Law Technology

Some Thoughts on Interrogation and Questioning

I was an interrogator for the U.S. Army for 7 years and taught interrogation for 3 years. I learned a lot. Some of the things I learned that can be applied to being a trial lawyer:

• Proper Questioning: Ask the question you want the answer to. We speak in a lexical shorthand and are not as precise as we need to be. Common speaking habits allow for ambiguity between the question being asked and the question being answered. Good questioning techniques can eliminate this.
• Control Questions: We always checked the answers for external and internal consistency. Internal consistency was whether the story was consistent with what the person being questioned had told us earlier and external consistency was whether it matched with known facts.
• Control of a Witness: When a witness’ story did not match, bringing them back in line, simply and easily.

These were good skills to learn and helpful in depositions and cross examination. I used to tell people that interrrogation was much more psychology and good questioning techniques, than the torture you saw in Rambo movies. I used to tell people that the United States followed the Geneva Conventions and the Hage Laws of Land Warfare. Unfortunately, I can’t say that anymore.

But the questioning skills that I learned as an interrogator have been invaluable.

Full post as published by South Carolina Trial Law Blog on July 26, 2008 (boomark / email).