db week -2 HYPOTHESIS

Annotated Bibliography

THE SCENARIO

Police Interrogations and False Confessions was the scenario chosen among the other four cases. It involves a teenager, 17 years of age who was accused of murdering his parents and the police officers used lies in order to have him accept to have done the crime. It is later found that a fellow business person to his father was responsible for the murder.

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Leo, R. A., & Liu, B. (2009). What do potential jurors know about police interrogation techniques and false confessions? Behavioural Sciences & the Law, 27(3), 381-399

The article clearly addresses the methods used in interrogating suspects in United States, which usually involve certain levels of persuasion and pressure. The article reports that police officers generally do this in order to achieve their goal, which is normally to ensure the custodial suspect agrees to be guilty of the crime in question. The study was conducted in order to understand the perception of jurors on the techniques used in interrogations by police officers. It was found that most interrogations by the police officers are psychologically coercive; even so the jurors stated that these techniques lead to true confessions in many cases. The jurors also added that having witnesses can be important in avoiding false confessions. Despite of the results shown in this research, this is never the case all the times. There are scenarios in which police interrogations may lead into people accepting crimes which they did not participate.

Kassin, S. M., Leo, R. A., Meissner, C. A., Richman, K. D., Colwell, L. H., Leach, A. M., & La Fon, D. (2007). Police interviewing and interrogation: A self-report survey of police practices and beliefs. Law and human behavior, 31(4), 381-400

Police interrogations are key in ensuring the correct evidence is obtained before a person tried in a court of law. This study was aimed at understating some of the beliefs and practices police officers use during the processes of interrogations and interviewing custodial suspects. Based on the study, it was found that the police officers believe that they are always 77% accurate in terms of truth and lies detection. The average length of interrogations was also found to be about 1.6 hours. 81% of the police officers felt that it was important for interrogations to be recorded. Different interrogation techniques were also found and they included, physical isolation of suspects, establishing a rapport, recognizing contradictions in suspects and confronting the suspects with solid evidence of their guilt. It is important to note that the article identifies the fact that police interrogations are never 100% accurate and therefore may have certain errors. Interrogating suspects beyond the averagely known time can also pose certain questions about the police.

Klaver, J. R., Lee, Z., & Rose, V. G. (2008). Effects of personality, interrogation techniques and plausibility are in an experimental false confession paradigm. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 13(1), 71-88

The study by the above authors was conducted in order to investigate the impacts of personality, interrogation techniques as well as plausibility in an unproven crime with experimentation of false confessions. From the results, it was found that 10% of the respondents agreed to the alleged crimes thus result into false confessions. Whenever the plausibility levels were increased, the respondents also fell into false confessions. In terms of gender, it was also observed that females were more likely to confess to the false allegations in comparison to the males. From this study, it is very evident that there are certain situations which may prompt individuals to confess to false allegations. Personality variables, the techniques used in carrying out interrogations as well as plausibility levels play a key role in prompting suspects to confessing falsely. To some level, this may not be ethically right and police officers should therefore have a deeper understanding of factors which may cause innocent suspects to confess falsely to allegations.

Garicano, L., & Heaton, P. (2010). Information technology, organization, and productivity in the public sector: Evidence from police departments. Journal of Labour Economics, 28(1), 167-201

Obtaining evidence has been one of the core functions of police officers especially when dealing with several criminal cases. Advancement in technology has seen the adoption of various communication technologies within the public sector. Police service has not been left behind and several information technology appliance and devices have been adopted when searching for evidence. The study conducted by the above authors was aimed at investigating the relationship between information technology, productivity and organization. It was found that information technology alone cannot effectively lead into reduced crime rates, clearance rate increase and other productivity measures. The study concluded that the use of IT among police officers leads into improved productivity when it is complimented with other management and organizational practices. Evidence search using information technology alone may therefore not be sufficiently enough to convict a suspect. Organizational and management practices must be included to ensure best evidences are found in criminal cases.

Smith, L. L., & Bull, R. (2014). Exploring the disclosure of forensic evidence in police interviews with suspects. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, 29(2), 81-86.

Evidence search has remained a key factor in criminal cases among the police. Many researches have majorly focused upon how deception can be detected when interrogating suspects. It is important to note that very little attention has been given to the types of evidence which feature in the different police interrogations with the suspects. The research in this study used a total of 398 experienced police officers from different countries. The questionnaire completed was all about the how the officers use the different types of forensic evidence when interviewing suspects. The results from this study clearly showed that most police officers have a wide range of forensic evidence available at their disposal; but the problem is that many of them do not have training on how to effectively utilize and interpret forensic evidence. This therefore shows how police officers may end up taking innocent people to courts due to failure of effectively interpreting forensic evidence.

Tyler, T. R. (2007). Procedural justice and the courts. Court Review, 44, 26-164

The author of this article shows several concerns of our court systems. He first of all identifies the critical role in which courts play in our society. There are different problems and disputes in which people undergo within a society. These problems may begin from homes to workplaces and the society in general. The court has therefore been placed as a neutral playground for solving disputes among people. The author identifies the level of trust in which people have in the court system. Trust in courts has drastically reduced in many regions of the world. Most of the court officials are usually appointed by the government and some of them will always rule cases based on what the government wants. The independence of the justice system has become an issue which has lowered the trust of citizens within the court system. The court should, however, be a neutral playground that should provide justice to all persons according to the law.

Bowers, J., & Robinson, P. H. (2012). Perceptions of fairness and justice: The shared aims & occasional conflicts of legitimacy and moral credibility

Fairness and justice within the courts is a major factor in which the justice system must always focus upon. The above study was conducted with an aim of understanding the perceptions or views of justice and fairness within the court systems. According to the author, there is need to establish the legitimacy of judicial systems based on the community that is being governed. This involves offering judgements, rulings and punishments based on the community principles. This article was looking at shared aims, occasional conflicts of legitimacy and moral credibility with respect to fairness and justice. The author concludes that moral credibility and legitimacy of the criminal justice systems are very crucial for fairness and justice. From this article, it is important to note that criminal justice systems ought to practice fairness and justice if the public is to gain trust in their activities. Judicial systems ought to show their neutrality when dealing with different cases among the public.

References

Bowers, J., & Robinson, P. H. (2012). Perceptions of fairness and justice: The shared aims & occasional conflicts of legitimacy and moral credibility

Garicano, L., & Heaton, P. (2010). Information technology, organization, and productivity in the public sector: Evidence from police departments. Journal of Labor Economics, 28(1), 167-201

Kassin, S. M., Leo, R. A., Meissner, C. A., Richman, K. D., Colwell, L. H., Leach, A. M., & La Fon, D. (2007). Police interviewing and interrogation: A self-report survey of police practices and beliefs. Law and human behavior, 31(4), 381-400

Klaver, J. R., Lee, Z., & Rose, V. G. (2008). Effects of personality, interrogation techniques and plausibility in an experimental false confession paradigm. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 13(1), 71-88

Leo, R. A., & Liu, B. (2009). What do potential jurors know about police interrogation techniques and false confessions? Behavioural Sciences & the Law, 27(3), 381-399

Smith, L. L., & Bull, R. (2014). Exploring the disclosure of forensic evidence in police interviews with suspects. Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology, 29(2), 81-86

Tyler, T. R. (2007). Procedural justice and the courts. Court Review, 44, 26-164.