Kids, Cops, and Confessions: Inside the Interrogation Room

4. Police Interrogation: On the Record

103 CHAPTER FOUR Police Interrogation On the Record Interrogation is an art, rather than a science. Interviews vary with the personality and style of each investigator and offender, the circumstances of the offense and the evidence available, and the ebb-and-flow of conversations . One officer explained, “You’re taught a technique. And then you build on it. And then you end up developing what works best for you as a detective. Every detective interviews differently.” Another officer used a terpsichorean metaphor and observed, “The biggest thing about an interview is it’s like a dance. It’s not a set thing. You’ve got to be able to dance and respond to what the kid needs in the room.” How does a social scientist capture the common and recurring features from among the variability of hundreds of interrogations? More than four decades ago, Aaron Cicourel described police interrogation of juveniles. First, police gather information from witnesses, victims , and other officers to understand what happened: The interrogation, therefore, is often based upon some fairly definite interpretations of “what happened” and a kind of plan of action for reaching a particular disposition. The alternatives that might emerge here are contingent upon the suspect’s demeanor, the details he reveals about participation in activities under investigation, his past record, the kind of imputations the officer makes about his home situation, and the control the officer assumes can be exercised by the parents and police over his future conduct.1 I emphasize “demeanor,” because chapter 5 reports how youths’ attitude affects interrogation tactics and outcomes. The officer’s interview strategy emerges through a variety of hunches, theories, rules of thumb, general procedures, and on the spot strategies for dealing with different juvenile suspects . The officer’s past experience and the information available prior to the interview lead him to make quick evaluations of his client as soon as there is a confrontation. The interrogation, therefore, is highly structured in the sense that the information revealed by the juvenile is evaluated quickly in terms of a set of categories which 104 Police Interrogation the officer invokes by means of questions posed for the suspect. The interrogation is designed to confirm the officer’s suspicions or firm beliefs about “what happened” and how the particular suspect is implicated.2 Cicourel describes interrogation as a highly structured interaction in which officers make quick evaluations to classify a juvenile as probably innocent or guilty, use stereotypic categories to shape their approach to the interview, and elicit information to confirm their suspicion of “what happened .” Cicourel’s description shares features of the Crime Control model —informal administrative fact-finding—to efficiently screen cases and to gather information to reach a prompt disposition.3 Accordingly, administrative regularities impose one structure on interrogations. Miranda imposes another structure on interrogations: warning, waiver, interrogation and response, and closure. Police must build rapport, successfully negotiate a warning, and elicit a waiver before they begin questioning . The Reid Method provides another semistructured template to organize how police question offenders. The type of questions (maximization and minimization) and the psychological manipulations (themes and alternative questions) provide another framework with which to analyze the process. Despite the variability of police-offender dyads, offenses, and available evidence, interrogations follow a certain routine from which generalizations emerge. This chapter analyzes how police questioned the 285 juveniles in this study who waived their Miranda rights. How did they begin an interview? How did they frame their questions? What types of maximization and minimization techniques did they use? How did they conclude an interview ? I compare and contrast the results with those reported in studies of adults4 and juveniles.5 Interviews with juvenile justice personnel expand the interpretation of the data. I. Police Interrogation Tactics Police question suspects to obtain a confession or incriminating admission , which leads to a guilty plea. Statements may provide leads to other evidence—for example, physical evidence, identity of other participants, witnesses, or stolen property to recover—to strengthen the prosecutor ’s case. Police seek suspects’ statements—true or false—to pin them down, to control changes they later make in their stories, and to impeach their credibility. One detective observed, “I have always thought that a lie 105 Police Interrogation is almost as good as a confession. If they want to lie and put themselves somewhere else that can be refuted, great.” A. A Beginning Is a Delicate Place Interrogation training programs...