Reid method

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The Reid method ( English Reid technique ) is an interrogation method for questioning people who are suspected of a crime . It was developed in 1948 by its namesake, John E. Reid, a Chicago police officer. The name Reid-Methode is a protected trademark of the company he founded, which still offers training in the method today.

method

The Reid Method, whose primary purpose is to obtain a confession , can be divided into three phases. In the first phase, a conduct analysis interview (BAI) is carried out with the suspect in a kind of preliminary survey. Using a standardized questionnaire, an attempt is made to provoke conspicuous physical and psychological reactions on the part of the suspect with harmless and so-called behavior-provoking questions, and these are then analyzed with another investigator for credibility or possible involvement in the crime. The behavior registered by Reid is categorized in terms of appearance, attitude, verbal and non-verbal behavior of truthfully telling and deceptive suspects, so that the suspect should be assessed on the basis of these criteria. On the one hand, this serves to decide whether the suspicion is to be maintained and passed over to phase two, or whether the suspicion is to be rejected first. On the other hand, the behavior analysis is used to determine psychological key points that can be strategically exploited for the survey in phase two.

In the second phase, the actual interrogation takes place, which is divided into nine stages:

  1. Direct confrontation with the act. It should be made clear to the suspect that the police have irrefutable evidence against him. He should now be given an early opportunity to explain himself.
  2. The suspect should be given the opportunity to assign responsibility for the act to a third person or to cite justifying circumstances. He should be given the opportunity to excuse or justify the act. The factual scenarios prepared by the officials for this purpose should also lead to the identification of the main culprit in a larger group of perpetrators.
  3. The suspect is to be prevented from denying his guilt. The theory behind it: The more often the suspect says: “ It wasn't me! “The more his resistance solidifies and the more difficult it is to obtain a confession.
  4. At this point, the suspect often tries to explain why he cannot be the culprit. This conversation should then, if possible, be directed towards a confession.
  5. Get attention to make the suspect receptive.
  6. The suspect is now quieter and ready to accept. The interrogator should now offer alternatives. If the suspect cries, an admission of guilt should be derived from it.
  7. Two alternatives to the course of action should be offered, one of which is less socially acceptable than the other. If the suspect admits the less burdensome alternative (" Yes, it's true, it was an accident, I didn't want to kill you ... "), a involvement in the crime is proven. At this point, however, participation in the crime is often denied.
  8. If the suspect makes a confession, he should be induced to repeat it in front of witnesses . The confession should be supported by confirmatory information about the facts.
  9. The confession should be recorded or recorded and signed by the suspect.

The third phase is used to record the confession in writing.

criticism

This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.
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The Reid method is viewed critically by defense lawyers and criminal law experts in Europe. It leads to a high rate of false confessions among suspects who, because of their personality, can do little to oppose police interrogation methods. For this reason, this method is prohibited in several European countries, especially when interviewing children and young people. In Germany, it violates § 136a StPO , as it works with deceptions and threats and disregards instruction obligations.

Application in Germany

Several German law enforcement agencies were trained in the Reid method. The Bavarian Ministry of the Interior tested this method in 1999 and introduced it to the criminal police after paid training by Reid company speakers. According to information, it was used in investigations into criminal cases (e.g. in the Peggy Knobloch case or in unsuccessful investigations into the Ceska series of murders ).

The PEACE model as an alternative

The PEACE model is an information-gathering interrogation technique used by police officers in the UK. PEACE is an acronym for “Preparation and Planning”, “Engage and Explain”, “Account, Clarification and Challenge”, “Closure” and “Evaluation”. In 1993 this interview technique was introduced as part of the national training session for British police officers and is now used in other countries such as New Zealand and Norway.

The PEACE model was developed on the basis of collaborative work between academics, lawyers, psychologists and police officers with the aim of reducing the risk of false confessions. In contrast to the Reid method, the focus here is not on obtaining a confession, but on open questioning, fairness, active listening and establishing the truth. Therefore, leading questions , psychological manipulation and extreme pressure are avoided in order to reduce the risk of false confessions and to obtain true statements. Special techniques to increase the willingness to confess - such as presenting false, non-existent evidence - are not provided.

The PEACE model assumes that the interviewer is well prepared with precise knowledge of the facts and sufficient information about the suspect. In addition, the entire interview process, both the interrogation of the accused and all preliminary and secondary discussions, must be electronically recorded in order to be able to better assess the influences of the interviewer and the accused's existing knowledge of the perpetrator and thus to make it easier to distinguish between true and false confessions. For particularly vulnerable suspects such as people under 17 years of age, it is provided that they may not be questioned without an accompanying adult.

Conclusion

In a laboratory study, it was shown that the inquisitorial PEACE method is clearly superior to the accusing Reid technique in terms of producing true confessions and minimizing false confessions. Further empirical studies also showed that the introduction of the PEACE model led to a reduction in problematic interrogation techniques.

literature

  • JE Reid: The Reid Method. Interview and interrogation strategies. John E. Reid & Associates, Chicago 1992.
  • JE Reid: The Reid systematic questioning and interrogation strategies. German manual for the method. John E. Reid & Associates, Chicago 1999.
  • Heiko Artkämper, Karsten Schilling: interrogations - tactics, psychology, law. 2nd Edition. Verlag Deutsche Polizeiliteratur, 2012, ISBN 978-3-8011-0665-2 . (1st edition, p. 85 ff.)
  • Andreas Geipel: Handbook of Evidence Assessment. 1st edition. ZAP-Verlag, 2008, ISBN 978-3-89655-418-5 , p. 946 ff.
  • Gisli H. Gudjonsson, John Pearse: Suspect Interviews and False Confessions. APS Association for Psychological Science, 2011.
  • Renate Volbert, Lennart May: False confessions in police interrogations - interrogation errors or immanent danger? In: Law and Psychiatry. Volume 34, No. 1, 2016, pp. 4–10.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ulf Steinert: Scriptum Vernehmungslehre, p. 30. (PDF) University of Applied Sciences of the Police of the State of Brandenburg, accessed on October 17, 2016 .
  2. ↑ Defense lawyers wiki
  3. ↑ The Peggy case . Interview ( Memento from June 7, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) with Christoph Lemmer on Telepolis
  4. ^ Colin Clarke, Rebecca Milne: National Evaluation of the PEACE Investigative Interviewing Course. ( Memento from May 17, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) In: Homeoffice.gov.uk , 2001 (English).
  5. ↑ A. Shawyer, B. Milne, R. Bull: Investigative interviewing in the UK. In: T. Williamson, B. Milne, R. Bull: International developments in investigative interviewing. Devon, pp. 24-38.
  6. ^ SM Kassin et al.: Police-induced confessions: Risk factors and recommendations. In: Law and Human Behavior. Volume 34, pp. 3-38.
  7. ↑ H. Pierpoint: Quickening the pace? The use of volunteers as appropriate adults in England and Wales. In: Policing & Society. Volume 18, 2008, No. 4, pp. 397-410.
  8. ↑ CA Meissner, MB Russano, FM Marche: The importance of a laboratory science for Improving the diagnostic value of confession evidence . In: GD Lassiter, CA Meissner (Ed.): Police interrogations and false confessions. American Psychological Association, Washington 2010, pp. 111-126 .
  9. ↑ C. Clarke, R. Milne: National evaluation of the PEACE investigative interviewing course . In: Police Research Award Scheme . PRAS / 149, 2001.