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Kearney, Carolyn --- "Interrogating Images: Audio-Visually Recorded Police Questioning of Suspects, by David Dixon With Gail Travis" [2007] ALRCRefJl 19; (2007) 91 Australian Law Reform Commission Reform Journal 66


Interrogating Images: Audio-Visually Recorded Police Questioning of Suspects

By David Dixon with Gail Travis,Sydney Institute of Criminology,

2007, pp292

$45.00

Interrogating images: Audio Visually Recorded Police Questioning of Suspects

The title of this book is mystifying. ‘Interrogating images’ conjures up all sorts of strange ideas, but this reviewer still can’t fathom what it is supposed to mean or convey in the context of the subject matter. That said, on to more important issues—the content.

This book focuses on the results of empirical studies of police interrogation of suspects and analyses the benefits and pitfalls of different methods of recording the proceedings. It also looks at police interviewing styles with a critical eye. The authors compare recording methods in Australia, the US and the UK, but concentrate largely on NSW—which has been a world leader in the introduction of electronic recording of interviews with suspects.

It begins with the bad old days of ‘verballing’ (police fabrication of confessions) and induced confessions under duress. Numerous inquiries over the years in Australia, including the Australian Law Reform Commission’s Criminal Investigations (1979), made the existence of these practices undeniable, and eventually unacceptable. Various New South Wales governments delayed the introduction of legislation until the reform of the Evidence Act in 1995, well after the electronic recording of suspects was already widely in use. In spite of such delays, however, NSW and other states are today way ahead of police procedures in Britain and the United States in this area. The authors analyse a series of empirical studies of audiovisual-recorded interviews, and within them, compare those interviews, which also utilised a new style of interview training based on the English PEACE program (PEACE = Preparation and planning; Engage and explain; Account, clarification and challenge; Closure; Evaluation).

The conclusions of the studies are clear— electronic recording of interviews has largely put paid to verballing, and most professionals in criminal justice—particularly police, judges and prosecutors, greatly appreciate the benefits of recorded interviews over the old type-written police notes. Defence counsel still have some misgivings when it comes to filming disadvantaged suspects, such as those of a non-English speaking background or the mentally ill, who may appear to understand questions when sometimes they don’t. There is also the problem of the suspect whose demeanour ‘looks guilty’, and so is more likely to be judged on appearance when a jury watches the interview. However, the defence counsel agreed that in most cases the recordings are more fair and honest than the old methods. Other innovations in interviewing practices are less clearly beneficial. The PEACE program as adopted, does not appear to be an improvement in getting to the truth in interviews. There still appears to be a lot to learn in police interviewing methods, a fact made more publicly obvious in recent years with interrogations of terrorism suspects.

This work would be of interest to those working in the criminal justice system. For the layperson however, there are problems in comprehension that could easily have been avoided. For example, one is apparently expected to just know what ERISP stands for—as that acronym recurs throughout the book—and serves the entire basis for the book. The answer doe not lay in the (unsatisfying) index, but in one lone footnote—Electronically Recorded Interviews with Suspected Persons. The acronym PEACE suffers from a similar treatment. Students of criminology and academics, may well feel frustrated by lapses such as these. On a brighter note, there is a good reading list at the end, for those who are interested in further research of police interviewing and recording methods in various countries.

Carolyn Kearney


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