Investigator Tips
The Reid Technique
The Investigator's Workbook: Principles of Practice - How to Conduct Proper Interviews and Interrogations
Oct 13, 2025
Principles of Practice: How to Conduct Proper Investigative Interviews and Interrogations*
Since 1947, John E. Reid and Associates has been conducting investigative interviews and, when appropriate, interrogations.
Since the mid-1970s, we have...
Revisiting Misinformation About the Reid Technique
Sep 12, 2025
In the publication, “From Third-Degree To Third-Generation Interrogation Strategies: putting science into the art of criminal interviewing”, * there are several statements about the Reid Technique that require correction.
The author...
The Investigator's Notebook
Aug 31, 2025
The Investigator’s Notebook consists of over 190 Investigator Tips organized in a sequence that reflects the various stages of an investigation. Please feel free to share this information with your colleagues.
Best Practices That Investigators Should Follow To Prevent False Confessions
Aug 07, 2025
Before we discuss the “best practices,” it is relevant to consider the primary causes of false confessions.
Over 60 years ago, in the first edition of their book, Criminal Interrogation and Confessions...
Conducting the Investigation
Jul 25, 2025
Please feel free to share this Investigator Tip or any of the previously published Tips with your prosecutor's Office and your colleagues.
Investigator Tip: Conducting the Investigation
When a crime has been...
Cases that address the issue of misrepresenting evidence during an interrogation
May 29, 2025
Why do the courts reject the premise from false confession experts that lying to a suspect about evidence causes false confessions?
May 29, 2025
Social Psychologists, Defense Attorneys, Academicians, and Law Enforcement interrogation critics claim that
Misrepresenting evidence to a subject during an interrogation will cause innocent people to confess
Social psychologists often claim that police...
Correcting Misinformation About the Reid Technique
May 06, 2025
Critics of the Reid Technique make several false and erroneous statements (in italics below) when describing the Reid process. In the following pages, we will list their criticisms and our responses.
The...Note Taking Guidelines During the Investigative Interview and the Interrogation
May 02, 2025
During the investigative interview (Behavior Analysis Interview - BAI), the investigator’s interview questions should be asked in a conversational tone and always be non-accusatory. The investigator should take a written note following...
Investigator Tips About the Reid Technique and False Confession Experts Sorted by Topics
Jan 18, 2025
Over the years we have posted numerous Investigator Tips that discuss the essential elements of the Reid Technique and the claims made by false confession "experts" about the Reid process. In this...
Common Erroneous and False Statements About the Reid Technique
Dec 13, 2024
The following are a number of erroneous and false statements that defense attorneys, academicians and social psychologists oftentimes make about the Reid Technique, followed by our responses.
The Reid Technique is...
Why the Reid Technique is so Successful
Nov 16, 2024
One of the primary reasons that the Reid Technique is so successful in helping investigators resolve criminal investigations and to secure an acknowledgment of guilt from the offender is that the process...
Preparing to Testify in Confession Cases Parts One and Two
Oct 30, 2024
Preparing to Testify in Confession Cases (Parts One and Two)
In Part One of this Investigator Tip we will highlight the content of an article written by Attorney Deja Vishny *...
The Reid Technique is a Non-confrontational, Non-accusatory Process
Sep 09, 2024
Oftentimes defense attorneys, social psychologists, academicians, and members of the media describe the Reid Technique as an accusatory process, and they should (and many do) know better.
Over 55 years ago John...
The Reid Behavior Analysis Interview: Part 1: Do the Case Facts and Evidence Support the Subject's Story? Part 2: The Interview Structure and the Value of Behavior Symptom Analysis
Aug 21, 2024
The Reid Behavior Analysis Interview
Part 1: Do the case facts and evidence support the subject’s story?
The most important element in evaluating a suspect’s potential culpability in committing a crime or...
Is offering a suspect a moral or psychological excuse for committing the crime the same as offering them a promise of leniency if they confess?
Jun 03, 2024
Social psychologists and other law enforcement critics suggest that during interrogation if the investigator offers the subject a moral or psychological excuse for committing the crime, it is tantamount to making a...
“I did it”…. is that a valid statement of guilt?
May 29, 2024
The purpose of an interrogation is to learn the truth. In most instances, this consists of the guilty suspect telling the investigator what he did regarding the commission of the crime under...
Responding to a False Confession Expert in Your Case
Apr 09, 2024
Oftentimes the defense will present a "false confession expert” to testify that the investigator obtained a coerced and/or false confession. We have published a number of articles describing the type of statements...
Interrogation of Hamas-Inspired Terrorists
Dec 19, 2023
During his Congressional testimony on December 5, 2023, FBI Director Christopher Wray stated “Given the steady drumbeat of calls for attacks by foreign terrorist organizations since October 7, we’re working around the...
What Do False Confession Experts Say in Their Reports?
Nov 28, 2023
The following represents the type of observations, assessments and opinions Dr. Richard Leo (and other social psychologists) offer/include in their reports and testimony when they are acting on behalf of the defendant...