Someone Gave Ms. Mohr Some Bad Information

In a recent article in FRAUD magazine, published by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, entitled, “When subjects admit guilt but they’re innocent” the author, Ms. Beth Mohr, made a number of inaccurate statements about the Reid Technique. In the text below I have italicized several of those comments followed by the correct information.

• “The Reid Technique and others like it are based on a step-by-step process that focuses on presumption of guilt and eliciting confessions.”

The Reid Technique always begins with a non-accusatory, non-confrontational investigative interview in which the investigator is a neutral, objective, non-judgmental fact finder.

The interview consists of investigative questions which deal with the issue that is under investigation. One of the first things the investigator should do is ask the subject an open-ended question that invites the subject to tell their story. If it is a victim, what happened? If it is a witness, what did they see or hear? If it is a suspect, what were their activities on the day in question? After the subject relates their initial story or version of events the investigator will then ask a series of questions to develop additional details and to clarify the who, what, when, where, why, and how of the incident under investigation.

Interrogation only becomes appropriate when the information developed during the investigation indicates the subject's probable involvement in the commission of the issue under investigation.

On our YouTube channel – The Reid Technique Tips - we have numerous video presentations that detail this process.

• The technique’s creators believe that nobody would falsely confess to a crime they didn’t commit, so any amount of psychological pressure is justifiable in obtaining a confession.

To the contrary, we understand the fact that false confessions can occur. In fact, over the years John E. Reid and Associates has assisted the Innocence Project (New York) on several cases as expert witnesses on proper interview and interrogation techniques, as well as the exoneration of one of their clients by obtaining a confession from the actual offender. This case was detailed in the story, “I Did It” in New York magazine (http://www.reid.com/pdfs/ididi...). We have also assisted other attorneys (for example, Kathleen Zellner) in wrongful conviction cases.