Investigation Into the Effective and Ethical Interviewing of Suspected Sex Offenders

• NCJ Number: 217149
• Author(s): Mark Kebbell; Emily Hurren; Paul Mazerolle
• Date Published: November 2006
• Length: 6 pages
• Sale Source: Australian Institute of Criminology
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: Australia
• Note: AIC Trends & Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice, No. 27, November 2006.

Annotation

This report discusses the findings of four studies that investigated methods of improving police interviewing of suspected sex offenders to increase the likelihood of a guilty offender confessing.

Abstract

In the first study of convicted sex offenders’ perceptions of police interviewing, approximately half of the convicted sex offenders reported that prior to the interview they had not decided whether to confess or not, which demonstrates the influence of the police interview in securing a confession. Offenders who confessed to their crimes reported doing so to receive a more lenient sentence and to appease their feelings of guilt. The second study of sex offenders’ perceptions of the police highlighted the importance of ethical and humane interviewing techniques. The third study, which involved experimental manipulations of the presentation of police evidence, revealed that the more accurate the police evidence was, the higher the likelihood a guilty suspect would confess. The fourth study of police officers’ perceptions of sex offender interviews indicated that police believed that the evidence they had against a suspect was a good indication of whether a suspect would confess or not. All four studies indicate that evidence is an important factor in a suspect’s decision regarding confession. It is recommended that these findings be used to devise strategies for improving the presentation of evidence to suspects during interviews. Specific strategies suggested by the findings include the use of ethical interviewing techniques, the use of minimization when discussing the crime, and the display of an understanding of the cognitive distortions of suspects. The four studies relied on different types of data: (1) study 1 used data from interviews with 19 convicted sex offenders; (2) study 2 examined survey responses of 44 convicted male sex offenders; (3) study 3 relied on experimental laboratory methods that used 40 mock suspects to determine the influence of the accuracy and detail of evidence on decisions to confess; and (4) study 4 drew data from interviews with 13 experienced police officers. Tables, references