The authors examine some issues arising in the situations when inquiry officers and investigators face hostile speech from interrogated persons during the pre-trial interrogations. The authors analyze research publications that present a variety of views on the concept of «hostile speech» in psychology and jurisprudence; they also identify the reasons why interrogated persons use such speech. It is stressed that when an inquiry officer or an interrogator faces such a reaction during the preliminary investigation, they should immediately neutralize hostile speech and eliminate its causes (the first group of tasks), preserve self-control (restraint) and ability to work (the second group of tasks), and choose the optimal line of behavior (line of interrogation). The authors justify the choice of the corresponding line of interrogation depending on the behavior of the interrogated person: in cases of hostile speech, the line of interrogation could be passive wait-and-see, i.e. without any reaction to the outbursts of the interrogated person if the aggression has objective causes, or active wait-and-see if there are no such causes. Additional mechanisms of counteracting hostile speech from an interrogated person or reducing its intensity, as well as preserving the self-control of the inquiry officer or an interrogator, include using different psychological methods of interrogation: shifting the gaze; activating the positive features of the interrogated person; blocking the negative content; silence; stopping or putting off the interrogation. Since targeted hostile speech leaves a strong trace in the mental state of the recipient and creates a high possibility of conflict between the participants of preliminary investigation, an inquiry officer or an interrogator should learn to control their verbal and non-verbal reactions. The authors stress the necessity of developing self-control through special exercises because it is very important for an interrogator to develop an ability to regulate their own emotional state, manifested in the ability to concentrate, sustain and switch volitional attention though the creation of mental images.
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