Criminal Psychology

1
Criminal Psychology

• Chapter 11 - part 1
• Interrogations and Confessions
• Talbot
• Kellogg Community College

2
The Importance of Confessions

• Confession
• Why so important?
• No other class of evidence is so profoundly
  prejudicial Triers of fact accord confessions
  such heavy weight in their determinations that
  the introduction of a confession makes the other
  aspects of a trial in court superfluous, and the
  real trial, for all practical purposes, occurs
  when the confession is obtained. (Colorado v.
  Connelly, 1986, p. 182).
• Supreme Court Justice William Brennan

3
The role of the Psychologist

• Evaluator
• Procedures used in police interrogations
• Educator
• Expert Witness
• Author of an amicus brief

4
Interrogations/ Interviews

• Definition ______________________________________
  ________________________
• The reality.
• Interrogation v. Interview

5
What is allowable in this process?

• Legally permissible interrogation tactics.
• The Goals of Law-enforcement.

6
Manipulative Tactics

• Minimization soft sell
• Maximization scare tactics
• Knowledge-Bluff
• Baiting questions
• Rapport Building emotional appeal

7
Tactics that are illegalPromises, Threats,
Lies?

• Physical or psychological coercion

8
The Question

• Does the suspect reasonably think he or she is in
  sufficient danger?
• Rule of Thumb
• Any promise referencing an escape from punishment
  or the mitigation of punishment invalidates a
  confession.
• This includes any indirect offering of doing what
  they can to help.

9
Why are not all deceitful tactics excluded?

• Justice Thurgood Marshall
• Martin E. Frazier decision (1969)