Interviewing suspects: examining the association between skills, questioning, evidence disclosure, and interview outcomes

Walsh, Dave; Bull, Ray

doi:10.1080/1068316x.2015.1028544

Cited by 70 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Furthermore, almost half of the investigators planned to use a strategic disclosure mode for each critical piece of evidence. These findings are consistent with the outcome of previous studies conducted in England and Wales (e.g., Smith & Bull, ; Walsh & Bull, ). This is not surprising considering that the current sample consisted of investigators from countries that have adopted an information gathering approach to suspect interviewing (KREATIV in Norway, Fahsing & Rachlew, ; The General Interview Strategy in the Netherlands, Hoekendijk & van Beek, ; PEACE model in England and Wales, Milne & Bull, ).…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

“…It could be argued that in self‐report studies, investigators may provide answers that are socially desirable; thus, these responses may not fully reflect their behavior in real life. However, this concern may be unfounded because the findings from archival studies examining investigators' evidence use in various countries (in the United States, Leo, ; in Australia, Sellers & Kebbell, ; in the UK, Walsh & Bull, ) were in line with the findings obtained from investigators' self‐reports in the same countries (in the United States, Kassin et al, ; in Australia, Smith & Bull, ; in the UK, Walsh et al, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…Furthermore, Walsh and Bull () examined the association between the timing of the evidence disclosure and the interview outcome and found that gradual and late disclosure models (vs. early disclosure) resulted in more comprehensive accounts. However, it is unclear from this study whether these accounts consisted of an expanded knowledge of the phase of the crime to which the disclosed evidence pertained or admissions about a critical phase to which evidence was lacking.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Police officers' use of evidence to elicit admissions in a fictitious criminal case

Tekin

Granhag

Strömwall

et al. 2016

Journal Invest Psychology

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We examined how police officers planned to interview suspects in a situation where they lacked information about a critical phase of a crime (i.e., the time during which the crime took place) but possessed information about less critical phases of the crime (i.e., the time before and/or after the crime took place). The main focus was the officers' planned use of the available information (evidence) to elicit admissions about the critical phase. A survey was distributed to police officers (n = 69) containing a fictitious murder case for which they were to prepare an interview with a suspect. The investigators planned to disclose the evidence more often in a strategic manner (obtaining the suspect's statement and exhausting alternative scenarios before revealing the evidence) than in a nonstrategic manner (revealing the evidence before requiring an explanation). The investigators' most frequently reported reason for their planned evidence use was to collect additional information about the particular phase to which the disclosed evidence pertained. It was rare that the investigators planned to disclose the evidence about a less critical phase of the crime in order to elicit admissions about the more critical phase (e.g., by disclosing the evidence to try to shift the suspect's counter-interrogation strategy from less to more forthcoming). The investigators may benefit from recent research showing that strategic evidence disclosure can be used as a means to elicit admissions about a phase of a crime for which information is lacking.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Police officers' use of evidence to elicit admissions in a fictitious criminal case

Tekin

Granhag

Strömwall

et al. 2016

Journal Invest Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…by using think aloud methodologies). Recent research on developing effective strategies when interviewing suspects has emphasised the importance of developing an interview strategy (Dando et al 2015;Hartwig et al 2005aHartwig et al , b, 2006Hartwig et al , 2007van der Sleen 2009;Walsh and Bull 2015). The necessity to plan interviews should not be overlooked, being as important as other investigative tasks.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Planning Ahead? An Exploratory Study of South Korean Investigators’ Beliefs About Their Planning for Investigative Interviews of Suspects

Kim

Walsh

Bull

et al. 2017

J Police Crim Psych

Self Cite

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Preparation and planning has been argued to be vitally important as to how effectively investigators undertake their interviews with suspects. Yet, it has also been found in previous research that investigators admit that they plan only occasionally, often attributing insufficient time as a reason for not undertaking the task. Employing a novel research paradigm that utilised theoretical foundations concerning planning, the present study explored empirically 95 South Korean financial crime investigators' views, using a selfadministered questionnaire. With the use of secondgeneration statistical modelling, an understanding was developed of the relative relationships between various concepts (which had themselves emerged from an established theoretical framework of planning that had been further extended to accommodate the context of the present study). The study found that perceived time pressures actually showed a very low association with interview planning. Rather, investigators' self-belief as to their own capability alongside workplace culture was each found to have stronger associations with investigators' intentions to plan for their interviews. As such, we argue that there should be more focus on improving occupational culture relating to interview planning, while developing training programs that identify, evaluate, and enhance investigators' planning skills. Implications for practice are therefore discussed.

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“…Leading questions, which the PEACE model discourages (Walsh & Bull, ) in the United Kingdom, are also a possible breach of Sections 76 and 78 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (Clarke & Milne, ). Leading questions are generally observed infrequently in interviews conducted by officers in the United Kingdom (Clarke et al, ; Read, Powell, Kebbell, Milne, & Steinberg, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The combined effects of questioning technique and interviewer manner on false confessions

Paton

Bain

Gozna

et al. 2018

Journal Invest Psychology

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Although it is known that interrogation tactics can elicit false confessions and interviewer manner may determine the outcome of an interview, the combined effects of questioning technique and interviewer manner on false confessions have not been examined empirically. Following a false accusation of theft, participants were interviewed in one of four questioning conditions (minimisation, repetitive questioning, leading questions, and nonleading questions) in which interviewers adopted a stern or friendly manner.Perceptions of pressure to confess and interviewer behaviours were measured. Significantly more false confessions were elicited using nonleading questions rather than repetitive questioning. More false confessions were elicited in the friendly interviewer condition than in the stern interviewer condition. Neither interviewer manner nor questioning technique had a significant effect on subjective ratings of pressure to confess. The finding that false confessions may be elicited in the absence of coercive tactics may have implications for informing best practices in investigative interviewing.

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Interviewing suspects: examining the association between skills, questioning, evidence disclosure, and interview outcomes

Cited by 70 publications

References 34 publications

Police officers' use of evidence to elicit admissions in a fictitious criminal case

Police officers' use of evidence to elicit admissions in a fictitious criminal case

Planning Ahead? An Exploratory Study of South Korean Investigators’ Beliefs About Their Planning for Investigative Interviews of Suspects

The combined effects of questioning technique and interviewer manner on false confessions

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