Interviewing Suspects

Sooner or later, most criminal investigations result in one or several suspects being interviewed. The outcome of the suspect interview is central to any investigation. This chapter discusses what police officers are told to do with respect to interviewing suspects, and what they actually do. It offers a few words on what police officers should do and what they should not do with respect to suspect interviewing. Accusatorial interview practices are marked by an asymmetric power relationship between the interviewer and the suspect, where the interviewer is in control. Other typical indicators of accusatorial methods are the use of psychological manipulation, the use of confirmatory questions and primarily seeking to elicit a confession from the suspect. The risk of false confessions has been central to policy changes in interview practices. Similarly, the topic of false confessions has been a driving force for empirical research on suspect interviewing.