Criminal Psychology: Confession and Interrogation

‘Interrogation’ means to question a person of interest in a crime committed. Law enforcement officers, military personnel and intelligence agencies commonly use it to gather helpful information on any ongoing case. The interrogation process is complex and can lead to devastating results if not carried out correctly. Investigative mistakes can let criminals go free or result in the prosecution of innocent people. However, there is no one-size-fits-all interrogation method and there are rules for obtaining information, confessions and holding a suspect against their will. Understanding the correct process and the legal parameters involved can make a difference between having a suspect's confession accepted as evidence by the court or not. In this course, we will discuss the various interrogation tactics used by law enforcement personnel to gather information, the policies implicated against poor interrogation tactics and the psychological struggle between the law officer and suspect in eliciting a confession.

The most widely used interrogation technique is the 'Reid' technique. We will apprise you of the three components, the nine steps involved in this procedure and its drawbacks. You will learn about the rights of the detainees, their right to remain silent and get legal counsel and the adverse effect of remaining silent on the suspect's credibility. We will walk you through the psychological interaction of the interviewer and interviewee and the impact questions asked have on the responses from the suspect. You'll study how to interpret the psychology of a suspect from their behaviour and the correct methodology for recording testimonies and interviews. We will introduce you to the psychology of confessions and help you understand why suspects confess to crimes they might or might not have committed. Discover how breach of legal rights, false confessions under emotional stress, intoxicants and drugs can lead to miscarriage of justice that affects the individual and the community.

Have you heard about famous cases where law enforcement officers did not follow legal protocol or bent the rules during interrogations? Did you wonder how the detainees could have invoked their legal rights and protected themselves from unlawful interrogation? The skills acquired from this course will help you think critically and factually about the causes of false confessions, accusations and considerations to prevent them. If you are a new detective, criminal investigator or first responder, you can develop your interrogation and observation skills following the lesson taught in this course and avoid making mistakes. Inefficient interviews can also be very costly and time-consuming. Understanding how to interview and interrogate potential suspects effectively so you can arrive at a confession protects an innocent person from prosecution. Do you have an interest in interrogation and confession psychology? Then don't wait. Take this course and start your journey towards developing a career in criminal psychology.