Teila Clift | Sheffield Hallam University (original) (raw)

Papers by Teila Clift

Crisis (hostage) negotiation has been described as the most significant development in law enforc... more Crisis (hostage) negotiation has been described as the most significant development in law enforcement and police psychology over the past several decades. This paper reviews three primary components of crisis negotiation: (1) the incorporation of crisis management and intervention in current broad-spectrum approaches to crisis negotiation; (2) the Behavioral Change Stairway Model (BCSM), constructed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) Crisis Negotiation Unit (CNU), that provides a systematic, multistep process directed toward peaceful, nonlethal resolution of critical incidents; and (3) role-playing as a vital tool in the assessment and training of crisis negotiation skills. Advancements and limitations in the field of crisis negotiation are highlighted; suggestions for directions that future work in this area might take are offered. D

Over the past three decades, there has been a noted increase in hostage and barricade incidents i... more Over the past three decades, there has been a noted increase in hostage and barricade incidents involving perpetrators with a variety of emotional, economic, and political motives. A hostage incident may be de®ned as an incident in which (a) perpetrator(s) hold(s) one or more persons against their will in a location known to police. A barricade incident, on the other hand, is an incident without hostages in which a perpetrator is barricaded, also in a location known to police and refusing to surrender.

This article explores the role of hostage (crisis) negotiation in the 21st century by reviewing l... more This article explores the role of hostage (crisis) negotiation in the 21st century by reviewing literature on hostage negotiation historically, the dynamics of crisis situations typically encountered by hostage negotiators, the models existing to conceptualize crisis negotiation, and the strategies utilized by negotiators to successfully resolve crisis situations. The article then suggests possible advancements or directions for further research within the field of hostage negotiation, with particular reference to the requirement for cross-cultural comparison of techniques and strategies utilized by negotiators internationally to provide a better understanding of the cultural uniqueness/understanding of crisis negotiators operating within different countries. The article also suggests a shift in the focus of research looking at techniques and strategies which result in successful resolution of crisis situations onto the identification of negotiator characteristics and traits which govern effective negotiation and ability to cope with the pressures instilled by the role.

This study represents one of the first empirical investigations of the efficacy of crisis (hostag... more This study represents one of the first empirical investigations of the efficacy of crisis (hostage) negotiation training. Forty-five special agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) were assessed on a role-play test of crisis negotiation skill before and after completing the FBI's 2week National Crisis Negotiation Course at the FBI Academy. This multiple-component, behaviorally based program focuses on the training of active list skills (e.g., paraphrasing, emotional labeling) and a number of other vital competencies requisite to successful diffusion and resolution of crisis situations. Results showed significant pre-post differences on nearly all active listening skills for course participants. Further, attempts to problem solve, often detrimental in early phases of crisis negotiation, decreased as related to training.

Role playing has been a mainstay of behavioral assessment for decades. In recent years, however, ... more Role playing has been a mainstay of behavioral assessment for decades. In recent years, however, this analogue strategy has also enjoyed widespread application in the field of law enforcement. Most notably, role-play procedures have become an integral component of assessment and training efforts in hostage and crisis negotiation, which attempts to resolve high-risk and often volatile situations in a peaceful, nonviolent manner when possible. The purpose of this paper is to (a) describe development and validation of a roleplay test specifically geared toward law enforcement negotiators, (b) present different role-play formats that have been incorporated in law enforcement negotiation training, and (c) discuss limitations and considerations in use of these instruments. Suggestions for directions that future efforts in this area might take are offered. The heuristic value of role playing in crisis management, counterterrorism, and emergency and mass casualty disaster training exercises is also underscored.

Wales, Australia in the process of serving a "high-risk warrant" on an armed and dangerous man wh... more Wales, Australia in the process of serving a "high-risk warrant" on an armed and dangerous man who was expected to resist. Through an analysis of the interaction between the perpetrator and the negotiator, this paper demonstrates that the use of active listening in the early stages of the negotiation was a critical factor in the resolution of this crisis and is an essential skill for any hostage negotiator.

Hostage negotiators are in the communication business. In negotiating courses, negotiators are ta... more Hostage negotiators are in the communication business. In negotiating courses, negotiators are taught the basic principles of communicating. Very few negotiators are taught advanced communication techniques that are designed to influence others and increase compliance. The purpose of this paper is to present a model of negotiating developed by Ury (1991) and specific influence and compliance techniques discussed by . Ury's model presents a five stage program for getting agreement. The model was designed to deal with difficult negotiating situations, including hostage incidents. The techniques of influence and compliance are techniques which rely on automatic, unconscious behaviors and are powerful determinants in changing behavior and attitudes. The negotiator who knows and utilizes these techniques is at a tremendous advantage over the hostage taker and greatly increases the probability of being successful in negotiations.

The Moscow theater hostage crisis was a spectacular media event, which sparked a wide domestic an... more The Moscow theater hostage crisis was a spectacular media event, which sparked a wide domestic and international debate concerning the appropriateness of the Russian response. This article attempts to reconstruct and assess the events that took place in terms of negotiability of the incident, and seeks to provide an analytical perspective on the possible alternatives that were available to the Russian authorities throughout the crisis. Part I provides a brief overview of the events that unfolded. This section of the article also places Chechen motivations behind the incident into perspective with regard to past Chechen operations and to their overall strategy. Part II focuses on the details of the attack itself, particularly the Russian response. Special attention is devoted to analyzing the successes and failures of both the negotiations and the tactical assault. The conclusion discusses the implications of the Moscow theater incident for the future, including its potential impact on the likelihood of success of crisis negotiation strategies and the future tactics of the Chechen rebels.

Whether it is a barricaded crisis situation or negotiations with a bad actor holding hostages, th... more Whether it is a barricaded crisis situation or negotiations with a bad actor holding hostages, the keys to success are the skills of the negotiator or intervener to effectively communicate. Little else matters if communications is not established, maintained and utilized in such a way that management of the instant situation becomes possible. Most negotiators think that they are effective communicators. Some are. Many are not. Communications must be practiced over and over again to assure proficiency. This article provides the rudiments of the skills needed for success in the field.

The authors examined how a crime schema influenced the types of details witnesses recalled over m... more The authors examined how a crime schema influenced the types of details witnesses recalled over multiple interviews that varied in delay before the initial interview and between subsequent interviews. Accuracy data showed that, in general, schema-irrelevant traces experienced greater decay than schemaconsistent and schema-inconsistent traces after the initial interview and that delaying the initial interview negatively affected recall at the initial interview but led to less decay over subsequent interviews. Ambiguity of the crime stimulus was also manipulated. Witnesses used their schemas to interpret ambiguous information and, as a result, made more schema-consistent intrusions and less correct responses and were more likely to report false memories that involved conscious recollection (using the remember-know paradigm).

The study aimed to classify non-harassers, minor, and severe harassers based on responses to meas... more The study aimed to classify non-harassers, minor, and severe harassers based on responses to measures of jealousy, dependency, attachment, perpetration, and victimization of relationship aggression, and harassment victimization, in a convenience sample of undergraduate students. Respondents (n=177) replied on the following scales: Unwanted Pursuit Behaviors Inventory (UPBI: Langhinrichsen-Rohling et al., Violence and Victims 15:73-89, 2000), Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS: Straus, Journal of Marriage and the Family 41:75-88, 1979, measuring physical and verbal aggression for respondents and their partners), Sexual Jealousy Scale adult attachment). Discriminant Function Analysis (DFA)

In a stalking scenario, the prior relationship between and the gender of stalker and victim were ... more In a stalking scenario, the prior relationship between and the gender of stalker and victim were systematically manipulated in order to judge culpability and consequences for the persons involved. Written vignettes were presented to 168 participants who responded via seven Likert scales. Stalker-victim relationship had three levels: ex-partner, acquaintance and stranger. In accordance with the 'Just World' hypothesis , the victim was judged as having greater responsibility for the stalking when their harasser was an ex-partner or a prior acquaintance rather than a stranger, and police intervention was felt to be most necessary when the stalker was a stranger. Sex of stalker and victim was manipulated, and the following comparisons proved signi cant: when the perpetrator was male, bodily injury to the victim was seen as more likely and police intervention as more necessary than when the perpetrator was female; and male victims were viewed as more responsible for the scenario and as possessing greater powers to alleviate it. The Just World hypothesis and gender stereotypes provide a plausible account for these ndings. Future research should determine whether criminal convictions show similar biases towards convicting male and stranger stalkers more often than female and ex-partner stalkers.

Generally positive correlations between different ability tests provide the evidence for a factor... more Generally positive correlations between different ability tests provide the evidence for a factor of"general intelligence" or Spearman's g. Though a possible neural substrate for g is suggested by executive impairments following frontal lobe lesions, preserved IQs in some frontal patients have been taken as strong evidence against this interpretation. We show that such results depend on how g is measured. Patients with superior IQs on the most clinically popular test--the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale--show impairments of 2~60 points on conventionally measured fluid intelhgence or novel problem solving. On psychometric grounds, it is fluid intelligence that is most closely related to Spearman's g. The data suggest that g may in large part be a reflection of frontal functions.

Initial reports of domestic violence are generally made to law enforcement officers who must resp... more Initial reports of domestic violence are generally made to law enforcement officers who must respond and intervene. A subset of these episodes involves cases in which the victim, and, in many instances her child(ren), have been taken hostage by her husband or partner. Moreover, there are indications that the number of such incidents is growing. The purpose of this project was twofold: (1) to provide one of the first reports on the prevalence and characteristics of these events, and (2) to more closely analyze domestic crisis (hostage) situations using actual case examples. All information was obtained from the Hostage Barricade Database System (HOBAS) of the FBI's Crisis Negotiation Unit. HOBAS is a postincident information collection tool which stores historical data from law enforcement agencies across the nation on hostage/barricade incidents. An examination of this database yielded different types of domestic hostage-taking acts and outcomes (e.g., tactical vs. negotiated resolutions, survival vs. death/injury of perpetrator and/or victim[s]). Implications of the findings, for future crisis negotiation efforts directed toward nonviolent resolution of these high-risk critical incidents, are discussed.