Stigma impedes the social integration of persons recovering from psychiatric disability, especially those with criminal histories. Little is known about factors that lessen this stigma. Four hundred and four adults listened to one of four vignettes describing a 25-year-old male with schizophrenia and responded to a standard set of items measuring social distance. The individual who was gainfully employed (vs. unemployed), or who had a prior misdemeanor (vs. felony) criminal offense, elicited significantly less stigma. Employment may destigmatize a person coping with both psychiatric disability and a criminal record. Mental health services should encourage paid employment and other paths to community integration.
Despite empirical progress in documenting and classifying various interrogation techniques, very little is known about how police are trained in interrogation methods, how frequently they use various techniques, and whether they employ techniques differentially with adult versus juvenile suspects. This study reports the nature and extent of formal (e.g., Reid Technique, PEACE, HUMINT) and informal interrogation training as well as self-reported technique usage in a diverse national sample (N = 340) of experienced American police officers. Officers were trained in a variety of different techniques ranging from comparatively benign pre-interrogation strategies (e.g., building rapport, observing body language or speech patterns) to more psychologically coercive techniques (e.g., blaming the victim, discouraging denials). Over half the sample reported being trained to use psychologically coercive techniques with both adults and juveniles. The majority (91%) receive informal, "on the job" interrogation training. Technique usage patterns indicate a spectrum of psychological intensity where information-gathering approaches were used most frequently and high-pressure tactics less frequently. Reid-trained officers (56%) were significantly more likely than officers without Reid training to use pre-interrogation and manipulation techniques. Across all analyses and techniques, usage patterns were identical for adult and juvenile suspects, suggesting that police interrogate youth in the same manner as adults. Overall, results suggest that training in specific interrogation methods is strongly associated with usage. Findings underscore the need for more law enforcement interrogation training in general, especially with juvenile suspects, and highlight the value of training as an avenue for reducing interrogation-induced miscarriages of justice. (PsycINFO Database Record
Numerous states require parental notification, consent, or involvement in police interrogations of juvenile suspects, presumably to advocate for youths' rights and protect against police coercion. Such laws presuppose that parents possess the knowledge, capacity, and inclination to serve this protective function, yet little is known about parents' understanding of interrogation rights and procedures or their decision making in juvenile interrogations. This study tested a geographically diverse sample of parents' (N = 515) knowledge about youths' interrogation rights, their awareness of police interrogation practices, and their advisements to youth regarding Miranda waiver across three different custodial contexts using vignettes about custodial questioning of a presumably guilty adolescent. The study experimentally manipulated the nature of the police encounter (i.e., police contact originating as a street stop, with parents facilitating interrogation, or with arrest) as well as the target youth's age (13, 15, or 17 years). Parent interrogation knowledge differed by custodial context, with parents least accurate in parent-specific vignette situations and on knowledge items specifically related to parent involvement. Almost all parents expressed a desire to participate in the Miranda waiver decision, with about 65% encouraging youth to remain silent and 30% encouraging youth to talk to police. Overall, findings provide evidence that parents are poorly situated to play a protective role in juvenile interrogations.
Criminal suspects who confess during interrogations sometimes retract their confessions and go to trial. Jurors must then evaluate the voluntariness and authenticity of the confession and determine guilt. Previous research indicates that focusing the camera on the detective and defendant equally (rather than on the defendant alone) while recording the interrogation protects defendants from a salience bias produced by the camera perspective. We demonstrated that, even with an equal-focus video, a salience bias can occur if jurors conceptualize a defendant as a member of a minority group and therefore see the defendant as distinctive. In two experiments, mock jurors viewed an equal-focus confession video embedded within a murder trial. The defendant's physical appearance remained constant; however, when jurors believed he was a minority rather than a majority group member, they directed more visual attention toward him, rated his confession as more voluntary, authentic, and incriminating, and considered him more likely guilty. Contrary to our prediction, the defendant's minority status did not interact with his apparent motive (Experiment 1). However, the detective's use of a false evidence ploy during interrogation led jurors to evaluate the defendant less negatively on most measures (Experiment 2), although verdicts were unaffected.
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