Article Summary
Assignment #1 – FYSM 1310B

For:Shevaun Corey By: Emily Harper 100888180 October 10th, 2012

The initial part of this article, “When should evidence be disclosed in an interview with a suspect? An experiment with mock-suspects” (2009) by Steven Sellars and Mark R. Kebbell, is a review of different experiments done by others regarding the strength of evidence and timing of disclosure of the evidence to suspects of crimes. This paper is important because it provides useful knowledge for police to have when interviewing suspects and trying to get confessions. According to different researchers referenced in this article the consensus is that if you have strong evidence against suspects it leads to a higher rate of confession. However there seems to be more controversy in the studies of when the evidence should be disclosed to suspects. Some say it should be very early on in the interview. Others say it can be dangerous to disclose evidence early if your goal is a confession because the suspect will become defensive and go into denial mode and stay there. The initial moments of the interview shapes the relationship between the interviewer and suspect and might be better used to develop trust, which could lead to later confession. Another reason against early disclosure is if the police present their story first the suspect can shape their story in order to protect themselves. The authors who do favour early evidence disclosure still believe it