Educing Information: Interrogation - National Intelligence University

observe and document the interrogation tactics used by interrogators and the
suspects’ reactions to them. For each interrogation, Leo recorded his observations
qualitatively in the form of field notes and quantitatively with a 47-question
coding sheet. 309 Leo noted that interrogations could yield four possible outcomes:
(1) the suspect provided no information to the police that he or she considered
incriminating; (2) the suspect (intentionally or not) provided some information that
police considered incriminating, but did not directly admit to any of the elements
of the crime; (3) the suspect admitted to some, but not all, of the elements of the
crime; and (4) the suspect provided a full confession. 310 The table below displays
the data from Leo’s study.
Subject’s Response to Interrogation Frequency (%)
No incriminating statement 35.71
Incriminating statement 22.53
Partial admission 17.58
Full confession 24.18
Outcome of interrogations in the United States. 311
Contrary to other authors such as Gudjonsson, who limit their scope to
confessions and/or admissions, Leo operated under the assumption that an
interrogation is successful “when the suspect provides the detective with at least
some incriminating information.” 312 Taking this assumption as given, Leo’s
studies reveal that “almost two-thirds (64.29%) of the interrogations [he] observed
produced a successful result.” 313
However, that a substantial proportion of suspects subjected to interrogation
end up confessing says nothing about the reasons behind those confessions. The
next section attempts to shed some empirical light on why suspects confess.
Factors Associated with Admissions and Denials
Background Characteristics of the Suspect
Studies suggest that certain types of subjects are more likely to confess or
make incriminating admissions than others. The more salient factors are:
1. Age: Age is often considered an indirect measure of maturity, and more
mature suspects usually cope better with the unfamiliarity and demands of police
interrogation than less mature suspects. 314 Gudjonsson notes that, although it
309
Id.
310
Id.
311
As noted in the text, Table 3 contains the data from Leo’s study, and is adapted from Leo; see
note 110, 280.
312
Leo, p. 280.
313
Id.
314
Gudjonsson, see note 110, p. 141.
167