The publicity generated by the Making a Murderer series has generated a renewed condemnation for interrogation techniques that are unethical, use bullying tactics and tend to elicit false confessions. Today’s investigators must be aware of the dangers of using aggressive interrogation tactics that intimidate witnesses and compromise the quality of the information they glean from interview subjects.

1. Interview Techniques and
False Confessions
By John A. Hoda, CFE, CLI, Training Consultant Forensic
Interview Solutions

2. John Hoda, CLI, CFE
John A. Hoda is a college-educated former police officer
and former insurance fraud investigator with decades of
experience as a private investigator. His recent headline
cases include false witness and false confessions
acquittals and a wrongful conviction exoneration. He is
a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE) and a Certified Legal
Investigator (CLI), one of only 74 in the world. John is
an expert in the art and science of interviewing and is
the creator of The Ultimate Guide to Taking Statements:
Digital Edition.
He is the North American training consultant for
Forensic Interview Solutions, an international
consultancy.

3. Topics
 Establishing rapport is like shifting out of low gear.
 Intimidation- Would you want someone interviewing your
grandmother that way? Let's roll the tape.
 Pressure, deceit, tricks and leading questions can poison the
well.
 Give a little information to get a little. How much and when?
 Techniques for interviewing vulnerable people (including
suspects).
 PEACE method and how it plays out in the courtroom.

4. Establishing Rapport ("Nice guys finish first")
 Obtain better investigative interview results
 Engage subjects more fully
 Gather more facts
 Make trial prep easier
 Minimize flip-flopping on the witness stand

5. Establishing Rapport
How well you establish rapport
determines whether the subject
will talk with you and how much
information they will edit from
their recall
Can you rely on them 18 months
later to testify at trial?

7. Effective Non-Verbal
Communication
S Signs of sincerity
O Open posture
F Forward lean
T Touch
E Eye contact
N Nods
S Supportive sounds and silence

8. Interview Preparation
• Know the case and what all the listed witnesses say
• Specific questions for this witness
• Practice saying the witness's name out loud a few times
• What barriers do you represent to rapport building?
• What obstacles can you anticipate the subject having?
• What objections do you anticipate?
• *What are your two rescue questions?

9. Intimidation
Guilt assumptive of suspects
Using power over witnesses - unethical
Rapport building ceases
Places respondent in flight or fight mode
Increases anxiety, reduces memory recall
Tell you anything to get you off their back
Would you want someone interviewing
your grandmother that way?

12. Deception, Trickery, Threats or Leading
Tactic
Bringing a larger file than what
you really have,
Fake video, fake statements
Your (job) (liberty) (reputation) at
risk!
"Here's the scenario as I see it."
Consequence
Memory retrieval is unnecessary
(You have everything already)
Play it for me now. Prove it!
Say anything to minimize problem
or stop talking altogether.
Educating the witness with
information they did not possess
until this interview.

13. What if it was their cell phone on the table and it was recording
your tactics?
What if you already gave your version of what happened in that
room in a deposition or statement?
What if that recording is now being presented to impeach your
credibility?
How do you spell GOTCHA?

14. Caution: Do Not Poison the Well
• A witness or suspect tells you an incredible (not credible) story. The
facts say otherwise. What do you do?
• How you introduce those facts and how you sequence the release of
that information with the language you use in your question formation or
statements must be thought out very carefully.
• Move from the least crucial to the most crucial facts.
• Determine what NOT to disclose so that the subject cannot put the full
story together themselves (FAIR Review)
• Ask open ended questions. TED Tell, Explain, Describe
• Can what they learn from you be used against you finding the truth?

15. False Confessions – Similarities
 A sense of hopelessness
• Authority figure conducts the interview. Police, employer, school
admin. They set the rules of the "conversation".
• Can't leave the interview or leave the interview room.
• Guilt assumptive interviewing.
• Denials are denied and talked over.
• No legal representation present during questioning, parent or
guardian may also be held sway by the authority figure.
• The actions in question are either minimized or maximized
depending on the theme developed by the interviewer.
• Sleep, food or medication deprived.

16. False Confessions – Similarities (Part 2)
 The confession contains facts that only the real doer or interviewer
knows. How did the false confessor posses this information without
connection to the event?
 The confession contains made up "facts" to fill the gaps in what the
confessor was told about the event
 "We will let you go home" or "You will only get a slap on the wrist" or
"You will still be able to keep your job" or "You will be fired, but not
prosecuted" or fill in the blank IF you tell us what you did on tape or if
you sign this confession.
 The investigation into other culprits, suspects or what really happened
ends with this false declaration. Valuable leads are not followed up on.
Persons of Interest or other causes for the event are abandoned.
 Mental capacity is diminished. Younger and poorer.

17. Why PEACE Holds Up Under Cross Examination
• A scientifically proven method as opposed to no describable method.
• An interview method to gather more facts faster than typical Q+A.. No
antiquated or unethical interrogation methods to defend.
• A method that welcomes videotaping of the entire interview process.
• An interview method that works within a planned out investigation.
• A deep dive uncovering fine grain details in the story making remedial
interviewing unnecessary.
• Challenging the complete story with outside information allows the
interviewer to uncover more facts or gauge the credibility of the
subject.

18. Please State Your Name for the Record
• You are an equal in the conversation that you manage ethically.
• You explain process to the subject as you move the interview along.
• You actively listen to the subject without interruption.
• You check in with the subject and summarize what you've been told.
• Once you have their story, you bring outside information into the
conversation and ask the subject to clarify or comment on their
previous representations.
• You answer the subject's questions as best as possible.
• You report your findings and evaluate your interview.

19. Interviewing Vulnerable People
• RESPONSE
• Respect
• Empathy
• Supportiveness
• Positiveness
• Openness
• Non-Judgmental attitude
• Straightforward talk
• Equals talking across to each other

20. Interviewing Suspects
• FAIR Review - What cards are you going to show
and why?
• Final Anomaly Investigation
• Reason to Suspect

21. Thank-you for participating
John Hoda, Forensic Interview Solutions
john@interviewforensics.com 1-860-930-6010
www.fis-international.com
Public courses coming to a location near you in June 2016.
Free report: P.E.A.C.E. Challenging the Status Quo of Investigative
Interviewing in America
www.i-sight.com/resources/webinars