2012 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Public opinions about sentencing and interrogations

Research Project

Project/Area Number	23730686
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Research Field	Clinical psychology
Research Institution	National Research Institute of Police Science
Principal Investigator	TAEKO Wachi 科学警察研究所, 犯罪行動科学部, 主任研究官 (30415442)
Project Period (FY)	2011 – 2012
Keywords	犯罪心理学 / 国民の意見 / 取調べ手法
Research Abstract	This study examines public opinions about interrogation techniques and sentencing by surveying both university students and the general public. The studies on the general interrogation techniques showed that the participants regarded “Active listening” .which is most likely to elicit true confessions from guilty suspects and least likely to elicit false confessions from innocent suspects. as the most preferable technique. The study examining specific murder cases and interrogation styles demonstrated that the participants considered the confrontational type of interrogation technique to be the least fair and believed that the confessions elicited from this technique were the least truthful. In addition, the gender of the participants and the type of interrogation techniques used influenced the participants’ decisions regarding suspects’guilt or innocence