly assumes that internal traits (e.g., an organized predisposition) are the sole determinant of behaviour and it disregards situational influences

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Ambiguous Profiles

• Profiles often contain ambiguous predictions (e.g., the offender will be a “social misfit”) (Alison et al., 2003)

• Such advice can be interpreted to fit a wide range of individuals and thus, cannot be used to prioritize suspects (Alison et al., 2003)

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Accuracy of Profilers

• Despite their claims, professional profilers do not always produce profiles (under laboratory conditions) that are more accurate than profiles produced by non-professionals (Kocsis et al., 2000)

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Geographic Profiling

• Geographic profiling involves an analysis of crime scene locations in order to determine the most probable area of offender residence

• Assumes that offenders do not travel long distances from home to commit the majority of their crimes

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Geographic Profiling Systems

• Geographic profiling systems rely on mathematical models of spatial behaviour

• Assign probability values to locations surrounding linked crimes

• Probabilities correspond to the likelihood that the offender resides in those areas

• Geographic profiling systems can be quite accurate (Rossmo, 2000)

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copyright © 2012 pearson canada inc.1 chapter 3 the psychology of police investigations 3-1

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