Review : Fifth Estate 's 40th Episode, The Interrogation Room

Many of today’s interrogation models being utilized in police investigations have an impact on false confessions. The model that has been in the public eye recently is the social psychological process model of interrogation known as the “The Reid Technique.” There are two alternatives used by the police today to replace the Reid Technique, one is the PEACE Model and the other is Cognitive Interviewing. These methods are not interrogation techniques like Reid but interview processes.

- - -, prod. “The Opposite of the Prosecution.” Episode #7. Serial. This American Life, 6 Nov. 2014. Web. 23 May 2016.

In the American criminal justice system wrongful convictions are not common; a study funded by the National Institute of Justice found that nationally 265 wrongful major crimes convictions occurred from 2004 to 2010, the yearly total of exonerations has remained relatively steady ranging from 35 to 54 per year (Irazola, Williamson, Stricker, & Niedzwiecki. 2013, p 20). Compared to the hundreds of thousands of major crimes convictions that take place every year this is a small number; however wrongful convictions do take place, and when they do the original victim of a crime does not receive adequate support. The victim is often racked by guilt over having contributed to the incarceration of an innocent person. One crime victim participated in the NIJ study, but whose identity was withheld, said “I was a mess. I was absolutely hysterical [and]

In 1989, five African and Hispanic-American boys, between the ages of 14 and 16, were “wilding” in New York City’s Central Park, unaware that the events of that evening would change their lives forever. That same evening a female jogger was found beaten, raped and left for dead. She had multiple fractures as well has her eye socket being crushed and having lost over three quarters of her blood. She survived the attack but was unable to recall any of the events of that evening. Within 48 hours of the attack the five African and Hispanic-American boys were arrested and charged with the crime based solely on the confessions obtained by the police. There was no physical evidence tying any of the boys to the crime. Four of the confessions were videotaped and were later used in court to incriminate the boys. The boys described the crime in gruesome detail and the role that each of them played in the crime. After the arrests, the boys all recanted their confessions, and said that the reason that they felt compelled to confess was because they were lead to believe that if they would confess they would be allowed to return home. Despite the lack of evidence and the fact that the boys recanted the confessions persuaded the police officers, the prosecutors of the case, the jurors, and the nation that the boys were guilty and led to their convictions and the boys were sentenced to prison. Thirteen years later a man named Matias Reyes came forward on his own volition and confessed to the

This particular study is captivating because it narrows down the causes of wrongful convictions of innocent people, whether it’s the interrogators applying inappropriate methods of the Reid Technique, such as misclassification, coercion, psychological manipulation, and contamination. (Orlando) “The Reid Technique of interrogation consists of essentially three steps. Custody and isolation (i.e., the suspect is detained and isolated, anxiety and uncertainty are generated in order to weaken resistance). Confrontation (i.e., the suspect 's guilt is assumed and he or she is confronted with alleged incriminating evidence that may or may not be genuine; denials are rejected, even if they happen to be true, and the consequence of continued denial is emphasized), and minimization (i.e., the interrogator tries to gain the suspect 's trust and provides face-saving excuses for the crime, including suggesting that it was an accident or that the victim deserved it) (…) During the interrogation the investigators use tactics of imbedding trust to lure detainees to comply and achieve a legal outcome which could lead to reducing longer sentencing if the detainee confesses. Also if there are multiple co-perpetrators investigators look to probe the detainee that someone has cast blame on the individual, so therefore they must engage with the police and own up to their part in the crime (Douglas & Rita). The Reid Technique not only is it used illegitimately but it placing innocent individuals

In 1961, a man named Clarence Earl Gideon went to court in order to try and prove his innocence. Gideon was charged with breaking and entering with the intent to commit a misdemeanor, which is a felony under Florida law. Gideon had to represent himself, for he had little money and not enough for a lawyer. He asked the judge if he could be appointed a lawyer to defend him, but the judge denied Gideon’s request on account that he wasn’t helplessly broke and he hadn’t committed a capital offense. But against the odds, he put effort into representing himself. But due to the lack of experience and tactics, he defended himself very poorly and he wasn’t able to win and he was sentenced to five years in prison.

This book exposes critical issues in our criminal justice system which was established to protect the innocent and punish the guilty in the failure of bringing a monster to face justice.

The documentary, Frame 394, shows that people often judge without knowing all the details. This is, after all, what Voshart, the people who watched the video and the audience had done. First of all, in the documentary even Daniel Voshart judged without knowing the details. At first Voshart thought the police officer was guilty and was enraged by what he did. He even stabilized the cell phone video and posted it on Reddit, but after a few weeks, he changed his opinion.

In the article, Kassin describes three types of false confessions: voluntary, compliant, and internalized. I believe that there are two types of false confessions present in the video, those being: compliant and internalized. I also think that the two types apply to both groups of young men. Compliant confessions take place when a suspect is anxious or nervous and is trying to escape a stressful situation and avoid punishment, I believe that this took place when after the boys were taken in and they were scared because they were only 14-year olds. I think that this situation is similar to the one discussed in the discussion post from last week, where all juveniles should have an adult present with them, preferably a lawyer. Internalized false confessions come from vulnerable suspects, which majority of juveniles are, and they confess because of highly suggestive interrogations.

Is the american justice system really that strong? 4,000 people a year are wrongly convicted and spend their lives in depressing and unbearable prison cells (National Geographic). With this horrible and sad evidence, it is a sure thing to say that America's justice system is frail and could use improvement. While there has been improvement from a long time ago, there is still so much that can be done to strengthen and improve our justice system. Throughout his play, 12 Angry Men, Reginald Rose exemplifies the common theme of the American justice system being frail.

A confession is one of the strongest forms of evidence that can be brought into a court of law. In the United States criminal justice system, prosecutors quickly and swiftly seek confessions as they are the most persuasive evidence to win cases. Interrogations are conducted by law enforcement officials in an effort to seek confessions and develop details about crimes.Communication is key to the art of interrogation. Detectives sometimes end up with false confessions from innocent suspects by using their expertise in psychological manipulation. One major technique of interrogation is known as the Reid Technique. The Reid method is a system of interviewing and interrogation that is widely used by police departments in the United States. The Reid Technique involves three components which include factual analysis, interviewing, and interrogation. Whether this verbal technique is effective or ineffective is a subjective and controversial matter. However, many people who oppose the Reid Technique would agree that this method can cause an innocent person to confess to wrong counts made against them. Is the Reid Technique the best solution? With concrete evidence, one can explore and come to an overall result of whether or not this questioning method has a major impact on the outcome of the confession, as well as searching for weaknesses in human nature and if these have any effect on the results of the interrogation and courtroom process.

There are instances when interrogations lead to wrongful conviction of innocent persons due to false confessions especially if the suspect is coerced to confess. All these problems can be inhibited by recording or videotaping the interrogation process when writing a case statement for a suspected offender. Videotaping the interrogation is one way to limit the interrogating personnel from using coercion which is usually the major cause of false confessions. The videotaping or recording is beneficial in ensuring that the written confessions are complete and accurate and can be verified if need be. The interrogators also benefit from videotaping since it reduces the workload of recording exclusive statements and instead, they are able to concentrate on the suspect. If any allegations arise or relevant information had

After reviewing cases pertaining to deceptive interrogation practices, I have concluded what is valid or justifiable is subjective depending on the totality of circumstances. For instance, in the People v. Adrian Thomas, the police interviewed Thomas for hours stating they would pick his wife up if he did not confess to injuring his son (Fox News, 2014). Furthermore, investigators told Thomas 67 times it was an accident, 14 times that he wouldn't be arrested, 8 times that he would be going home, and 21 times to explain how the child sustained their injuries because it was essential for the physician to save the child’s life even though investigators already knew the child sustained permanent brain damage (Fox News, 2014). Ultimately, the

The judge looked over the jury, then back at the defendant, a young man of about 20 years of age, and then at the prosecutor, a woman with spiky brown hair and black glasses. The trial had started two hours ago, with a recess one hour after it started. The recess lasted 10 minutes, and then started back up after people could gather their pieces of evidence. There had been so much evidence defending the young man, but in the end, the prosecution had enough to prove their point. The judge declared the young man guilty, and he was taken away. He screamed and struggled, but the guards removed him from the courtroom and delivered him to the prison.

One of the ways in which the Norfolk Four and Guilford Four cases can be most discernibly connected is through the use of coercive interrogation techniques by the detectives involved in obtaining confessions. While all eight of these individuals have now been fully pardoned, the long painful process of trials, prison, and clemency petitions became necessary due to false confessions that wrongfully convicted these innocent individuals. False confessions can be divided into three subcategories, two of which are relevant in the Norfolk Four and Guilford Four cases. In both cases, there are examples of coerced-compliant as well as coerced-internalized confessions (Hart, Roesch, & Zapf, 2010). It