Category: Criminal Psychology

The Criminal Justice System is a set of legal and social organisations which implement the criminal law by obeying rules and regulations. Psychological research has affected the criminal justice system in different ways and this essay is designed to understand the effect it has had upon the interview process (Day & Marion, 2019). The interview is an important method used by the police in order to gather information from individuals as it forms a foundation for all investigations. Psychologists have engaged in many research studies with the objective of finding different methods in which this process can be improved (Milne et al. 1999). This essay will begin to look at the history behind police interviewing and how the importance of psychological research has developed methods from unethical to ethical standards for acquiring information from witnesses.

In the article of police interviewing, Roberts (2012), displays a historical overview of the development in interviewing individuals from unethical methods to the influence of psychological research. From this we will see that in the 1930’s doubts relating to police interrogation began to arise that later disclosed the thought of persuasive interview strategies, increasing the chance of false confessions. It is hard to distinguish the difference between what truly happened and what is remembered when techniques in the interviewing process, such as leading questions are used by the police (Prescott, Milne, & Clark, 2011). This type of technique reduced the reliability of the information that was reported and because of this, psychologist Geiselman et al, (1984) developed the Cognitive Interview. The Cognitive Interview was implemented to give authorities an ethical procedure that would provide them with reliable witness reports. This provided a shift in the interview process that allowed psychology to be utilised positively in the criminal justice system.

The Cognitive Interview consists of four cognitive mnemonics which Geiselman et al, (1985) believed would be effective due to the negative impact of misleading information. The Cognitive Interview starts with focusing on mental reinstatement which is the technique used by the interviewer attempting to recreate the environment that the crime took place in. This is achieved by asking the witness about their five senses in relation to the crime. Next, the witnesses are asked to relay the information that they have reported from a different perspective. Geiselman (1984) introduced the idea of recounting the incident in several narrative orders, usually starting from the end to the beginning to prevent any mistakes. All witnesses are told to report an in-depth account of the crime to increase the chance of finding a conclusion. There have been reports that the cognitive interview is more time consuming for police officers as they will spend more time in training and longer in the interview room. However, the cognitive interview is used to promote improvements to witness accounts and to assist with the psychological health of all victims (Fisher & Geiselman, 2010). This shows the importance of psychological research as it develops the exploration into cognitive psychology to improve the quality of witness reports.

Geiselman et al (1985), conducted a psychology laboratory experiment which compared the Cognitive Interview to two other interviewing process. Geiselman’s (1985) aim for this experiment was to see how psychology has impacted the interview process and to show the effectiveness of the new technique (Geiselman et al, 1984). The experiment consisted of 51 volunteers viewing a violent crime and after 48 hours being interviewed by a policeman. The policemen used three different interview methods: the cognitive interview; a standard interview and an interview using hypnosis. Each interview was recorded in order to provide precise results for the experiment. Geiselman et al, (1984) found that the results showed the Cognitive Interview to have an average of 41.2% for correct answers, for hypnosis the results showed 38.0% and for the standard interview it was 29.4%. The conclusion to this experiment is that the Cognitive Interview improves the memory of witnesses as they are able to recall the events of a crime with more accuracy which would provide information with an increased level of reliability. From the results, we can also see how reliability has progressed throughout the development of the different psychological techniques that are now used within police interviewing (Fisher, Geiselman & Amador, 1989).

The study Geiselman et al (1985) conducted was effective as it provides a foundation into the cognitive research in regards to police interviewing. In addition to this, the study showed how looking into the cognitive psychology of interviewing improved the quality of information retrieved in the process. Geiselman et al (1985) study is lacking in ecological validity as the volunteers were watching incidents that were filmed instead of events that had happened in reality. Psychologists have questioned the validity of the research into the cognitive interview, therefore, Fisher et al (1989) conducted a study which focused on the real-life study of the cognitive interview. Fisher and Geiselman (1989) trained seven policemen to understand the procedure for the cognitive interview process. The researchers monitored police interviews for over seven months to see how the cognitive interviews had impacted the information reported before and after training. The results concluded that the detectives gained information that was 47% more effective using the cognitive interview when compared to the standard method. This provides ecological validity to Geiselman (1985) cognitive interview as the results replicated the laboratory experiment. This provides further evidence for the importance of psychological research within the criminal justice system (Yogi, 2019).

This essay has discussed the historical background of police interviewing before the influence of psychology by highlighting the unethical techniques used to manipulate individuals in the interview room. The cognitive interview has been discussed with the support from Geiselman et al (1985) study as evidence to emphasis on the effectiveness of the research. All of the points that I have addressed throughout this essay leads to the conclusion as to whether psychological research has effected the criminal justice system. The importance of psychological research upon the criminal justice system is increasing as we are constantly learning new information about why people behave like they do and how to address this ethically. Geiselman (1985) Cognitive interview is effective in the policing world as the technique is more structured forming an appropriate procedure for investigating crime. Without psychology, the criminal justice system wouldn’t implement the cognitive interview, resulting in the continuing problem of leading questions, increased false confessions and unethical procedures.

Reference list

1. Day, D., & Marion, S. (2019). Retrieved 15 October 2019, from https://www.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/44552_11.pdf
2. Fisher, R., & Geiselman, R. (2010). The Cognitive Interview method of conducting police interviews: Eliciting extensive information and promoting Therapeutic Jurisprudence. International Journal Of Law And Psychiatry, 33(5-6), 321-328. doi: 10.1016/j.ijlp.2010.09.004
3. Geiselman, R. E., Fisher, R. P., Firstenberg, I., Hutton, L., Sullivan, S. J., Avetissian, I. V., & Prosk, A. L. (1984). Enhancement of eyewitness memory: An empirical evaluation of the cognitive interview. Journal of Police and Science Administration, 12, 74-80.
4. Geiselman, R., Fisher, R., MacKinnon, D., & Holland, H. (1985). Eyewitness memory enhancement in the police interview: Cognitive retrieval mnemonics versus hypnosis. Journal Of Applied Psychology, 70(2), 401-412. doi: 10.1037/0021-9010.70.2.401
5. Milne, B., & Bull, R. (1999). Investigative interviewing: psychology and practice. (Wiley series in psychology of crime, policing & law). Chichester: Wiley.
6. Prescott, K., Milne, R., Clark, J. (2011). How effective is the enhanced cognitive interview when aiding recall retrieval of older adults including memory for conversation? Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling, 8, 257-270. doi: 10.1002/jip.142
7. Roberts, K. (2012). POLICE INTERVIEWING OF CRIMINAL SUSPECTS: A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE. The Internet Journal Of Criminology.
8. Yogi, P. (2019). Fisher et al., (1989) – The Cognitive Interview | Psych Yogi. Retrieved 22 October 2019, from http://psychyogi.org/fisher-et-al-1989/

The word forensic was derived from a Latin word forensis which means forum, a place where trials were conducted in the Roman times; the word is currently being used to denote a relationship between one professional field like psychology with the legal system (Goldstein & Weiner, 2003). Bartol and Bartol (2004, p. 4) have defined forensic psychology as “the research endeavor that examines aspects of human behavior directly related to the legal process and the professional practice of psychology within, or in consultation with, a legal system that embraces both civil and criminal law”. Forensic psychology can be looked at from an area of practice and an area of research. As an area of practice, forensic psychologists focus on mental health issues pertaining to the legal system, are also concerned with the assessment and treatment of individuals with mental disorders within the bracket of law- they work in varying settings like schools, prisons and hospitals (Bartol & Bartol, 2004). On the other hand, as an area of research or experiment, experimental forensic psychologists’ concern is mental health issues pertaining to the legal system, but ca also be concerned with any other research issue relating to the law and they are found in different criminal justice settings- the practical and experimental roles of forensic psychology do not necessarily have to be separate (Goldstein & Weiner, 2003).

History of Forensic Psychology

Some of the first references that are related to criminal insanity can be located with the original Roman law which maintained that insanity was a punishment on its own and hence the law advocated for leniency against the criminally insane (Webb, 2015). The recent history of Forensic Psychology began in 1893 when the first psychological experiment on the psychology of testimony was conducted by J. McKeen Cattell and multitudes of historical events have taken place in the Forensic Psychology field since then (Bartol & Bartol, 2014).

Hugo Munsterberg’s beliefs that psychology has practical applications to everyday life contributed to the development of the field and published an advocacy book for the use of psychology on legal matters, ‘On the Witness Stand’ in 1908 (Cherry, 2018). In 1917, it was found that systolic blood pressure had a strong correlation to lying, this discovery by William Marston later led to the design and development of the modern polygraph detector (Cherry, 2018). Marston further testified in the Frye v. the United States court case in 1923, a significant case which established the precedence for the use of expert testimonies in court but the procedure, assessment or technique must be generally accepted within its field of study for it to be admissible and used as evidence in court (Cherry, 2018). Furthermore, one of the recent and memorable event which took place was when Forensic Psychology was recognised as a specialty by the American Psychological Association (APA) in 2001 and the APA further reaffirmed this status in 2008 (Bartol & Bartol, 2014).

Requirements to Practice Forensic Psychology

Training opportunities for forensic psychology have increased since its establishment but the need for forensic practitioners is still on the rise and because of this reason, continued attention must be paid to training since the demand for psychologists with expertise in legal matters is still on the rise (Otto, Heilbrun, & Grisso, 1990). The current status in South Africa is that the registration of forensic psychologists with the Health Professions Council of South Africa’s Board of Psychology is still being reviewed and there are no specific courses to qualify an individual as a forensic psychologist, the common route to work in the field of forensic psychology is to qualify as a clinical psychologist but focus on forensic psychology when in practice (How do I become a Forensic Psychologist?, 2017). One must obtain a bachelor’s degree from any accredited university offering an undergraduate course in psychology, thereafter, it is clearly stipulated that in order for one to qualify as a clinical psychologist, one must complete a master’s degree qualification in clinical psychology (MA Clinical Psychology degree), then complete a year community service, and thereafter register in the Clinical Psychologist Independent Practice category with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (How do I become a Forensic Psychologist?, 2017).

Relevance and Application of Forensic Psychology

Psychological research is generally dominated by Americans and this is a global concern because 95% of the world’s population and their living conditions differ from those of Americans, and his has been ignored (Pheko, Monteiro, Kote, & Balogun, 2013). A potential cause of this status quo is that the growth of the Psychology discipline within developing countries like South Africa and Botswana seems to be following a process where individuals are trained abroad and upon return to their native countries, they import what they learnt to the academic departments in their countries. However, in some countries, they may transform their departments to be more culturally appropriate through indigenization (Pheko, Monteiro, Kote, & Balogun, 2013).

Generally, there is a dire shortage of psychologists in a violent country like South Africa, most of the few that are available work in private practice, they are available to only a small proportion of the population who can afford them while the rest of the country is in dreadful need of psychologists, and those available in public health systems are based in urban areas (What It’s Like Being a Psychologist in South Africa, 2017). There has been a rising trend for legal professionals to utilise services of psychologists in legal proceedings in South Africa since the 1970’s and psychologists have increasingly started to appear in court cases as expert witnesses, but the field of forensic psychology still remains undefined (Genis, 2009). Forensic psychology is relevant in South Africa, though there is no psychologist who is registered as a forensic psychologist, some do practice forensic psychology but registered under any field of psychology that is available in South Africa (Genis, 2009).