by law enforcement in structuring interrogation.
Unfortunately, the Reid Technique is sometimes mis-
applied by law enforcement. Another problem is that
the underlying theories behind the Reid Technique
have not been empirically validated. The Reid
Technique also has the potential to produce false or
inaccurate confessions.Assumptions Underlying
the Reid Technique
The Reid Technique makes a distinction between an
interviewand an interrogation.These two terms are
often used interchangeably as if they refer to the same
process. An interview is ostensibly conducted when
an officer does not have a lot of evidence to implicate
the suspect. It is used to get evidence that may or may
not establish guilt. An interview is not accusatory and
may be conducted relatively early during a police
investigation. An interview can also be conducted in a
variety of environments (e.g., home, office, back of a
police car), not necessarily at a police station. The
interview can be free-flowing and relatively unstruc-
tured. The investigator should take written notes
throughout the entire interview process.
According to the Reid Technique, an interrogation
should be used only for suspects whom the police are
reasonably certain committed the offense. The tone of
the interrogation is accusatory because it is presumed
that guilty individuals are not likely to make incrimi-
nating statements unless law enforcement is certain of
their guilt. The interrogation involves actively per-
suading the suspect to admit his or her guilt. The inter-
rogation takes place in a controlled environment. The
officer does not take notes until the suspect has told
the truth about his or her involvement with the crime,
and the defendant is fully committed to that position.
The assumption behind interrogation procedures,
according to the Reid Technique, is that most criminal
suspects are reluctant to confess because they are
ashamed of what they have done. Also, they fear the
legal consequences associated with a confession. With
most interrogation practices, according to the Reid
Technique, it is believed that a certain amount of pres-
sure, deception, persuasion, and manipulation is
needed for the truth to be revealed. The U.S. Supreme
Court has recognized that all custodial interrogations
are, to a certain extent, inherently coercive because of
the power and control inherent in law enforcement.The Reid Technique assumes that guilty individu-
als experience greater nervousness than innocent indi-
viduals when questioned by law enforcement. It also
assumes that the anxiety of innocent people dimin-
ishes as the interrogation progresses, while the oppo-
site holds true for the guilty party. Both the innocent
individual and the guilty individual may display anger
directed toward law enforcement during the interroga-
tion. Guilty feigned anger and real innocent anger
look almost the same. Yet unlike the anger from the
innocent party, it is presumed that the guilty party has
difficulty maintaining that anger over time. There is
no research to support any of those suppositions.
The Reid Technique proposes three distinctly differ-
ent channels through which people communicate: the
verbal channel (word choice and arrangement of words
to send a message), the paralinguistic channel (charac-
teristics of speech falling outside the spoken word), and
the nonverbal channel (posture, arm and leg movements,
eye contact, and facial expressions). A behavioral analy-
sis approach is recommended by the Reid Technique to
help assess behaviors associated with telling the truth
and telling lies. Although mental health professionals
routinely observe many aspects of both verbal and non-
verbal behavior in assessing psychological functioning,
these specially trained professionals are not human lie
detectors and are unable to tell by a subject’s verbal or
nonverbal behavior (such as a defensive-type posture
while sitting) whether a particular statement is the truth
or a lie. Nevertheless, investigators using the Reid
Technique claim to be able to analyze verbal, paralin-
guistic, and nonverbal behavior to determine whether a
suspect is telling the truth. Critics argue that the tech-
nique is based on unfounded assumptions.
These assumptions have not been subject to scientific
scrutiny and may result in law enforcement personnel
making erroneous assumptions regarding a suspect’s
guilt, based on how that suspect sits in his or her seat,
the tone of voice the suspect uses, and how denials are
worded.The Nine-Step Process
The Reid Technique involves a nine-step process. The
first step, direct positive confrontation, involves
directly confronting the suspect with a statement that
it is known that he or she committed the crime. Often,
the police lie and describe nonexistent evidence that
points to the suspect as the offender.Reid Technique for Interrogations——— 679R-Cutler (Encyc)-45463.qxd 11/18/2007 12:43 PM Page 679