Gisli H. Gudjonsson

The psychology of interrogations, confessions, and testimony

Interviewing: Basic Principles and Theory. Interrogation Tactics and Techniques. Why Do Suspects Confess?. The Role of Perception and Memory in Witness Testimony. Suggestibility: Historical and Theoretical Aspects. Interrogative Suggestibility: Empirical Findings. Psychological Techniques for Enhancing Memory Retrieval. Psychological Techniques for Evaluating Testimony and Documents. The Psychology of False Confession: Research and Theoretical Issues. The Psychology of False Confession: Case Examples. The Guildford Four and the Birmingham Six. Legal Aspects of Disputed Confessions. Disputed Confessions: The Psychological Assessment. Summary and Conclusions. Bibliography. Index.

The causes and cures of criminality

1. Introduction.- 2. The Constitutional Theory of Criminality.- 3. Crime and Personality.- 4. Criminality, Heredity, and Environment.- 5. A Biological Theory of Criminality.- 6. The Function and Effectiveness of Sentencing.- 7. The Prevention and Treatment of Illegal Behavior.- 8. Sexual Deviations.- 9. Summary and Conclusions.- References.

A new scale of interrogative suggestibility

Abstract This paper describes the construction of the Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scale (GSS), its rationale and scoring. The scale is quick to administer and contains a sufficiently large range of possible scores to be of practical value with different groups of S s and individuals. It can be used either as a clinical tool to measure individual susceptibility to suggestion or as a research instrument for obtaining greater understanding of the nature and mechanisms of interrogative suggestibility. Principal-component (rotated) analyses were performed on the scales item scores. Two types of suggestibility emerged: (i) the extent to which S s yield to suggestive questions; (ii) the extent to which S s can be made to shift their replies once interpersonal pressure has been applied. Each aspect of the scale contains 15 items which comprise reasonably homogeneous measures with satisfactory internal-consistency reliabilities. The validity of the scale has been demonstrated in several recent experiments.

Police-Induced Confessions: Risk Factors and Recommendations

Recent DNA exonerations have shed light on the problem that people sometimes confess to crimes they did not commit. Drawing on police practices, laws concerning the admissibility of confession evidence, core principles of psychology, and forensic studies involving multiple methodologies, this White Paper summarizes what is known about police-induced confessions. In this review, we identify suspect characteristics (e.g., adolescence; intellectual disability; mental illness; and certain personality traits), interrogation tactics (e.g., excessive interrogation time; presentations of false evidence; and minimization), and the phenomenology of innocence (e.g., the tendency to waive Miranda rights) that influence confessions as well as their effects on judges and juries. This article concludes with a strong recommendation for the mandatory electronic recording of interrogations and considers other possibilities for the reform of interrogation practices and the protection of vulnerable suspect populations.

Compliance in an interrogative situation: A new scale

Abstract This paper describes the development of a new compliance questionnaire which is intended to complement the present authors previous work into interrogative suggestibility. The questionnaire consists of 20 true-false statements which have particular application to interrogative situations involving retracted confession statements. The questionnaire has satisfactory internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Data are presented which support the concurrent and construct validity of the questionnaire.

Cognitive distortions and blame attribution in sex offenders against adults and children

OBJECTIVE Sexual offenders tend to hold attitudes and beliefs which minimize and justify their offending behavior. It was hypothesized that distorted thinking supporting sexual offending and blame attribution would differ depending on the offence characteristics of different groups of sexual offenders. METHOD Two groups of sexual offenders separated on the basis of the age of their victims (sex offenders against children, 36; sex offenders against adults, 30) were compared on measures of cognitive distortions relating to sex with children and rape and a measure of blame attribution which assesses external, mental element, and guilt feeling attributions. RESULTS Child sexual offenders endorsed more cognitive distortions relating to sex with children, but there were no group differences in cognitive distortions relating to rape. Those who offended against adults reported more external attributions and child offenders reported more guilt feeling attributions. Mental element attribution related to alcohol intoxication and use of violence in the offence, but was not related to group differences. CONCLUSIONS Results are interpreted as suggesting that child sex offenders support their offending by more enduring distorted cognitions, while those who offend against adults use blame attributions associated with the particular offence.

Self-reported emotional disturbance and its relation to electrodermal reactivity, defensiveness and trait anxiety.

Abstract The discordance between an electrodermal and a subjective measure of disturbance was studied in 36 males. Electrodermal responses to emotionally loaded questions were recorded and subjects were requested to rate on visual analogue scales how disturbing they found the questions. The subjects were divided into three groups according to their ‘accuracy’ of self-perception and it was hypothesised that those who reported low subjective disturbance but reacted relatively strongly electrodermally (‘repressors’), would have a high defensiveness score but low trait anxiety. Conversely, subjects who amplify their disturbance (‘sensitisers’) were expected to have a low defensiveness score and high trait anxiety. The hypotheses were confirmed suggesting that both under and over reporting of subjective disturbance are related to defensiveness and trait anxiety. Another finding was that ‘sensitisers’ were significantly younger than ‘repressors’.

The revised Gudjonsson blame attribution inventory

Abstract The Gudjonsson Blame Attribution Inventory (Gudjonsson, Person. individ. Diff. 5, 53–58, 1984) was revised in order to make it more applicable to a specific criminal act. Factor analysis of the revised inventory revealed three independent factors similar to those found for the original inventory. External attribution of blame was found to be positively correlated with psychoticism, hostility, and external locus of control. Guilt feeling attribution correlated with neuroticism and introversion, but negatively with psychoticism.

Differences and similarities between violent offenders and sex offenders

OBJECTIVES To investigate differences and similarities between violent offenders and two types of sex offenders, rapists and child molesters, in terms of their personality, the nature of the victim, the role of alcohol, and their confession to their crime. METHOD Thirty-six adult sex offenders, 23 child molesters, and 32 violent offenders were compared on personality measures, their relationship with the victim, the presence of alcohol intoxication, their confession rate and retraction at trial, and the reasons they gave for having confessed to the police. RESULTS Child molesters and adult sex offenders (rapists) were significantly more introverted than the violent offenders. The child molesters had higher social desirability scores than the other groups, they tended to assault relatives and friends, they were rarely intoxicated while committing the offense, and they had strong internal need to confess to the police. Rapists and violent offenders were more commonly intoxicated during the commission of the offense; the former tended to assault acquaintances, where violent offenders most commonly assaulted strangers. Exactly half of the rapists retracted their confession when the case went to trial; in contrast none of the other offenders retracted their confession. CONCLUSIONS The results show that there are significant differences as well as similarities between the three groups of offenders, which have implications for assessment and treatment.

The identification and management of ADHD offenders within the criminal justice system: a consensus statement from the UK Adult ADHD Network and criminal justice agencies

The UK Adult ADHD Network (UKAAN) was founded by a group of mental health specialists who have experience delivering clinical services for adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) within the National Health Service (NHS). UKAAN aims to support mental health professionals in the development of services for adults with ADHD by the promotion of assessment and treatment protocols. One method of achieving these aims has been to sponsor conferences and workshops on adult ADHD.This consensus statement is the result of a Forensic Meeting held in November 2009, attended by senior representatives of the Department of Health (DoH), Forensic Mental Health, Prison, Probation, Courts and Metropolitan Police services. The objectives of the meeting were to discuss ways of raising awareness about adult ADHD, and its recognition, assessment, treatment and management within these respective services. Whilst the document draws on the UK experience, with some adaptations it can be used as a template for similar local actions in other countries.It was concluded that bringing together experts in adult ADHD and the Criminal Justice System (CJS) will be vital to raising awareness of the needs of ADHD offenders at every stage of the offender pathway. Joint working and commissioning within the CJS is needed to improve awareness and understanding of ADHD offenders to ensure that individuals are directed to appropriate care and rehabilitation. General Practitioners (GPs), whilst ideally placed for early intervention, should not be relied upon to provide this service as vulnerable offenders often have difficulty accessing primary care services. Moreover once this hurdle has been overcome and ADHD in offenders has been identified, a second challenge will be to provide treatment and ensure continuity of care. Future research must focus on proof of principle studies to demonstrate that identification and treatment confers health gain, safeguards individuals rights, improves engagement in offender rehabilitation programmes, reduces institutional behavioural disturbance and, ultimately, leads to crime reduction. In time this will provide better justice for both offenders and society.