"Enhanced interrogation" comes to the schoolroom

John E. Reid & Associates is the largest interrogation trainer in the world and teaches such methods to hundreds of school administrators each year . Last month, members of the Illinois Principals Association, for instance, could register for a “professional development” event on “Investigative Interviewing and Active Persuasion”. The School Administrators Association of New York State recently offered a workshop for administrators on this same topic, titled “Are you Sure They Are Telling the Truth”?

These administrators are learning the “ Reid Technique ”, which relies on “maximization” and “minimization” tactics in order to induce suspects to confess. Minimization focuses on reducing a suspect’s feelings of guilt, while maximization is designed to heighten suspect anxiety using confrontation. Both techniques are legal and both are incredibly coercive.

Controlled studies of Reid interrogation have documented that while such techniques may increase the likelihood that a guilty person will confess, they also increase the likelihood that an innocent person will as well. New research released in February found that the Reid technique causes witnesses to falsely implicate others.
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Juvenile coerced confessions share certain hallmarks : use of intimidation, threats, promises of leniency, and outright lies, so that the youth feel their only way out is by confessing. Adult interrogators take advantage of the fact that children are less mature and more susceptible to pressure, and that they lack the experience to make decisions in their best interest. Youth in the criminal justice system are more likely to have diagnosable psychological disorders , and they often fall victim to the “status differential” - youth feel compelled to answer police questions because of the officers’ elevated position of power. All of this is why the young are much more likely than adults to give false confessions.