NCJ Number
144660
Journal
Policing and Society Volume: 3 Issue: 3 Dated: (1993) Pages: 223-237
Date Published
1993
Length
15 pages
Annotation
The authors discuss questioning techniques used in criminal investigations, emphasizing the need for officers to be trained in such techniques.
Abstract
British police officers have received little training in questioning suspects largely because of the notion that interviewing techniques cannot be taught but only learned through experience. Consequently, interviewers have been subject to little scrutiny, and considered "good" based on their ability to elicit confessions. However, with the advent of tape recording of interrogations, flaws in interviewing techniques could no longer be ignored. This development and the introduction of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act in 1984 have changed the way in which interrogations are conducted. Coercive tactics for gaining a confession have largely disappeared, but confrontational strategies have become more prominent. The authors describe these and other strategies that are used to gain information. A major problem is what to do if the suspect exercises his right to silence; 133 such cases were analyzed. Five distinct interviewer strategies for dealing with these suspects, in increasing degree of aggressiveness and the proportion of cases in which they were employed, are the following: avoidance (7.5 percent), downgrading (1.5 percent), persistence (38.3 percent), upgrading (39.1 percent), and rationalization (13.5 percent). 2 tables and 14 references