A RESPONSE TO ‘GUILTY BUT INNOCENT: FALSE CONFESSIONS’

By Greg ‘Gadfly’ Doyle

Having interrogated hundreds of suspects, my only assessment of the psychologists is—absent any evidence tying a suspect to a particular crime—your cited sources might have a valid point. I do not know how these analysts came to their conclusions, but I do know that any investigator trying to “wing it” in an interrogation by tricking a suspect into a confession without something stronger than visual cues, is a poor interrogator.

Interrogation is not an easy process to start with; in fact it may take a number of interviews over several hours, in order to confirm or dismiss an alibi or corroborate a story. A good interrogator knows ahead of time what evidence is available and generally allows the suspect to tell his/her side of the story first, before exposing inconsistencies and lies, or even confronting his/her with evidence. The only heavy-handed interview tactics I ever saw used in nine years in Investigations were by my older male bosses (usually captains), who were not supposed to interfere with detectives during interviews.

I remember an instance where one particular Captain became impatient with the length of a suspect interview and barged into the interview room. He told the suspect he could not wait for the day when he would be in the gallery of the gas chamber to watch the guards drop the poison pill that would end the suspect’s life. Fortunately, the suspect was being interviewed for murder. The tactic was effective only in pissing off the lead detective and ruining the chance for a confession that was not coerced.

I cannot vouch for other agencies, but the interrogation training in California never included heavy-handedness. That I know of, all of our dinosaur Captains retired and confessions at my old agency have been secured through the legitimate process of lawful interrogation, approved by the California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training and the courts. Our video-taped interrogations always stood up in court.