University of Twente Student Theses

The Effect of Guilt Presumptions and Evidence Strength within Police Interviews : Presuming a Suspect's Guilt and the Strength of Evidence and its Influence on Interviewer's Ultimate Judgments

Hülscher, L.M. (2022) The Effect of Guilt Presumptions and Evidence Strength within Police Interviews : Presuming a Suspect's Guilt and the Strength of Evidence and its Influence on Interviewer's Ultimate Judgments.

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Abstract:	This study investigated the impact of guilt presumptions and evidence strength within investigative interviews. Research showed interviewers presuming a suspect´s guilt exhibited a confirmation bias (Hill et al., 2008) resulting in them misinterpreting the suspects´ stories, leading to incorrect guilt judgments. Therefore, it was hypothesized guilt presumptions prior to the interview result in higher guilt judgments after the interview even when the suspect is innocent. This effect was expected to be stronger when strong evidence is presented compared to weak evidence. Moreover, this study examined the effect of guilt presumptions and evidence strength on trust and rapport. The study involved a 2x2 between-subjects factorial design using Evidence Strength (Weak and Strong) and Guilt Presumption (Not Presuming Guilt versus Presuming Guilt) as independent variables. The dependent variables were Guilt Judgment, Trust and Rapport. Participants played the role of a police officer. After receiving information about the case, participants interviewed the suspect by following an interview script. Around one-third of participants changed their mind from judging the suspects to be guilty to judging them to be innocent after listening to their story in an interview. Participants were less confident in judging the suspect to be guilty after the interview compared to before. Strong evidence resulted in higher guilt judgments before and after the interview. Interviewer´s Trust and rapport ratings were generally lower than the interviewee´s implying interviewers perceive the basis of the interaction differently than suspects. One practical key implication of this study is to shed light on the high rate of guilt assumptions and how hard individuals change their mind about the suspect´s guilt especially when evidence initially seems to be strong.
Item Type:	Essay (Bachelor)
Faculty:	BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:	77 psychology
Programme:	Psychology BSc (56604)
Link to this item:	https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/91389
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