Educing Information: Interrogation - National Intelligence University

• Many criminal investigations can only be solved by obtaining a
confession.
• Unless offenders are caught in the commission of a crime they will
ordinarily not give a confession unless they are interrogated over
an extended period of time in private, using persuasive techniques
comprising trickery, deceit and psychological manipulation.
• To break down resistance, interrogators will need to employ techniques
that normally would be seen as unethical by the public.
Given these assumptions, Gudjonsson notes that the technique is broadly
based on two processes: 165
1. Breaking down denials and resistance, and
2. Increasing the suspect’s desire to confess.
More specifically, the Reid Technique employs two main psychological
strategies throughout its nine steps of interrogation: maximization and
minimization. 166 Maximization involves frightening suspects into a confession by
exaggerating the strength of evidence against them and the seriousness of the
offense. 167 Minimization, in contrast, involves tricking suspects into a false sense
of security and thus into confessing by offering sympathy, providing face-saving
excuses, partly blaming the victim or circumstances for the alleged offense, and
minimizing the seriousness of the charges. 168
Gudjonsson argues that the techniques advocated by Inbau and his colleagues
are practically and ethically problematic because they are inherently coercive
insofar as they communicate implicit threats and promises to suspects. 169
Although it is outside the purview of this paper, we note that Gudjonsson’s main
criticism of the Reid Technique and its underlying psychological model is that
their coercive nature yields a far greater proportion of false confessions than is
tolerable. This criticism and concern over false confessions has been echoed by
other psychologists and experts in interrogations and confessions. 170
The authors of the Reid Technique counter that the criticisms are better aimed
at actual law enforcement practice and misuse of the technique. According to
the John E. Reid and Associates official website, “the goal of the interrogation
process is to develop the truth. It is not a process designed to obtain a confession
by any means from any suspect.” 171 The authors assert that by following the
165
Id.
166
Id., p. 21.
167
Id.
168
Id.
169
Id.
170
For further criticism of the Reid Technique, see R. Leo and R.J. Ofshe, “The Consequences of
False Confessions: Deprivation of Liberty and Miscarriages of Justice in the Age of Psychological
Interrogation,” Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 88, no. 2 (1998), 429-496.
171
John E. Reid and Associates, Defending the Reid Technique of Interrogation, at http://www.reid.
com/educational_info/critictechniquedefend.html, accessed 13 March 2005.
149