"An Experiment on Interrogations"

Abstract :

We test in the lab the efficiency of different types of interrogation environments based on Ispano and Vida (2024). In the UK regime the suspect can eventually only confess or continue the interrogation because adverse inference is drawn from the fact that only guilty suspects remain silent. In the US regime the suspect can also effectively choose to remain silent. This is because in the US drawing adverse inferences from silence is not allowed. First, we study the case when in the US the police have to let a silent suspect go with the prior probability she thinks he is innocent. Then we study other variations.