Evaluation: Cognitive and Ethical Interview

Cognitive interview
1. REPORT EVERYTHING: The witness is encouraged to report every detail of the event, even information that may seem irrelevant or unimportant.
2. REINSTATE THE CONTEXT: The witness is asked to imagine all aspects of the crime scene, such as what the weather was like, the time of day and how they felt during the event. This is hoped to help aid recall by using the context cues to trigger further information.
3. REVERSE THE ORDER: The witness describes what they saw in a different chronological order, for example from the end to the beginning, or starting at a midpoint of the event. Evidence suggests that witnesses recall more accurate information in this way rather than in chronological order where recall may be influenced by expectations of what they thought had occurred.
4. CHANGE PERSPECTIVE: The witness is asked to recall the event from someone else's perspective.
5. The enhanced cognitive interview pays more attention to aspects of the interaction between interviewer and interviewee, such as maintaining eye contact, reducing distractions, asking open-ended questions and getting the witness to speak slowly rather than rushing through their account.
6. A strength is that there is evidence to suggest that the cognitive interview is more effective than standard interviewing techniques. Geiselman et al showed participants a film of a violent crime and then interviewed them using either the cognitive interview, hypnosis or a standard interview. The number of correctly recalled information was highest for the cognitive interview. This suggests it is the superior method of recall compared to other methods.
7. The cognitive interview may also lead to an increase in the recall of inaccurate recall. Kohnken et al recorded an 81% increase in correct information using the cognitive interview techniques, but this was offset by a 61% increase in incorrect information, compared with standard interview techniques. This suggests the real strength of cognitive interviews is that more information is produced, but it may not be fully accurate.
8. Research has shown which combinations of techniques are most effective. Milne and Bull observed that any of the individual elements of cognitive interview techniques are more effective in eliciting accurate information than standard interview techniques. However, the researchers noted that a combination of report everything and context reinstatement were the most successful. This is a strength as it is widely acknowledged that the cognitive interview is time consuming so the police can used a shortened version in some instances and still get accurate results.
Ethical interview
1. It has been concluded that many false confessions and miscarriages of justice were a result of police using unethical techniques during questioning (this would be police interviewing people accused of perpetrating a crime rather than witnesses of a crime).
2. It was found that police would use techniques like making threats, false promises and using physical force to extract confessions. Now there is more emphasis on 'ethical' interviews which aims to teach officers to keep a more open mind and act less aggressively towards suspects.
3. The ethical interview has been shown to produce higher success rates. Holmberg and Christianson found that interviews that were characterised by intimidation and dominance on the part of the police interviewer were associated with denials. Interviews that were marked with respect and a positive attitude were most associated with confessions. Therefore, the ethical interview may result in more cooperative interviewees.
  1. However, some people remain wary of the ethical interview. Gudjonsson argues that some ethical interview techniques are naive, and that the 'social skills' approach to questioning should not entirely replace more persuasive methods.
The PEACE model of ethical interviewing
1. The PEACE model was a collaboration between law enforcement agencies and psychologist in England and Wales. It is based on the idea that suspects are more likely to cooperate with police, and therefore give a true confession, if they feel relaxed, secure and not threatened.
2. The interviews follow five principles: preparation and planning (identifying key objectives of the interview), engage and explain (active listening to promote rapport), account (use open-ended questions to elicit information), closure (giving the suspect a chance to ask questions), evaluate (reflect on the interviewer's performance). All interviews following this model are recorded in order to ensure the guidelines are properly being followed.

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Evaluation: Cognitive and Ethical Interview

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