Interviewing witnesses

Interviewing eyewitnesses Victim and non victim eyewitnessesChild witnesses Cognitive interviews

Interview techniques This week we will focus on interviewing

witnesses Next week on suspects However be aware of that some techniques may be

applicable to both Witnesses perceived to produce central leads in

police investigations( Kebbell & Milne, 1998) Interviewing central to police investigations Critical component- ability of officer to

obtain accurate and detailed information Issues - does this always happen?

Eyewitness testimony Tendency for eyewitness testimony to be

incomplete, reconstructed, unreliable and malleable

Police procedures shown to affect responses

Eg line up style etc Feedback both positive and negative

Also how witnesses interviewed about the event crucial in affecting responses

Misinformation effectsMisinformation effect Leading or biased questioning Even slight changes of wording can affect response Eg Loftus and Palmer 1974 car crash studies Been replicated in numerous studies ( see Ceci &

Bruck, 1993) Once we believe in a memory whether true of false Becomes difficult to change ( Brainerd & Poole,

1997) Source monitoring errors Remembering information but not where it was acquired Whether real or acquired forgotten Crombag el al 1996 – Amsterdam plane crash Numerous reports helped form a strong visual image in

memory

Misinformation effectsUnconscious transference Seeing something in one context and

transferring it to another If been shown mugshot of suspect (or seen in

media reports) When faced with suspect in line up may

recognise them but not remember where from Suggested to increase mistaken identity by 10%

(Deffenbacher & Loftus, 1982) Brown et al (1977) Witnesses most readily identified suspect in

ID parade when seen at event and in mugshot However also as ready to identify when only

seen in mugshot not incident

Issues Police relatively reluctant to accept advice from

psychologists Canteen culture (Mitchell & Monroe, 1996)-

Prevents change

Meet training needs from within Eg 1981 Human Awareness Training introduced to

London Met. .for new recruits Significant departure – traditionally training

focused on rote learning of law and police powers However within few years name changed to Policing

Skills – firmly removing any psychological input Implying essential skills could be taught by

those inside the organisation

Interviewing styles However significant developments have been made in

linking psychological research with interviewing techniques –

Particularly in relation to interviewing witnesses Traditionally police training focused on

interviewing of suspects Since 1993 a course (National Package on

Investigative Interview Training) has been used to train police officers

Two techniques devised by psychologists are core to the course:

The cognitive interview and conversation management

Interviewing stylesBefore exploring these techniques it is worth

looking at studies of interview technique of police with no training

Little knowledge about way in which police interview witnesses

Two studies of real interviews Fisher, Geiselman and Raymond (1987) – USA George (1991) – UK closed questions forced choice questions leading questions misleading questions

Interviews – No training Experienced detectives – started with free

narrative but interrupted after average 7.5 seconds.

Interruptions common – witness begins to shorten responses.

Followed by many short answer (closed) questions E.g what colour were his eyes – as opposed to

tell me about his eyes Frequent use of leading/misleading questions Interviewees passive. George (1991) – UK similar findings – many closed

and leading questions, open questions infrequent

Issues Preventing free narrative by interruption

reduces amount of valuable information gained

Substantial amount information gained at this stage ( Stone & Deluca, 1980)

Reduces responses for rest interview Less likely to make deep attempts at

retrieval

Issues Forced choice questions in typical

interview Fisher et al (1987) found 3 open ended and 26 short answer questions

Swift manner of delivery – allowing only 1 sec between response – again does not allow for recollection

Passivity of interviewee Interviewer in control creates structure

of interview Interviewee not encouraged to give account

in own way – may miss details which are relevant

Example witness suggestibility Wells & Loftus (2001) cite case of misidentification of Thomas

Brewster 1984 male and female friends parked in remote area of California Car drove by 3 times then bullet shot through window killing

male Killer then forced female from car and sexually assaulted her She worked with artist to develop sketch killer Local resident became suspect as he bore likeness to sketch Shown photo line up week later but did not make positive

identification Next day same result from real line up No arrest 4 years later shown photo line up No positive identification 11 years later 1995 2 new detectives assigned to case She identified Brewster from photos they showed her And also

from live line up New DNA evidence exonerated Brewster before decision made

So what happened? Thought photo looked familiar Was not reminded she had

previously seen suspect in mugshots and line-ups Questioned about where she knew him with closed response

questions Then asked if he could be ‘guy who shot Terry’ She said he looked familiar She was asked to indicate this on

statement form She asked what they wanted her to say Told her body language had suggested she thought it was suspect ‘.. You became flushed Why did you do that?’ ‘I don’t know well immediately in my mind , you know, in my mind thinks is that the

person you know kind of …’ ‘That’s the answer I’m looking for could that be the guy who did all this?’ ‘Yeah’ Goes on to suggest that what she says in statement must

corroborate identification 6 days later she made an absolutely positive identification

Other reasons which may affect eyewitness interviews Eyewitnesses in particular those personally

involved Suppressing information Eg because the memory

is too painful

Embarrassment discussing event eg those sexually abused

Linguistic ability / learning difficulties High cognitive demands of interview Compliance

Current focus Increasingly more attention has been paid to

interview techniques used with witnesses Previously more focus on interviewing suspects

In particular the issues relating to interviewing victims

Who may have been highly traumatised by the event

And in particular issues relating to child witnesses

in cases of a sexual nature Many forces now adopted cognitive techniques

Cognitive Interview techniques

Basic Cognitive Interview Developed by Fisher and Geiselman in

1980’s. Derived from cognitive psychology

Later developed Enhanced Cognitive Interview

Emphasis on memory and communication Not only must witnesses be able to retrieve

information from memory They must also be able (and allowed) to communicate this in words (ECI)

Basic Cognitive interview Process of guided retrieval Aim to avoid cognitive overload Enhance retrieval Techniques build on psychological

principles suggested to aid recall

Report everything instruction Mental Reinstatement of Context Recall in a Variety of Temporal Orders Change Perspectives

Basic cognitive interviewReport everything instruction

Witnesses may assume police already know a lot about event

May think some aspects irrelevant Also affected by social considerations Past experience of being interviewed Being asked to report everything thus

elicits more information

Basic cognitive interviewMental Reinstatement of Context

Memory of an event will be affected by the context

Eg mood of eyewitness what they were doing at the time – where they were going etc

May all affect the memory trace

Asked to put themselves back into event Aspects of environment serve as contextual cues Asked to remember smells what they heard etc as

well as what was seen

Basic cognitive interviewRecall in a Variety of Temporal Orders

Reliving the event in different orders We tend to tell a story in chronological order Recalling something in a different order creates

new retrieval path in memory May help to recall information previously

glossed over Geiselman & Callot (1990) found recall of

correct information improved when witnesses asked to recall once from beginning and once backwards

As opposed to twice from the beginning

Basic cognitive interviewChange Perspectives

Suggested our recall egocentric Affected by beliefs etc Recall from another witnesses perspective Danger with this witness may suggest what

they think should have been seen

The Enhanced Cognitive Interview (ECI)

Fisher and Geiselman (1992) – similar principles to CI

Offers more guidance about overall structure of interview -noted police techniques relating to ordering of questions haphazard

Recognises social context. Good interviewing is about memory and communication

Use supportive style Interviewer role is as facilitator – Interviewee in dominant position Contrast to traditional techniques where police

officer assumes control and asserts authority


Interview should be in stages with sub-goals at beginning, middle and end

Seven phases: Greet and Rapport Explain Aims Initiate Free Report Questioning Varied Retrieval/Extensive Retrieval Summary Closure


Greet and Rapport

Establish good rapport with witness Encourage active participation If witness is anxious some time should be

spent on relaxation techniques Issues – time consuming Explain Aims Taking into account potential issues any

lack of understanding on part of witness etc


Focused concentration

Need for witness to concentrate hard and recall more and more detail

Eg sensory representations – smell of culprit what they said how said etc

Detailed account of clothing facial features etc

Also need to feel they have unlimited time to recall


Initiate Free Report

Encourage participant to recall in own words and time without interruption

Questioning

Sensitive questioning particularly important for victims

Supportive / non judgemental – so reduce chance of suppression


Varied Retrieval/Extensive Retrieval

Going back over event many times Using methods in basic interview Context reinstatement varying perspectives

Summary Giving witness chance to hear whole

statement Closure

Evaluation CI

Studies tend to show a large increase in the information elicited from witnesses

George (1991) – 55% increase above standard interview

Geiselman (1984) – 35% increase

Importantly studies also suggest there is no increase in the amount of inaccurate information

Evaluation ECI Up to 75% more information than the standard

interview and 45% more than just CI in lab studies

Also effective in real police interviews – ECI produces 63% more information and corroborative evidence indicates no increase in erroneous information

Effective with adults, children, elderly and people with learning difficulties

Evaluation cognitive interview Only works with cooperative witnesses Time consuming It also requires flexibility and skill

by the interviewer – not easy to train Many training programmes are ‘in house’ –

not led by psychologists.

Methodological problem – what is a ‘standard interview’?

Children as Witnesses Cognitive interview techniques suggested

to be most effective with children Particularly in child abuse cases

Attempts to elicit clues via other methods

Eg playing with dolls, drawing Use of projective tests etc Open to errors of interpretation from

interviewer

References Brown, E. Deffenbacher, K. A. 7 Sturgill, W. (1977)

Memories for faces and the circumstances of the encounter, Journal of Applied Psychology, 62: 311-318

Deffenbacher, K. A. & Loftus, E.F. (1982) Do juries share a common understanding concerning eyewitness behaviour? Law and Human Behaviour, 6: 15-30

Memon, Vrij and Bull (1998). Psychology and the Law: Truthfulness, Accuracy and Credibility. McGraw Hill

McGuire, J Mason, T. & O’Kane, A. (Eds) (2000) Behaviour, Crime and Legal Processes, Chichester, John Wiley & Sons

Milne and Bull (1999). Investigative Interviewing: Psychology and Practice. London, Wiley.

Hollins, C.R. (1989) Psychology and crime: An introduction to criminological psychology, London, Routledge.

.

ReferencesMemon, Vrij and Bull (2003). Psychology and Law (2nd

Edition). WileyMilne, R & Bull, R (1999) Investigative Interviewing:

Psychology and Practice, Chichester, John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

http://eyewitness.utep.edu the homepage of the Eyewitness Identification Research Laboratory, University of Texas. Good for information and some practical exercises on line ups.

http://www.psychology.iastate.edu/faculty/gwells/homepage.htm Prof. Gary Wells homepage. Access to many of his articles, news items and to video footage of eyewitness identification

http://eyewitness.utep.edu/

Interviewing witnesses

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