The Reid Technique was created in the 1940’s and officers have been trained in this technique since the 1970’s. Even though this technique is the most widely used for interrogations and interviews many scholars and scientists say this technique is based on outdated science. With this technique being based on outdated science it can produce false confessions. Currently there is no conversation about this technique and how it can lead to false confessions. One of the problems in the Reid Technique is that people thought you could see anxiety in people’s body language, and that anxiety was a giveaway for lying. But with forty years of psychological research it has shown the previous beliefs to be false.
Saul Kassin also talks about false confessions and how they aren’t something new happening. Kassin talks about how false confessions can be found all across countries and different times of history, and that false confessions can be traced to back to the Salem Witch Trails in North America. Kassin states that he frequently encounters the question “how often false confessions occur?” Kassin’s answer to this is that he doesn’t not know and that he doesn’t think there is enough information and too much missing data to give a number.
Instead of using the Reid Technique an alternative technique that can be used in its place is the PEACE technique which is used in England, Newfoundland, Wales, Denmark and New Zealand. This technique closely resembles what journalist do with gathering information and confessions aren’t sought out. It is a completely different model then the Reid Technique, and everything in the PEACE technique is very straightforward and carefully planned out. This model deals with the fact that lying and anxiety don't correlate, and also that lying and body language don't correlate either.
Beyond Good Cop/Bad Cop: A Look At Real-Life Interrogations
Kassin on False Confessions
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