Criminal Interrogation And Confessions

Law Enforcement, Policing, & Security

Lead author Inbau has died since the 1986 third edition, but his colleagues, all with a Chicago law firm, provide yet another update of the reference first published in 1962, a year before the Miranda decision forced a quick second edition. They continue to explain the Reid Technique of interviewing and interrogation, first developed in the 1940s and 1950s, as it is currently used and understood. A new chapter discusses distinguishing between true and false confessions. The information could be helpful to lawyers and judges as well as investigators. c. Book News Inc.

Uses techniques from psychological science and legal theory to explore police interrogation in the United States Understanding Police Interrogation provides a single comprehensive source for understanding issues relating to police interrogation and confession. It sheds light on the range of factors that may influence the outcome of the interrogation of a suspect, which ones make it more likely that a person will confess, and which may also inadvertently lead to false confessions. There is a significant psychological component to police interrogations, as interrogators may try to build rapport with the suspect, or trick them into thinking there is evidence against them that does not exist. Also important is the extent to which the interrogator is convinced of the suspect’s guilt, a factor that has clear ramifications for today’s debates over treatment of black suspects and other people of color in the criminal justice system. The volume employs a totality of the circumstances approach, arguing that a number of integrated factors, such as the characteristics of the suspect, the characteristics of the interrogators, interrogation techniques and location, community perceptions of law enforcement, and expectations for jurors and judges, all contribute to the nature of interrogations and the outcomes and perceptions of the criminal justice system. The authors argue that by drawing on this approach we can better explain the likelihood of interrogation outcomes, including true and false confessions, and provide both scholars and practitioners with a greater understanding of best practices going forward.

The updated second edition of best-selling Essentials of the Reid Technique: Criminal Interrogation and Confessions teaches readers how to identify and interpret verbal and nonverbal behaviors of both deceptive and truthful people, and how to move toward obtaining solid confessions from guilty persons. The Reid Technique is built around basic psychological principles and presents interrogation as an easily understood nine-step process. Separated into two parts, What You Need to Know About Interrogation and Employing the Reid Nine Steps of Interrogation, this book will help readers understand the effective and proper way that a suspect should be interrogated and the safeguards that should be in place to ensure the integrity of the confession.

- Represents the latest advances of the role of psychological factors in inducing potentially unreliable self-incriminating behavior - Chapters are authored by a diverse group psychologists, criminologists, and legal scholars who have contributed significantly to the collective understanding of the pressures that insidiously operate when the goal of law enforcement is to elicit self-incriminating behavior from suspected criminals - Reviews and analyzes the extant literature in this area as well as discussing how this knowledge can be used to help bring about needed changes in the legal system

Essentials of the Reid Technique teaches readers how to spot and interpret verbal and nonverbal behaviors of both deceptive and truthful people, and how to move toward obtaining solid confessions from guilty persons. The Reid Technique is built around basic psychological principles and presents interrogation as an easily understood nine-step process. Separated into two parts: What You Need to Know About Interrogation and Employing the Reid Nine Steps of Interrogation, this book will help readers understand the effective and proper way that a suspect should be interrogated and the safeguards that should be in place to ensure the integrity of the confession.

Shuy provides specific advice in this book about how to conduct interrogations that will yield credible evidence. Other topics presented here include the analysis of how language is used and how constitutional rights are and are not protected.