Definitions
What is an informant?
Any individual who can provide information related to a case but who is not a complainant, witness, victim, or suspect.
What are the different question types?
Direct questions, Indirect questions, Close-ended questions, Open-ended questions, & Leading questions.
Are Miranda Warnings required during roadside questioning following a routine traffic stop or other minor violations?
No!
What are the barriers to communication?
Language, Disability, Micro-aggression, Implicit biases.
What is a Terry Stop? (Terry v. Ohio 1968)
A "stop & frisk" that allows officers to stop and pat down individuals for weapons if they believe they are armed and dangerous, without needing full probable cause.
What is a waiver?
A giving up of a certain right. Accompanied by a written or witnessed oral statement that the waiver was voluntary.
What is beachheading?
An unconstitutional interrogation technique where an officer questions a custodial suspect without giving the Miranda warnings and obtains incriminating statements; the officer then gives the warning, gets a waiver, and repeats the interrogation to obtain the same statement.
What are the Miranda Warnings?
A statement read by an arresting officer that informs a suspect of their Fifth Amendment right to remain silent, to have counsel present, and to have the state appoint and pay counsel if they cannot afford one; it also warns the suspect that anything they say can and will be used against them in court, and then it ask them if they understand these rights.
What are the motivations for a CI?
What is Fear of jail, money, revenge, elimination of competition, good citizenship, & jealousy.
What is an admission?
A statement containing some information concerning the elements of a crime but falling short of a full confession.
What is a cognitive interview?
An approach that uses simple mnemonic techniques aimed at encouraging focused retrieval of memories with minimal loss in accuracy; a technique that helps victims or witnesses put themselves mentally at the scene of the crime.
What are the 3 ways to obtain information?
Reports, Records, & Databases
What is a CI & a CRI?
An individual requiring anonymity who provides useful information, directed assistance, or both, usually in exchange for financial or other consideration. CIs are usually recruited and managed in secret, making it hard to determine how many there are.
Confidential (reliable) informant (CRI): An individual who has previously provided to police information that was corroborated and used.
What's a confession?
Information supporting the elements of a crime that is provided and attested to by any person involved in committing the crime; can be oral or written and must be voluntary and not given in response to threats, promises, or rewards. It can be taken in question-and-answer form or in a narrative handwritten by the suspect or the interrogator.
What is the Peace Model?
A rapport-based approach to eliciting relevant, reliable, truthful, and accurate information from a subject.
Preparation and planning
Engage and explain
Account clarification and challenge
Closure
Evaluation
What is the public safety exception?
A Court ruling that police may interrogate a suspect without first giving the Miranda warning, if a substantial public threat exists that might be removed by having the suspect talk.
What goes into a sources of data file?
The name and location of persons, organizations, and records that can assist in a criminal investigation.
What is a Polygraph?
A devise that scientifically measures respiration and depth of breathing, changes in the skin’s electrical resistance, blood pressure, and pulse rate; also called lie detector.
What is the Reid Model?
A process that is designed to elicit confessions by creating a high-pressure, manipulative environment. It assumes guilt and uses psychological tactics like maximizing evidence, minimizing moral blame, and offering false alternatives to secure confessions, but it is highly controversial due to the risk of false confessions. The Reid Technique places much emphasis on detecting verbal and nonverbal signs of deception.
telling the suspect that investigators know they committed the crime and interrupt any attempt by the suspect to deny their guilt,
(1) telling the suspect that investigators know they committed the crime and interrupt any attempt by the suspect to deny their guilt
(2) steering the suspect toward a confession by offering a moral justification for committing the crime or other face-saving alternative (“minimization” of the crime)
(3) exaggerating the available evidence and the seriousness of the potential punishment (“maximization”), in an effort to break the suspect’s resistance to confess.