In the next phase of training, detectives become confident in their ability to read the suspect’s nonverbal cues: eye contact, body language, posture, hand gestures, and vehemence of denials. If the person won’t look you in the eye, the manual explains, that’s a sign of lying. If the person slouches (or sits rigidly), those are signs of lying. If the person denies guilt, that’s a sign of lying. Yet the Reid Technique advises interrogators to “deny suspect eye contact.” Deny a suspect the direct eye contact that they themselves regard as evidence of innocence?
