Richard Leo's Boilerplate Statement Regarding Police Interrogation Practices

Jun 26, 2024

The following is the "boilerplate" position taken from various statements, publications and testimony of Richard Leo regarding police interrogation practices.

The Social Psychology of Police Interrogation

Police interrogation is a...

Selecting the Proper Issue in a Child Physical Abuse Investigation

Mar 01, 2001

The nature of most crimes involve a central criminal behavior such as stealing money, starting a fire, selling drugs or having sexual contact with another person. Under these circumstances, the focus of...

Question Formulation Guidelines: Part II

Feb 01, 2001

This web tip offers a continuation of the January tip. The emphasis of this information is that how a question is asked often dictates the ease at which a deceptive subject can...

Question Formulation Guidelines: Part I

Jan 01, 2001

Asking questions is one of the first language skills a child develops. However, almost all of our question asking skills are developed under the assumption that the person answering our question will...

Miranda, Article 31 and Constitutional Advisements

Dec 01, 2000

During training seminars frequently the issue comes up as to the best time to advise a suspect of his constitutional rights. There are both legal and psychological considerations in answering this question...

Creating A Temporary Interviewing Room

Nov 01, 2000

In an ideal world, an interview or interrogation would always be conducted in a room specifically designed for that purpose. Most businesses, however, do not have a room set aside for interviewing...

Behavior Provoking Questions: The Punishment Question

Oct 01, 2000

The Behavior Analysis Interview is a structured interview, developed by John E. Reid and Associates, designed to elicit behavior symptoms indicative of truthfulness or deception. The core of the interview consists of...

Assessing Attitudes: The Victim Mentality

Sep 01, 2000

A suspect guilty of a crime often displays attitudes during an interview which are typically quite different from those attitudes exhibited by an innocent person. During an investigation, an investigator may note...

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE EMPLOYMENT APPLICATION

Aug 01, 2000

It is often impractical for an employer to personally interview every person applying for a particular position. For this reason, most job applicants are initially screened by reviewing a written summary of...

The Use of Follow-up Questions to Elicit Admissions

Jul 01, 2000

An earlier web tip offered guidelines to interpret a subject's verbal behavior (Sept. 1999). In addition to assessing the truthfulness of a response, verbal behavior also provides insight for asking follow-up questions...

The Use of Trickery and Deceit During an Interrogation

Jun 01, 2000

During an interrogation, an investigator attempts to persuade a suspect to tell the truth, oftentimes to provide incriminating evidence that will be used in a subsequent prosecution. Further, interrogations are generally conducted...

The Role of Eye Contact During Interpersonal Communication

May 01, 2000

When average people are asked about nonverbal communication, most will mention eye contact. The eyes are considered "the windows of the soul" and The Eagles warned that, "you can't hide your lying...

Eliciting and Evaluating an Alibi

Apr 01, 2000

One of the most efficient means to eliminate a possible suspect in a crime is if his alibi proves to be correct. This is only true, however, when the investigator is absolutely...

THE ROLE OF DEFENSE MECHANISMS IN DETECTING DECEPTION

Mar 01, 2000

The act of committing a crime is always associated with an emotional state. Most criminals experience some level of shame, guilt or loss of self-esteem. Others primarily experience a fear of being...

VERIFYING AN EMPLOYMENT HISTORY DURING A PRE-EMPLOYMENT INTERVIEW

Feb 01, 2000

It is well established that the best predictor of a job applicant's future behavior is that person's recent past behavior. This is particularly true with respect to their employment history. Has the...

Building Rapport During an Interview

Jan 01, 2000

Interviews in the popular television show Dragnet were often preceded with the admonition, "Just the facts ma'am." The emotional detachment displayed by Sgt. Friday, however, is generally not conducive to eliciting meaningful...

The Use of the Accident Scenario During an Interrogation

Dec 01, 1999

Richard Ofshe, a prolific defense witness who champions the belief that police routinely elicit false confessions, recently testified that the major criticism of the Reid Technique is its use of the "accident...

Arranging a Non-Custodial Interview

Nov 01, 1999

During our training seminars we advocate that if the option is available it is preferable to conduct a non-custodial interview rather than a custodial interview. To persuade a guilty subject to voluntarily...

THE INFLUENCE OF THE INVESTIGATOR'S DEMEANOR ON A SUBJECT'S BEHAVIOR

Oct 01, 1999

One of the principles of behavior symptom analysis taught in the Reid Technique is that the investigator's demeanor has a significant influence on the subject's behavior. For example, an investigator who becomes...

INTERPRETING VERBAL PHRASES

Sep 01, 1999

During an interview a subject freely chooses which words or phrases to use when responding to the investigator's question. This choice is not random or haphazard; it is carefully selected to offer...

Legal Considerations When Asking an Alternative Question

Aug 01, 1999

An investigator is asking a great deal from a guilty suspect to confess to a crime which may potentially involve substantial punishment. For this reason, the suspect must be allowed to make...