Japanese Suspect Interviews, Confessions, and Related Factors

Abstract

Two hundred and ninety-one new adult male inmates convicted of murder, robbery, arson, rape, forcible indecency, and kidnapping completed questionnaires about their pretrial interviews. Logistic regression analyses revealed that marital status, feelings of guilt, and perceptions of the strength of the evidence significantly affected the likelihood of confession by those who had already decided to confess prior to interview. By contrast, prior arrest history and interview style affected the likelihood of confession by those who had not previously decided to confess. Suspects who had no previous arrests and had undergone either Undifferentiated-high or Relationship-focused interviews were more likely to make full confessions. In Undifferentiated-high interviews, police officers employed all of the interviewing techniques examined: they listened closely to the suspects' accounts, attempted to build good relationships, and discussed the crimes, while also presenting evidence and confronting the suspects. In Relationship-focused interviews, police officers listened attentively to the offenders' accounts, tried to build good relationships, and discussed the crimes directly. Prisoners who experienced Relationship-focused interviews felt satisfied with their confessions and admitted guilt at trial.

Contextual factors predict self-reported confession decision-making: A field study of suspects’ actual police interrogation experiences.

“…Next, respondents rated the degree of incriminating evidence they felt police had against them (1 = strong evidence, 2 = weak evidence, 3 = no evidence, 4 = did not know). Finally, consistent with prior confession decision-making studies (Deslauriers-Varin, Beauregard, & Wong, 2011;Wachi et al, 2016b), respondents indicated their preinterrogation confession intent (1 = intended to confess, 2 = intended to deny, 3 = undecided). Importantly, we did not ask respondents to disclose whether they were actually guilty of the crime in question for legal and ethical reasons.…”

“…Other studies hypothesized that marital status (as a proxy for social capital) is a relevant factor. In one study, among suspects who reported having already decided to confess before the interrogation began, POLICE INTERROGATION AND SUSPECTS' CONFESSION DECISION MAKING 6 married offenders were 3.6 times more likely to confess than unmarried offenders (Wachi et al, 2016a), yet marital status was not associated with confession in a study of Canadian prisoners (Deslauriers-Varin, Lussier, et al, 2011). Gender differences are rarely if ever examined, as most suspect samples are largely or entirely male.…”

“…To the contrary, many suspects retrospectively report having already decided to confess before the interrogation even began. For example, in one study, 46% of prisoners reported deciding to confess before interrogation started (Deslauriers-Varin, Beauregard, & Wong, 2011), and the figure was 64% in another study (Wachi et al, 2016b). Importantly, many suspects adhere to their initial inclination about confessing, while others change their mind during the interrogation (Deslauriers-Varin, Beauregard, & Wong, 2011).…”

Jail inmates’ perspectives on police interrogation

“…In fact, less than 20% had planned to deny and about 30% had planned to confess; the other 50% entered the police interview not yet having decided whether to deny or confess. In Japan, almost 30% of subsequently convicted prisoners reported not having decided in advance whether to confess or deny (Wachi, Watanabe, Yokota, Otsuka, & Lamb, 2016b). Not only do these findings cast doubt on the assumption that suspects will unilaterally deny criminal allegations in any interrogation, they also highlight the importance of examining how suspects themselves perceive the interrogation experience.…”

The quality of question types in Swedish police interviews with young suspects of serious crimes

“…In addition, a Japanese study has shown that an interview style that focuses on a friendly relationship between the police officers and the adult suspects is more likely to lead to a truthful confession compared with confrontational approaches (Wachi et al ., 2014). These findings indicate that the elicitation of a truthful and reliable confession from adult suspects is related to the quality of the interview style (Washi et al ., 2016).…”