POLICE INTERROGATION

We describe a study of more than 1000 interrogations by Metropolitan P olice Officers. Obtaining a confession is found to be the paramount re ason for interviewing a suspect. However, few suspects who did not ini tially confess changed their minds during the interview. 42% of suspec ts admitted their guilt-about the same number as obtained before tape recording of interviews was introduced. Strength of evidence and legal advice were the principal factors associated with confessing. The con fession rate also varied according to which police station hosted the ''interview''. An ''accusatorial'' style of questioning was associated with the possession of strong evidence against the suspect.