Establishing facts in court and interrogation techniques in criminal proceedings
- Details
- Published: February 27, 2023
IRZ, the Jordanian Ministry of Justice, the Judicial Council and the Jordanian Judicial Academy, organised a two-day seminar on fact-finding in court and techniques for questioning witnesses and suspects in criminal proceedings on 20- and 21 December 2022. The participants from Jordan were judges from different courts and members of the court inspection.
The presentations by the German and Jordanian speakers addressed the following topics among others:
- Development of investigative and interrogation skills
- Assessment of evidence in criminal proceedings
- Error as an unconscious source of error
- Lying as a conscious source of error
The seminar was opened by Mr. Sidi Mohamed O. Khairy, IRZ Head of Section for the Middle East. He welcomed the participants on behalf of IRZ and contributed to the discussion with questions and suggestions. On the Jordanian side, the event included presentations by Judge Ayman Al-Ghazzawi and Judge Ashraf Al-Abdullah. The two speakers are court inspectors and spoke about the development of investigative and interrogation skills in Jordan. Dr Arnd Weishaupt, judge at the Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court attended as the expert for IRZ.
The ToT seminar focused on conducting the hearings of the witness and the accused and evaluating their statements. Discussions included the topic of error as an unconscious source of error; which are much more common in witness interviews than one might think. Errors in the witness's perception of events and in the replaying of their memories play a role that should not be underestimated. The seminar also explored deliberate lying, the principles of interrogation theory, interrogation psychology and questioning techniques.
The participating judges were very interested in the content of the seminar and took part in the discussion with numerous questions and practical suggestions. It became clear that there are many similarities in the conduct of interrogations between Jordanian and German judges. There are many similarities, notably with respect to interrogation and questioning techniques.
IRZ conducted the ToT seminar as part of a project funded by the Federal Foreign Office on “Support for criminal law reforms in Jordan 2020 – 2023”.