PEACE Model
Definition
A structured interview framework used by UK law enforcement and increasingly by private investigators: Preparation and Planning, Engage and Explain, Account, Closure, Evaluate. Emphasises information-gathering over confession-seeking and aligns with the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 caution requirements.
- Framework origin
- Developed in England and Wales in 1992
- Interview stages
- Five stages: Preparation and Planning, Engage and Explain, Account, Closure, Evaluate
- Core principle
- Information-gathering focused and non-coercive
Common questions
What does PEACE stand for in interrogation?+
PEACE stands for Preparation and Planning, Engage and Explain, Account, Closure, and Evaluate. It is a five-stage interview framework that puts the focus on gathering information rather than forcing a confession.
Why was PEACE model developed?+
The PEACE model was developed in England and Wales in 1992 as an alternative to confession-focused interrogation methods. It adopted a non-coercive approach to interviewing, treating confession as a possible outcome rather than the goal.
Where is the PEACE model used today?+
It started as mandatory practice for English and Welsh police forces but is now adopted across many jurisdictions. The model is built on information-gathering principles rather than coercion.
Related terms
- Cognitive Interview
- A structured witness interview technique developed by Geiselman and Fisher that uses four retrieval aids: mental reinstatement of context, reporting everything without...
- Reid Technique
- The dominant North American police interrogation method developed by John E. Reid and Fred Inbau (1962; 5th edition 2013). Characterised by a...
- Appropriate Adult
- UK PACE Code C requirement: a responsible adult (parent, guardian, social worker, or independent person) who must be present during the detention...
- Behavior Analysis Interview (BAI)
- An interview technique developed by John Reid that involves a structured diagnostic question sequence and claims to differentiate truthful from deceptive subjects...
- Cognitive Load
- The mental effort required to process and respond. Some interview approaches deliberately increase cognitive load on the basis that maintaining a fabricated...
- Compliant False Confession
- A false confession given knowingly by an innocent suspect who yields to interrogation pressure to escape the immediate situation, to gain a...
- Free Narrative
- The uninterrupted portion of an interview in which the subject recounts events in their own words and order. Research consistently shows that...
- Gudjonsson Suggestibility Scales
- Psychometric instruments (GSS-1, GSS-2) measuring Yield (acceptance of misleading suggestions) and Shift (changing answers under pressure). Used to assess whether a suspect's...
- Internalised False Confession
- A confession in which the suspect has come to believe they committed the act, often as a result of intense questioning that...
- Kathi Kalu Oghad Principle
- The Indian Supreme Court's 1961 ruling interpreting Article 20(3) as prohibiting compelled testimonial statements. Combined with BSA provisions rendering police confessions inadmissible,...
- Miranda Warning
- The statement of rights that US police must deliver to a suspect before custodial interrogation, required by the Supreme Court's 1966 decision...
- Miranda Warning (US)
- The required pre-interrogation caution under US constitutional law (Miranda v. Arizona, 1966), notifying a person in custodial police interrogation of the right...
Explained in these topics
- Forensic Interviewing TechniquesA five-stage interview framework developed in England and Wales in 1992 as an alternative to confession-focused interrogation: Preparation and Planning, Engage...
- Interrogation Techniques: Reid, PEACE and False ConfessionsPlanning, Engage and Explain, Account, Closure, Evaluate: the non-coercive, information-gathering-focused investigative interview framework adopted as mandator...
- Interviewing Suspects and Witnesses in Fraud ExaminationsA structured interview framework used by UK law enforcement and increasingly by private investigators: Preparation and Planning, Engage and Explain, Account, C...