Interviewing Cooperative Witnesses

Abstract

Police interviews of witnesses are critical for solving crimes, yet police are poorly trained and often make mistakes when interviewing witnesses who are cooperative. To overcome this limitation, researchers have developed the cognitive interview (CI), which incorporates principles of cognitive and social psychology in a face-to-face interview format. Laboratory and field research show that the CI elicits considerably more information than conventional interviews in criminal and noncriminal investigations. We explore the real-world applications of the CI.