Four types of coercive and noncoercive interview strategies (legalistic, physical, cognitive and social) used to facilitate disclosure by high value detainees were examined in an international sample of practitioners and detainees (N = 64). Predictive analyses confirmed that the accusatorial approach was positively correlated with physically coercive strategies (r s = .58) and negatively with forms of social persuasion (r s = À.31). In response to social strategies, detainees were more likely to disclose meaningful information [odds ratio (OR) = 4.2] and earlier in the interview when rapport-building techniques were used (OR = 14.17). They were less likely to cooperate when confronted with evidence (OR = 4.8). Disclosures were more complete in response to noncoercive strategies, especially rapport-building and procedural fairness elements of respect and voice. These findings augmented past theory on interactional processes and the evidence-base of international best practices in suspect interviews.
Research into court interpreting has shown that interpreters can have an impact on the case in many different ways. However, the extent to which this occurs depends on several factors, including the interpreter’s competence, ethics and specialized training in court interpreting, as well as working conditions. One little explored aspect is whether use of consecutive vs. simultaneous interpreting can impact jurors’ perception of a witness or other interpreted party. This paper reports on the results of a large-scale experimental study, with a simulated trial run in different conditions, involving a total of 447 mock jurors. The aim was to identify any differences in the way jurors in Australian courts might assess the evidence of an accused called as a witness, in a monolingual hearing as well as when interpreted consecutively and simultaneously from Spanish to English. Overall, jurors’ recollection of case facts did not differ significantly for the three conditions, though it was lower for consecutive during the afternoon. Jurors also found consecutive more distracting; on the other hand, the consecutive mode was associated with significantly more favourable perception of the accused’s evidence than simultaneous interpreting or monolingual communication. Although jurors found the prosecution to be less convincing when the accused’s evidence was interpreted consecutively compared to the other proceedings, the interpretation mode made no difference to the verdict.
Criminal justice proceedings are high-stakes settings in which native English speakers have difficulty negotiating the legal process, let alone persons with no or limited English proficiency. Increasingly, law enforcement interviewers are required to rely on interpreters (Mulayim & Lai, 2017;Shaffer & Evans, 2018). However, the mere presence of an interpreter does not guarantee accurate interpreting. If the interpretation is inaccurate, evidence can be misconstrued, affecting assessments of witness veracity and credibility. This can compromise the right of the parties to a fair trial and lead to wrongful convictions or acquittals, costly appeals, and retrials. The scale of the problem has been recognized by members of the judiciary, who for many years have complained that the poor quality of interpreters is detrimental to the court's ability to perform its duties (Hale, 2011). In response to calls for improvement, the European Parliament, the Council of Europe (1950), and comparable bodies in other jurisdictions mandated that interpreters be fully competent for the task assigned (Hertog, 2015). The assigned tasks include interpreting in the investigative phases of the criminal justice process, including suspect and witness interrogations and intelligence interviews. In different jurisdictions, the terminology applied to law enforcement interviews varies. In Australia and the United Kingdom (UK), the
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