Reforming Investigative Interviewing in Canada

Abstract

Les pratiques d'entrevues d'enquête au Canada devraient faire l'objet d'une réforme importante. La formation sur les entrevues avec des témoins et des victimes adultes, qui est offerte aux agents de police canadiens, est souvent superficielle et celle sur l'interrogation de suspects se limite à la controversée technique Reid. Cela pose problème parce que les enquêteurs risquent ainsi de ne pas maximiser la quantité ni la qualité des renseignements obtenus des personnes interrogées. Dans l'article, on décrit la méthode PEACE, un modèle d'interrogatoire inquisitorial jugé à la fois éthique et fondé sur la recherche scientifique. Pour réussir cette réforme des pratiques d'entrevues d'enquête, il faudrait mettre en place un modèle national standardisé qui serait basé sur le modèle PEACE et qui augmenterait les partenariats entre utilisateurs et théoriciens. Mots clés : entrevues d'enquête, technique Reid, modèle PEACE, faux aveux, témoins, suspectsInvestigative interviewing practices in Canada require substantive reform. Adult witness and victim interview training for Canadian police officers is often cursory, and suspect interview training is limited to the much-maligned Reid technique. This state of affairs is troublesome because interviewers may not be maximizing the quality and quantity of information that can be retrieved from interviewees. An inquisitorial interviewing method, known as PEACE, that is ethical and grounded in scientific research is outlined. Investigative interviewing reform can best be achieved through the implementation 6 2010 CJCCJ/RCCJP doi:10.3138/cjccj.52.2.215of a standardized national model that is based on PEACE and through increased practitioner-academic partnerships.

Measuring the effectiveness of the sketch procedure for recalling details of a live interactive event

“…Researchers have long utilized psychological science to develop ways to obtain detailed and accurate information from cooperative interviewees (Snook, Eastwood, Stinson, Tedeschini, & House, 2010). The most well-known and empirically validated interviewing method is the Cognitive Interview (CI), which consists of a number of memoryenhancing techniques (e.g., adapting questions to the interviewee's unique perspective and mentally reinstating the context of the original event; Fisher & Geiselman, 1992).…”

A field study of adult witness interviewing practices in a Canadian police organization

“…Given the importance of police interviewing, one would expect that training on best interviewing practices would be commonplace in Canada. In reality, however, Canadian police officers are often provided with cursory training on how to conduct professional interviews with witnesses (Snook, Eastwood, Stinson, Tedeschini, & House, 2010). 1 Police recruits typically receive introductory lessons on interviewing during basic training.…”

The combined effects of questioning technique and interviewer manner on false confessions

“…The introduction of the PEACE model of interviewing in 1993 resulted in a shift from the interrogative method to the new investigative interviewing approach (Clarke et al, ; Griffiths & Milne, ). The PEACE model was designed to replace accusatorial, guilt‐presumptive approaches with more ethical, noncoercive, information‐gathering approaches, which improve the quality of interviews and information obtained (G. H. Gudjonsson & Pearse, ; Snook, Eastwood, Stinson, Tedeschini, & House, ). Rather than focussing on seeking confessions (Clarke et al, ), the PEACE model encourages the use of open questions (Walsh & Bull, ) to encourage suspects to provide accounts of events (Walsh & Bull, ).…”