NCJ Number
101528
Journal
Journal of Applied Social Psychology Volume: 16 Issue: 3 Dated: (1986) Pages: 268-276
Date Published
1986
Length
9 pages
Annotation
Research involving 24 University of Virginia students who watched videotapes of a mock police interrogation support the argument that the camera's point of view may affect a judge's or jury's perception of a subject's confession as voluntary or coerced.
Abstract
The subjects were 13 males and 11 females recruited from University of Virginia summer school classes. Eight were randomly assigned to watch one of three videotapes of a mock interrogation in which a white male police officer questions a white female suspect and accuses her of shoplifting. She denies the charge, but ultimately confesses. In one videotape, the camera was focused primarily on the 'suspect,' in the second the camera focused on the 'detective,' and in third the camera focused on the 'suspect' and 'detective' equally. Subjects in the subject-focus condition judged that the confession was elicited with a small degree of coercion, subject in the equal-focus condition judged it was elicited by a moderate means of coercion, and subjects in the detective-focus condition judged it was elicited by a large degree of coercion. Tables and 11 references. (Author abstract modified)