Deception and Coercion in Police Interrogations

Investigation Versus Interrogation: Two Distinct Approaches

Police are taught that the stance taken in an investigation is "non-accusatory," while interrogation is "accusatory." Yet when a suspect is investigated through a formal interview, police are taught to take notes from the beginning, because "when faced with silence between each question and given time to think about his deceptive response, the deceptive subject experiences greater anxiety and is more likely to display behavior symptoms of deception." There is no corresponding description of responses for the innocent subject who is being questioned, except to note that "an innocent suspect may become confused or flustered when a rapid-fire approach is used" (Inbau, p. 7).

Interrogation is described from the outset as "accusatory." According to the authors of the standard police manual, "deceptive suspects are not likely to offer admissions against self-interest unless they are convinced that the investigator is certain of their guilt." The authors go on to describe how the officer is to convey absolute confidence in the suspect's guilt until the suspect loses confidence and becomes convinced that he or she has been found out. The process is described in detail: the preliminary tactic is that the investigator will "make statements, rather than ask questions." These tactics also dominate the conversation, because "for someone to be persuaded to tell the truth, that person must first be willing to listen to the investigator's statements." Note-taking is forbidden during an interrogation because it may inhibit the suspect's willingness to make statements against self-interest. However, "after the suspect has fully confessed... should written notes be made documenting the details of the confession" (Inbau, p. 9).

The bias built into this framework is striking. In the advice given to police interrogating suspects at the scene of a crime, the manual assumes guilt as a starting point. For example, when a suspect driving a stolen vehicle has been pulled over and waives his Miranda rights, the officer is deliberately advised to say: "We know you took this car. Did you take it just for a joy ride, or were you going to use it as a get-away car for a robbery?" (Inbau, p. 10). The framing of the question forecloses any presumption of innocence.

The Psychology of Confessions and Their Reliability

Richard Conti points out that confessions are powerful predictors of conviction. He argues that this is partly because the reason for a confession is usually attributed to internal motivation when it may actually stem from situational factors, such as coercion. He questions whether confessions can be considered authentic, noting that "police interrogations are conducted in secrecy and they are usually not recorded... law enforcement agencies do not keep records on the number of interrogations conducted and... it is difficult to establish what actually occurred to elicit a confession, especially if the confession resulted in a conviction" (Conti, p. 16).

Ralph Underwager and Hollida Wakefield have acknowledged that though a confession may solve more than 80% of cases, and that a non-voluntary confession is the most influential piece of evidence in a jury trial — usually elicited by subtle interrogation rather than physical coercion — judges still tend to exclude confessions where coercion is evident, because of the possibility that the confession is false. The deception, it appears, may lie with the police who are eliciting the confession. Judges have no reliable way of knowing whether coercion is blatant and direct or subtle and psychological (Underwager, para. A6).

The U.S. Army handbook on prisoner interrogation affirms that human intelligence — information gained from the interrogation of prisoners — "is the most valuable of all collection operations." It cites figures from 54 divisions and concludes that 43% of all intelligence produced in the European theater during World War II came from human intelligence, and 84% of that came from interrogation (Department, p. 3).

The Reid Technique and Coercive Interrogation Methods

In his book The Psychology of Interrogations and Confessions: A Handbook, Gudjonsson examines in detail the use by interrogators of acquiescence, compliance, and suggestibility. Police interrogation has been analyzed by psychologists and sociologists in numerous studies, and certain conclusions emerge consistently. First, interrogation is highly stressful, especially for the suspect. Many of the methods used by police to elicit confessions create a "wide range of behavioral and physiological disturbances" in the suspect, "including inability to discern reality" (Gudjonsson, p. 104). These include trance-like states in which truth and falsehood become confused and the suspect begins to comply with instructions and suggestions he or she would ordinarily reject. In this upsetting and highly stressful atmosphere, the ability to elicit a genuinely voluntary confession is undermined, and the true account of events may be lost (Underwager, para. B1–6).

As Gudjonsson states, the Reid method's "recommended tactics and techniques do involve trickery and deceit. It is an essential part of the Reid Technique" for breaking down the resistance of reluctant suspects and making them confess. He further notes that two of the authors of the police handbook believe trickery and deceit are not only justified but are "absolutely essential in discovering the facts." He decries the fact that, although they profess to disapprove of promises of leniency, force, and threats, their recommended techniques make use of exactly these tools (Gudjonsson, p. 10).

Additional coercive tactics described in the literature include overwhelming the suspect with negative evidence, using polygraph results to suggest the suspect has already been caught, and employing psychological manipulation — such as producing fabricated letters or arranging phone calls to "prove" to a suspect that a key witness has sanctioned a confession. These tactics are highly effective at producing confessions yet are fundamentally deceptive, and therefore undermine the truthfulness of whatever confession results.

The manual's bias is also evident in its treatment of crime victims. For instance, it offers the following advice when questioning a rape victim: "Where circumstances permit, the suggestion might be offered that the rape victim had acted like she might have been a prostitute and that the suspect had assumed she was a willing partner. In fact, the interrogator may even say that the police knew she had engaged in prostitution on other occasions..." (Inbau, p. 109). Even innocent victims, it appears, may come under harsh and manipulative questioning tactics.

Conclusion: Ethics and the Future of Law Enforcement

For law officials to feel it necessary to employ tactics and techniques that place them on a lower moral plane than ordinary, law-abiding, and ethical citizens is quite disheartening. When police state that they find it necessary to use force, deception, and threats, it is even more troubling to the general public, who expect their law enforcement officers to act in accordance with the very laws they are charged with upholding.

The evidence reviewed here — drawn from police training manuals, psychological research, military intelligence handbooks, and legal scholarship — points to a systemic reliance on deception at multiple stages of the criminal justice process: during interrogation, in the elicitation of confessions, and in courtroom testimony. While reform is possible, as Leo's historical analysis suggests, it will require explicit guidelines, greater transparency, and a genuine reckoning with the ethical costs of deceptive practices in law enforcement.

References

Barker, T. and Carter, D. (1990). Fluffing up the evidence and covering your ass: Some conceptual notes on police lying. Deviant Behavior, Vol. 11(1).

Conti, R.P. (1999). The psychology of false confessions. The Journal of Credibility Assessment and Witness Psychology, Vol. 2(1). Department of Psychology. Retrieved November 26, 2007.

Department of the Army. (2005). U.S. Army Intelligence and Interrogation Handbook: The Official Guide on Prisoner Interrogation. Guildford, CT: The Lyons Press.

Gudjonsson, G.H. (2003). The Psychology of Interrogation and Confessions: A Handbook. West Sussex, England: Wiley.

Inbau, F.R., Reid, J.E., Buckley, J.P., and Jayne, B.C. (2004). Criminal Interrogation and Confessions. New York: Jones & Bartlett Publishers.

Leo, R.A. (1992). From coercion to deception: The changing nature of police interrogation in America. Crime, Law and Social Change, Vol. 18(1–2).

Panzarella, R. (1987). Police deception tactics and public consent in the United States and Great Britain. Criminal Justice Policy Review, Vol. 2(2).

Underwager, R.C. and Wakefield, H. (1995). Seminar on child sexual abuse. Library Resources: Institute for Psychological Therapies. Retrieved November 26, 2007.