NCJ Number
130676
Journal
Law and Human Behavior Volume: 15 Issue: 3 Dated: (June 1991) Pages: 233-251
Date Published
1991
Length
19 pages
Annotation
The possible effects of two methods of police interrogation were examined: maximization, a technique in which the interrogator exaggerates the strength of the evidence and the magnitude of the charges; and minimization, a technique in which the interrogator mitigates the crime and plays down the seriousness of the offense.
Abstract
Undergraduate students participated as study subjects in three experiments. In Experiments 1 and 2, subjects read interrogation transcripts in which an interrogator used one of five methods to try to elicit a confession: a promise of leniency, threat of punishment, minimization, maximization, or none of the above. As indicated on a subsequent questionnaire, maximization communicated high sentencing expectations as in an explicit threat of punishment while minimization implied low sentencing expectations as did an explicit offer of leniency. Experiment 3 demonstrated that although mock jurors discounted a confession elicited by a threat of punishment, their conviction rate was increased significantly by confessions that followed from promises or minimization. Taken as a whole, these studies raise serious questions concerning the use of minimization and maximization as interrogation methods and the confessions they produce as evidence in court. 4 tables and 37 references (Author abstract modified)