Reid technique

The Reid technique is a method of questioning suspects to try to assess their credibility, developed by consultant and polygraph expert John Reid. Supporters argue that the Reid technique is useful in extracting information from otherwise unwilling suspects, while critics have charged the technique can elicit false confessions from innocent people, especially children. Reid's breakthrough case resulted in an overturned conviction decades later.

"The Reid technique" is a registered trademark of John E. Reid and Associates, and is widely used by law-enforcement agencies in North America.

The Reid technique consists of a three-phase process beginning with Fact Analysis, followed by the Behavior Analysis Interview (a non-accusatory interview designed to develop investigative and behavioral information), followed when appropriate by the Reid Nine Steps of Interrogation. Individuals should only be interrogated when the information developed from the interview and investigation indicate that the subject is involved in the commission of the crime.

In the Reid technique, interrogation is an accusatory process in which the investigator tells the suspect that the results of the investigation clearly indicate that he did commit the crime in question. The interrogation is in the form of a monologue presented by the investigator rather than a question and answer format. The demeanor of the investigator during the course of an interrogation is ideally understanding, patient, and non-demeaning. The Reid technique user's goal is to make the suspect gradually more comfortable with telling the truth. This is accomplished by the investigators' first imagining and then offering the suspect various psychological constructs as justification for their behavior.

For example, an admission of guilt might be prompted by the question, "Did you plan this out or did it just happen on the spur of the moment?" This is called an alternative question which is based on an implicit assumption of guilt. The subject, of course, always has a third choice which is to deny any involvement at all. Critics regard this strategy as hazardous, arguing that it is subject to confirmation bias (likely to reinforce inaccurate beliefs or assumptions) and may lead to prematurely narrowing an investigation.

The Reid technique's nine steps of interrogation are:

Critics of the technique claim it too easily produces false confessions, especially with children. The use of techniques that are acceptable in the United States, such as lying to a suspect about evidence, are prohibited in several European countries because of the perceived risk of false confessions and wrongful convictions that might result, particularly with juveniles.

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