Lecture notes
Investigative interviewing
- Institution
- University Of Portsmouth (UoP)
Document containing information about investigative interviewing techniques.
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Investigative InterviewingKey Words:
o Investigative interviewing = a non-coercive method for questioning victims,
witnesses and suspects of crime.
Key Studies:
Risan et al (2020): during interviews, police may encounter someone who has
experienced a lot of trauma and so they need to know how to interview them
correctly. They have to consider type/nature of the trauma e.g., whether it was a
single event or over a long period of time and how the trauma has affected the
individual e.g., flashbacks/ intrusive memories may cause ‘zoning out’, the
interviewee may avoid talking about certain aspects which creates a barrier to
collecting a detailed coherent account.
- the goals of interviewing a traumatised interviewee are: to obtain as much
information as possible, reduce contamination of memory and minimise
harm/distress.
- the interviewer should be open, flexible, non-coercive, accept the emotions that
occur, facilitate safety and create a relational context to increase communication
flow.
- to prepare for the interview a strategy can be developed stating what will be
covered and then a plan made to describe how the strategy will be done, the
interviewer should consider how the aims will be achieved this is achieved by having
knowledge of the victim and the investigation. The interviewer can contact the
interviewee before the interview to get to know them, talk to them about the
purpose and structure of the interview and who will be there, the location. A
practice interview may also be relevant to increase comfort and address concerns of
the interviewee.
- establishing rapport has 3 components: mutual attentiveness, positivity and
coordination, it also concerns the social influence of the interviewer. The rapport
needs to be maintained for the whole interview. First establishing a trusting, goal-
oriented relationship which enhances the interviewees’ ability to communicate. The
interviewer should personalise themself e.g., by giving their name.
- free recall after rapport is established, employing active listening and prompts to
enhance communication and the interviewer can use this as the basis to form
questions but should avoid leading the narrative in a particular direction (witness
compatible testing). There can be a reinstatement of context by cues to connect to
mental images to describe more detail (this is used on the interviewees capacity to
cope), discrepancies can also be explored.
- importance of empathy building for maintaining rapport, in the middle of affective
empathy and cognitive/rational empathy, emotion-focused coping. Interviewer to be
aware of what the interviewee is feeling (inc. non-verbal behaviour) and
acknowledge and show understanding of this. Interviewer to assess how much
emotional activation the interviewee can handle while still providing a coherent
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