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. 2023 Apr 20;31(2):179-188.
doi: 10.1080/13218719.2023.2175074. eCollection 2024.

Remaining silent during interrogation

Mark D Snow  1 , Quintan Crough  1 , Cassandre Dion Larivière  1 , Funmilola Ogunseye  1 , Joseph Eastwood  1
Affiliations

Remaining silent during interrogation

Mark D Snow et al. Psychiatr Psychol Law. .

Abstract

In many Western jurisdictions, criminal suspects undergoing police interrogations have the right to remain silent. In this experiment, we examined the effects of remaining silent during police questioning on laypersons' perceptions of a suspect. Participants (N = 126) read one of three mock-interview transcripts (i.e. admission, denial or silence) and indicated the extent to which they agreed or disagreed that a male suspect in a missing person case was guilty, cooperative, trustworthy and rational. Participants expressed stronger agreement that the suspect was guilty when he admitted guilt than when he denied involvement or remained silent. When the suspect remained silent, participants viewed the suspect as less cooperative than when the suspect denied or admitted guilt and as less rational than when the suspect denied committing the crime. Our findings provide some support for the notion that remaining silent during police questioning may be viewed unfavourably by external observers.

Keywords: Miranda; interrogation; investigative interview; legal rights; pragmatic implication; right to silence; suspect.

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Conflict of interest statement

Mark D. Snow has declared no conflicts of interest Quintan Crough has declared no conflicts of interest Cassandre Dion Larivière has declared no conflicts of interest Funmilola Ogunseye has declared no conflicts of interest Joseph Eastwood has declared no conflicts of interest

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Descriptive statistics as a function of experimental condition. Note: values are mean ratings on 7-point scales (from 1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree). Error bars are 95% confidence intervals.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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