Interviewing techniques presented in textbooks or during seminars generally assume that the person being interviewed is an emotionally healthy and mature individual with a normal IQ. Twenty-five years ago, when the epidemic of unreported child sexual abuse attracted national attention, specific interviewing techniques were developed to address the special circumstances of eliciting information from a child. Contemporary investigators are now dealing ...

It is human nature to put off unpleasant decisions. Being in my 50's, I know that I need to eventually get long-term care insurance. Even though I fully intend to do this, I can come up with all sorts of reasons why I do not have to do it today. Many guilty suspects experience the same thought process during an interrogation. ...

Upon arrival at a major crime scene, officers must have the ability to effectively multi-task utilizing what often amounts to be very limited resources. Supervising officers and investigators must work diligently and take steps in order to preserve the integrity of any evidence and the scene as a whole in order to facilitate an effective investigation as well as effective prosecution. ...

A number of recent cases involving an investigator’s use of trickery and deceit during an interrogation have caused problems in the subsequent trial. In some of these cases the confession was suppressed. These cases have not involved a novel legal argument or radical interpretations of current law. Rather, existing laws have been applied in a predictable manner in situations in which ...

During our training seminars we advocate that if the option is available it is preferable to conduct a non-custodial interview rather than a custodial interview. To persuade a guilty subject to voluntarily agree to present himself at the investigator's location for an interview requires that the interview be introduced in the proper manner. A past case clearly illustrates an improper approach: ...

A suspect guilty of a crime often displays attitudes during an interview which are typically quite different from those attitudes exhibited by an innocent person. During an investigation, an investigator may note that one subject appeared spontaneous, open and confident, while a second subject may be described as being unconcerned, guarded and unhelpful. Each of these general characteristics represent the subject's ...

It is a common trial strategy for an attorney to attack inconsistencies within testimony offered by a victim, witness, or an investigator. And yet most victims, witnesses and investigators tell the truth when testifying. On the other hand, consider a suspect who told an arresting officer that a friend drove him home on the night of a crime. Several hours later ...

An earlier web tip discussed the evaluation of inconsistencies within a suspect's statements. Inconsistencies represent factual changes in an account whereas omissions represent expected information not included within a response. It must be realized that both truthful and deceptive subjects will edit (omit) information from an account. Consequently, it is not the presence of an omission that necessarily indicates deception, but ...

During the course of interviewing a suspect who is guilty of committing a crime it is not uncommon for the suspect to acknowledge some level of responsibility for committing the crime. While the suspect’s statement falls short of an admission of guilt, in many situations it becomes a behavior symptom supporting the suspect’s probable guilt. Examples of these circumstances include the ...

An investigator is asking a great deal from a guilty suspect to confess to a crime which may potentially involve substantial punishment. For this reason, the suspect must be allowed to make his first admission of guilt with as few words as possible and also in a way that allows him to save face. In the Reid Nine Steps of Interrogation, ...

During the course of an investigation an investigator often must rely on duplicity and pretense in an effort to develop evidence against the guilty suspect. Common examples include the use of undercover operatives, hidden surveillance video or "baiting" a cash drawer with extra money. Provided these procedures do not entice a person to commit a crime (entrapment), they are generally acceptable ...

An interview is designed not only to collect and gather information but to assess the credibility of the person offering that information. In some instances the investigator will have clear evidence to validate a subject’s information such as surveillance video, documents or forensic evidence. Oftentimes, however, such evidence does not exist and the investigator must rely on interviewing techniques and behavior ...

Throughout history man has tried to identify a single, unique physiological responses that would only be present when a person lied. In the 1970's a phenomenon known as a vocal micro tremor was identified and seemed to be only present in a person's voice during periods of high stress. Before any serious research could be conducted, entrepreneurs seized the opportunity to ...

Of all possible evidence presented against a defendant at trial, a confession is afforded the most weight. Because of this, we have maintained that a confession must satisfy two requirements. A confession is a statement that (1) accepts personal responsibility for committing a crime along with (2) the circumstances and details of the crime. There are two types of details of ...

Within the last year numerous inmates have been released from prison and had their convictions overturned as the result of post-trial exculpatory evidence. Many of these individuals confessed to the police. In some cases, the false confession was admitted as evidence. In other cases, the false confession was used as leverage to urge the suspect to accept a plea bargain, resulting ...

In my consulting work I review many, many video taped or even audio taped interviews. Of course there are some great interviews and occasionally some not so good. There are also many cases when the interviewer does an excellent job of controlling the subject through the 5 stress response states and perfectly attacks a subject's deception. One area that always seems ...

The primary goal of an interview is to develop meaningful information from a subject. The first step in this process is to ask the right questions. However, merely asking the right questions will not guarantee that a subject will tell the truth. To learn the truth or to elicit behavior symptoms indicating probable deception it is often necessary to ask follow-up ...

n earlier web tip offered guidelines to interpret a subject's verbal behavior (Sept. 1999). In addition to assessing the truthfulness of a response, verbal behavior also provides insight for asking follow-up questions. The fact that the subject's initial response to a question contains an identifiable behavior symptom often indicates that the subject is not comfortable telling an out-right lie. Under this ...

Two conditions must be satisfied before a person decides to commit a crime. The first is that the individual must believe that he or she will not be punished for the crime. For example, no sane person would set their neighbor’s house on fire or download pornography on a company computer if they knew that they would suffer consequences for their ...

One of if not the most challenging interviews or interrogations to conduct are that of the psychopath. Estimated by some experts to comprise about 7% of the world’s population, psychopaths make up approximately 55% of the U.S. prison population and are credited with committing roughly 80% of the violent crimes. The interview or interrogation of the psychopaths confirms that a standard ...