Development of a suspect interview technique free from false confessions

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project Area: Law and Human Behavior
• Project/Area Number: 23101005
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas (Research in a proposed research area)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Review Section: Humanities and Social Sciences
• Research Institution: Aoyama Gakuin University
• Principal Investigator: Takagi Kotaro 青山学院大学, 社会情報学部, 教授 (30272488)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): WAKINAKA Hiroshi 大谷大学, 文学部, 教授 (10319478) ; Mori Naohisa 札幌学院大学, 人文学部, 教授 (30305883) ; OHASHI Yasushi 淑徳大学, 総合福祉学部, 教授 (70233244)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): WATANABE Yuki 淑徳大学, 総合福祉学部, 非常勤講師 (30738696)
• Project Period (FY): 2011-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 被疑者面接技法 / 虚偽自白防止 / 情報駆動型コミュニケーション / ストーリー駆動型コミュニケーション / 物語的真実

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Present study aimed at developing a suspect interview technique free from false confession. We analyzed communication processes of suspect interview cases in Japan and found following three characteristics: 1) “story driven communication” oriented in testing interrogator’s hypothesis, 2) the interrogator’s preference of “narrative truth” emphasizing event details and backgrounds, 3) “paternal ethical attitude”. Based on these findings, we proposed a new suspect interview technique excluding “story driven communication” which is a possible risk factor of false confession.

Free Research Field

法心理学