In an April 1, 2024 ABC News story promoting their show, "The Interrogation Tapes," Sujeeta Bhatt, identified as a research scientist at George Mason University's Center for Criminal Investigations and Network Analysis, is quoted as saying, “The Reid Technique is used because it is effective in getting confessions. The issue that you run into though is…that you have a high rate of not just true confessions, but false confessions.” Nothing could be further from the truth regarding false confessions.

As identified by the courts, false confessions are caused by investigators engaging in behavior that the courts have ruled to be objectionable, such as threatening inevitable consequences; making a promise of leniency in return for the confession; denying a subject their rights; conducting an excessively long interrogation; denying the suspect an opportunity to satisfy their physical needs, etc.

In one research effort the author studied the first 110 DNA exoneration cases reported by the Innocence Project. The author reported that, “This study failed to find a single false confession of a cognitively normal individual that did not include the use of coercive tactics by the interrogator...” The author identified coercive interrogation tactics as “the use of physical force; denial of food, sleep or bathroom; explicit threats of punishment; explicit promises of leniency; and extremely lengthy interrogations.”

The Core Principles of the Reid Technique are:

• Always treat the subject with dignity and respect

• Always conduct interviews and interrogations in accordance with the guidelines established by the courts

• Do not make any promises of leniency or threats of harm or inevitable consequences

• Do not conduct interrogations for an excessively long period of time

• Do not deny the subject any of their rights

• Do not deny the subject the opportunity to satisfy their physical needs

• Exercise special cautions when questioning socially immature juveniles or individuals with mental or psychological impairments

Please review the following articles on our website for a complete description of the Reid Technique as well as a discussion of the causes of false confessions.

What False Confession Experts Say About the Reid Technique and Our Responses

Clarifying Misrepresentations About Interrogation Techniques (updated May 2023)

False Confessions: The Issues to be Considered

What Questions Should be Asked to Determine the Voluntariness and Validity of a Subject’s Confession?

Conducting Effective Interviews and Interrogations