Cause for Reform: Interrogations

• In Event: Police Reforms and Strategies

Abstract

False confessions are a larger part of our criminal justice system than commonly believed. This literature review offers an analysis of the effect of situational and psychological factors that interplay with the Reid interrogation method exploring conditions under which false confessions are likely to be elicited. This paper looked at various scholarly articles surrounding false confessions and others on the Reid method. It examined the infamous case of the Norfolk Four, which provided a clear example of how the Reid method may affect certain factors and extract false confessions. The conclusion of the analysis determined that the Reid method might inherently lead to false confessions due to its fundamental assumptions and processes.

Author

• Alexandra Thomas, Seattle University