Almost every attorney who has been practicing criminal law for any length of time has had many clients that were convicted largely on the basis of statements they gave to police admitting their guilt. Likewise, any law enforcement officer who has been solving crimes knows that many crimes are solved by effective interrogation techniques. I’ll bet  you have even sat back at times and wondered how a person  could be so clueless as to admit their guilt when they clearly should have known better! I know I have been amazed at the number of cases I have been involved in over the years in which defendants facing very lengthy prison terms, or even execution, admitted their guilt- and later they could not understand why they did it! I am  going to offer you the opportunity to discover  why they admitted guilt in an audio course you can listen to at your leisure!

My name is Eric Mings and I am a forensic psychologist practicing primarily in central Florida for over 20 years. I have also been a Continuing Legal Education provider for the Florida Bar for many years.  I have been appointed as a mental health expert in thousands of criminal cases, and testified in numerous cases in both state and federal  courts.  The types of cases I have done range from homeless mentally ill defendants arrested on minor charges to numerous death penalty cases, and about  everything in between that you can imagine. One of the things I enjoy most about my work is the challenge of understanding why people do the things they do. I have often found it to be considerably more clear why a defendant committed a crime than why he admitted to it.

I have always been fascinated with the psychology of police interrogation techniques.  I have  had the opportunity to review many audio, video, and transcribed statements of defendants over the years. However, I never really completely understood the powerful forces at work in police interrogations until I began intensely studying the science of influence and persuasion over the last few years,  and completed advanced training in interrogation techniques by John E. Reid And Associates- the premier interrogation training firm for  local, state, and federal law enforcement.

From the moment I began the interrogation training it all became crystal clear to me. Though the trainers didn’t seem to know it, the techniques they taught were extreme applications of the psychological principals  of influence and persuasion! They were based on the same psychological laws  that have been exploited by marketers and con-men alike for hundreds of years to get normal people to bend to their will. The only difference was that the circumstance of  an interrogation allows for multiplication  of  the powers of these basic laws of human behavior to levels only the most fanatical salesman could ever dream of  achieving!

It all makes perfect sense when you understand the psychology of interrogation techniques. As you may be aware, the power of such techniques has led to unknown numbers of false confessions , as well as statements given by persons who may have been particularly vulnerable to such  techniques due to mental illness or cognitive limitations.

I believe it is critical for attorneys and  law enforcement  to clearly understand the psychology of interrogation techniques in order to be able to understand the power of such techniques and  how they can be effectively used or misused.

In 2008 I created a  presentation  for attorneys to explain interrogation psychology.   I initially presented it as a live lecture  and received very positive feedback.  I  have now turned the presentation into an audio  course available as a CD and/or  mp3 files for the computer or portable music player.  In this course I explain to you in detail the psychological principals  of  influence and persuasion, and how the law enforcement applies  these principals with maximum effect during interrogations. It is must know information for defense attorneys  to protect their clients from misuse or abuse of such techniques, and for law enforcement to understand in order to use  the techniques to maximum effect!