The danger of feeding information to a suspect during an interrogation - Juan Rivera conviction overturned

Dec 12, 2011

One of the key guidelines that we teach in our courses and books is that the investigator should conceal details about the crime so that when a suspect confesses and provides those...

Case clarifies United States Supreme Court decision in Garrity v. New Jersey

Oct 20, 2011

In the July, 2011 case of US v. Callahan, the US District Court. N.D. Georgia, provided a very detailed explanation of the US Supreme Court's decision in Garrity re the use of...

Investigator Tip for July-August 2011 - What Exactly is the Reid Technique of Interrogation?

Jul 01, 2011

Part One

Despite the availability of specific information in books, training manuals and on our web site about the Reid Technique of interrogation, it is routinely mis-characterized. The following description from...

New organization of the cases in our Legal Updates by topics will make it easier for our readers to access

Mar 09, 2011

Over the past several years we have published Legal Updates on a variety of cases that deal with interrogation issues. We have recently categorized them by topic so as to make it...

Investigators Tip: Jan.Feb. 2011

Jan 01, 2011

One of the most controversial aspects of criminal interrogation involves the use of trickery and deceit. While Federal and State Supreme Courts routinely uphold confessions that were obtained from interrogations during which...

What is the PEACE model for interviewing?

May 01, 2010

Several years ago the United Kingdom adopted a set of interviewing guidelines called the PEACE model. These guidelines consist of five distinct parts (corresponding to the acronym "PEACE"):

Preparation and Planning...

Anatomy of the bait question in interviews Part 1

Jan 20, 2010

Written by:
Louis C. Senese, Vice President, John E. Reid and Associates

The bait question is a non-accusatory question in which the possible existence of incriminating evidence is implied for the...

Case demonstrates the care and caution that must be exercised in the interrogation of juveniles

Mar 03, 2009

In the case of 12 year-old Anthony Harris the Ohio Fifth Appellate District court "unanimously overturned Judge Kate's decision. The police had violated Anthony's Fifth Amendment rights: He had been in custody...

Article reviews false confession cases

Jun 03, 2008

In an article entitled, "The Problem of False Confessions in the Post-DNA World" authors Steven Drizin and Richard Leo analyze 125 false confession cases.

Article describes how criminal defense attorneys should attack confession cases

May 22, 2008

In their publication, Champion magazine, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers have published an article entitled, Defending Unrecorded False Confession Cases, in which the author presents a detailed approach for how...