Encyclopedia of Psychology and Law

Evaluation of Competence to Stand Trial–Revised

(ECST–R); Fitness Interview Test–Revised (FIT–R);

MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool for Criminal

Adjudication (MacCAT–CA)

Further Readings

Golding, S. L., Roesch, R., & Schreiber, J. (1984).

Assessment and conceptualization of competency to stand

trial: Preliminary data on the Interdisciplinary Fitness

Interview. Law and Human Behavior, 8(3–4), 321–334.

Roesch, R., Zapf, P., & Eaves, D. (2006). FIT–R: Fitness

Interview Test–Revised: A structured interview for

assessing competency to stand trial.Sarasota, FL:

Professional Resource Press/Professional Resource

Exchange.

Viljoen, J., Vincent, G., & Roesch, R. (2006). Assessing

adolescent defendants’ adjudicative competence: Interrater

reliability and factor structure of the Fitness Interview

Test–Revised. Criminal Justice and Behavior,

33,467–475.

Zapf, P. A., & Roesch, R. (2005). An investigation of the

construct of competence: A comparison of the FIT, the

MacCAT–CA, and the MacCAT–T. Law and Human

Behavior, 29(2), 229–252.

INTERROGATION OFSUSPECTS

The interrogation of those suspected of wrongdoing,

although of great importance to society, has not been

researched extensively compared with other crucial

topics in psychology and law. Effective interrogation

(and therefore the prosecution and possible convic-

tion) of guilty persons is of obvious and high rele-

vance to this encyclopedia, as is the successful

interviewing of those suspects who are, in fact, inno-

cent. A number of different approaches to interroga-

tion have been adopted in various countries around the

world. Some involve a pressurizing, dominating, and

possibly coercive approach; others involve a more

humane approach. Research on what really happens in

police interviews and on how interviewees view these

experiences forms the background for consideration

of the strengths and weaknesses of these respective

approaches.

In many countries, the interrogation of suspects has

had a strong focus on the obtaining of confessions.

Although this may be, in general, a useful approach,

some psychology-law scholars have emphasized that

false confessions do occur. Also, if the primary aim of

interrogation is seen as the obtaining of a confession

rather than an account from the suspect (which may

include a confession), then it may be difficult to be

sure that the confession is reliable. Psychological

research has been helping the police forces in some

countries to reassess how best to interview suspects.

The Reid Technique

In the United States (and many other countries),

extensive guidance on how to interrogate suspects has

largely come from a book (now in its fourth edition)

written by John Reid and colleagues. This book advo-

cates a two-phase approach. In the first phase, the

interviewer seeks to obtain relevant information from

the suspect. If during this phase the suspect does not

either confess/admit to the crime or provide sufficient

information to substantiate his or her innocence,

or appears to be lying, then the second phase

commences. During this phase, which is more of an

interrogation than an interview, the interviewer is rec-

ommended to use a variety of tactics (involving a

stepped approach) to get the (now presumed guilty)

suspect to confess.

A major criticism made by some psychologists

regarding this approach is that the symptoms/cues of

deception/truthfulness that it recommends to be used to

determine if suspects are lying have not been found to

be valid by the many published studies on cues to lying.

Indeed, recent research suggests that focusing on such

cues could impair lie/truth-detection performance.

What Really Happens

in Police Interviews?

Very few published studies exist regarding the actual

effectiveness of the two-step approach. A seminal

paper published in 1996 was based on 9 months of

fieldwork with a large police department in the United

States, during which the researcher sat in on more

than 100 interviews with suspects (and observed

another 60 that had been recorded on videotape). He

found that the police used many of the interrogation

tactics recommended in relevant publications. These

he categorized into positive incentives (which suggest

that the suspect will benefit/feel better if he or she

confesses) and negative incentives (which suggest that

the suspect confess because no alternative course of

Interrogation of Suspects——— 379

I-Cutler (Encyc)-45463.qxd 11/18/2007 12:43 PM Page 379