Download This PaperStructural Police Deception in American Police Interrogation: A Closer Look at Minimization and Maximization
“Structural Police Deception in American Police Interrogation: A Closer Look at Minimization and Maximization.” in Lutz Eidam, Michael Lindemann, and Andreas Ransiek, Eds. (2020). Interrogation Confession and Truth: Comparative Studies in Criminal Procedure. (Baden-Baden, Germany: Nom
43 Pages Posted: 21 May 2020 Last revised: 20 Oct 2023
Date Written: 2020
Abstract
Deception is one of the most distinctive features of American police interrogations of criminal suspects. For example, false evidence ploys, a routine police interrogation technique, are designed to make the suspect believe — through intentional misrepresentations — that he has no choice but to confess because the police possess highly incriminating evidence against him. While scholars have written extensively about the use, effects, and morality of false evidence ploys, this chapter argues that police use of deception in interrogations should be understood in the broader context of the American adversary system.
After a brief literature review, Part II of this chapter describes the structure of American police interrogations and argues that they are strategically manipulative and deceptive because they occur in the context of a fundamental contradiction. Police need incriminating statements and admissions to solve crimes; however, it is almost always against the suspect's self-interest to incriminate himself during an interrogation. American police interrogations are inherently deceptive because they are designed to obscure this adversarial nature. Regardless of the technique used, interrogations rely on making the suspect believe (falsely) that confessing is actually in his self-interest.
Part III discusses the psychology of evidence ploys and different types of false evidence ploys that have been recognized by scholars as deceptive techniques. Part IV focuses on minimization and maximization interrogation techniques (implying that a suspect will receive more lenient treatment if she confesses and harsher treatment if she does not) and reframes them as not only psychologically coercive, but as deceptive interrogation techniques integral to the psychology and structure of modern American police interrogation. This chapter concludes with a discussion of the implications of using this broader conceptual framework to understand police deception during interrogation.
Keywords: Police Interrogations, Police Deception, False Confessions, False Evidence Ploys, Minimization and Maximization, Interrogation Techniques, Law Enforcement
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