PEACE Model vs Reid Technique: What Is the Difference?

By Murder Book Editorial TeamPublished by Gungrounds, the studio making Murder BookPublished 3 October 2026Updated 3 October 2026

The PEACE model and the Reid Technique are two widely discussed frameworks for questioning suspects, and they take opposite approaches. The Reid Technique, dominant in North American police training since the 1960s, is an accusatorial method that assumes guilt and uses psychological pressure to secure a confession. The PEACE model, introduced in England and Wales in 1992, is an information-gathering approach that uses rapport, open questions and structured evidence disclosure to obtain accurate accounts. Research comparing the two consistently favours information-gathering methods: a 2014 meta-analysis found that they produce more true confessions and fewer false confessions than accusatorial techniques.

Key takeaways

The Reid Technique is accusatorial, starting from a presumption of guilt and working toward a confession through confrontation and psychological pressure.
The PEACE model is non-accusatorial, treating the interview as a search for information rather than a test of guilt.
A meta-analysis by Meissner and colleagues (2014) found that information-gathering methods increased true confessions and reduced false confessions compared with accusatorial approaches.
England and Wales adopted PEACE partly in response to miscarriages of justice linked to coerced confessions.
Neither model guarantees accurate results, but the research evidence more strongly supports information-gathering approaches.

What is the Reid Technique?

The Reid Technique was developed by John E. Reid and Associates in the United States. It structures suspect questioning into two phases: a preliminary behavioural analysis interview, used to assess whether the suspect appears truthful or deceptive, and a nine-step interrogation process applied when the investigator believes the suspect is guilty.

The nine steps include direct confrontation with the accusation, theme development (offering the suspect moral justifications for the offence), handling denials, overcoming objections and presenting an "alternative question" that assumes guilt in either answer, such as "Did you plan this or did it just happen?" For a deeper look, see the Reid Technique explained.

Key criticisms of the Reid Technique include:

Presumption of guilt. The interrogation phase begins only after the investigator has decided the suspect is guilty, which introduces confirmation bias.
Behavioural analysis. The pre-interrogation assessment relies on behavioural cues that research shows are weak indicators of deception. Bond and DePaulo (2006) found that people judge lies and truths correctly about 54% of the time, barely above chance.
False confession risk. Kassin and Gudjonsson (2004) identified the Reid Technique's use of minimisation, maximisation and false evidence as risk factors for false confessions, particularly with vulnerable suspects.
Deception by the interviewer. The method permits investigators to claim they have evidence they do not, a practice that has been linked to false confessions in documented cases.

What is the PEACE model?

PEACE stands for Planning and preparation, Engage and explain, Account, Closure and Evaluation. It was developed in England and Wales in the early 1990s by a collaboration between police officers and psychologists, including contributions from researchers such as Ray Bull.

Each phase serves a specific purpose:

Planning and preparation. The interviewer reviews the evidence, identifies key points to cover and plans the structure of the interview before it begins.
Engage and explain. The interviewer establishes rapport, explains the purpose and process of the interview and sets expectations.
Account. The core of the interview. The interviewer uses open-ended prompts to let the interviewee provide a free narrative, then follows up with probing questions. Evidence is introduced strategically to test the account rather than to overwhelm the suspect.
Closure. The interviewer summarises the account, gives the interviewee an opportunity to add or correct anything and explains what happens next.
Evaluation. After the interview, the investigator evaluates the information obtained against the existing evidence.

The PEACE model does not aim for a confession. It aims for an account that can be tested against the evidence. This means that even a denial or a "no comment" interview can be useful if the interviewer has gathered enough information to compare with other evidence.

What does the research say?

The most comprehensive comparison comes from Meissner, Redlich, Michael, Evans, Camilletti, Bhatt and Brandon (2014), who conducted a meta-analytic review of studies comparing accusatorial and information-gathering methods. They found that information-gathering approaches produced significantly more true confessions and significantly fewer false confessions than accusatorial techniques. The effect held across both laboratory experiments and field studies.

Walsh and Bull (2010) studied real police interviews in England and Wales and found that interviews rated as more skilled, those using rapport, open questions and a structured approach, were more likely to obtain confessions or significant admissions than less-skilled or confrontational interviews.

Snook, Eastwood, Stinson, Tedeschini and House (2010) reviewed Canadian police interviewing practices and found that training still relied heavily on the Reid Technique. They recommended a shift to a PEACE-based model, arguing that the evidence base for information-gathering methods was stronger and that the risks associated with accusatorial techniques were well documented.

Vrij, Meissner, Fisher, Kassin, Morgan and Kleinman (2017) reviewed the broader psychological evidence on interrogation and concluded that rapport-based approaches are more effective than coercive ones at obtaining reliable information.

Feature	Reid Technique	PEACE model
Origin	United States, 1960s	England and Wales, 1992
Starting assumption	Suspect is guilty	No assumption; open inquiry
Goal	Confession	Accurate, testable account
Questioning style	Closed, confrontational, leading	Open-ended, narrative-based
Evidence presentation	Front-loaded to overwhelm	Disclosed strategically to test the account
Deception by interviewer	Permitted	Not permitted
Rapport	Tactical, secondary	Central to the process
Post-interview evaluation	Focus on confession obtained	Evaluation of information against evidence
False confession risk	Higher (per research)	Lower (per research)

Why did England and Wales adopt PEACE?

The shift was driven in part by several miscarriages of justice in the 1970s and 1980s in which coerced confessions played a central role. The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) introduced new safeguards for suspects, including the right to legal representation and mandatory audio recording of interviews. PEACE was developed to provide a framework that complied with these safeguards and drew on emerging psychological research about effective interviewing.

The Mendez Principles, published in 2021, build on the same evidence base and recommend non-coercive, information-gathering methods as an international standard.

Is the Reid Technique still used?

Yes. The Reid Technique remains the dominant training model in the United States and is widely used in Canada and some other countries. John E. Reid and Associates continue to offer training and have responded to criticisms by emphasising that their method distinguishes between an "interview" (non-accusatorial) and an "interrogation" (accusatorial) and that interrogation should be used only when there is sufficient evidence of involvement.

Critics argue that in practice the distinction is often blurred and that the structural features of the technique, particularly the presumption of guilt and the use of minimisation and deception, create risks regardless of how carefully they are applied.

How does Murder Book reflect these approaches?

Murder Book: The Art of Interrogation is an upcoming narrative interrogation game from Gungrounds, an independent studio in Zagreb, Croatia. Development screenshots show a technique menu with both rapport-based and confrontational options. Build Trust is described as "fostering an environment where the suspect feels comfortable and secure enough to communicate openly," echoing the rapport principle at the core of PEACE. Techniques such as Confrontation, Bluffing and Baiting suggest that players also have access to more pressure-based tactics.

The game's in-game casebook lists behavioural entries such as Avoidance, Fabrication and Emotional Fading, which players must evaluate rather than treat as proof. Development materials show a branching case map with different endings, implying that the approach a player chooses shapes the outcome. This mirrors the real-world research finding that method matters: how you question someone affects what you get back.

Murder Book is in development for PC (Steam) and mobile, with release currently planned for the end of Q2 2027.