The Impact of Question Type and Empathy on Police Interviews with Suspects of Homicide, Filicide and Child Sexual Abuse

Oxburgh, Gavin; Ost, James; Morris, Paul; Cherryman, Julie

doi:10.1080/13218719.2014.918078

Cited by 21 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…The relationship between empathic interviewing style and admission has not been consistently demonstrated (Oxburgh, Ost, Morris, & Cherryman, 2014)-which could be due to methodological issues. Oxburgh et al (2014) identified empathic interviewer behaviour from written transcripts, rather than the reports of the interviewees (Holmberg & Christianson, 2002;Kebbell et al, 2006), which may have shaped their findings. Oxburgh et al noted that there are likely to be nonverbal elements of empathy that are not accessible from interview transcripts alone.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…Conversely, "dominant" interviewing styles, where police officers were experienced as aggressive, brusque, impatient, and condemning, were associated with suspects maintaining their innocence. The relationship between empathic interviewing style and admission has not been consistently demonstrated (Oxburgh, Ost, Morris, & Cherryman, 2014)-which could be due to methodological issues. Oxburgh et al (2014) identified empathic interviewer behaviour from written transcripts, rather than the reports of the interviewees (Holmberg & Christianson, 2002;Kebbell et al, 2006), which may have shaped their findings.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Risk Assessment Interviews: Exploring the Perspectives of Psychologists and Indeterminate Sentenced Prisoners in the United Kingdom

Shingler

Sonnenberg

Needs

2017

Int J Offender Ther Comp Criminol

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This study explores the forensic risk assessment interview from the perspectives of qualified prison-based psychologists and indeterminate sentenced prisoners in the United Kingdom. It focuses on the psychologist-prisoner relationship in the interview context. Twenty-one in-depth individual interviews were conducted with psychologists and prisoners and analysed using Grounded Theory methods. The analysis identified the following categories reflecting participants' descriptions of risk assessment interviews: "Emphasising Clarity and Transparency," "Collaborative Engagement," "Making a Respectful, Boundaried yet Human Connection," "Respecting Individuality," and "Having a Purposeful Conversation." Analysis demonstrated that these categories of meaning reflected the broader notion of risk assessment interviewing as "A Difficult Balancing Act." The views of prisoners and psychologists about the risk assessment interview were remarkably similar and provide some direction and guidance for practitioners navigating this challenging but essential aspect of forensic psychological work.

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confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

Risk Assessment Interviews: Exploring the Perspectives of Psychologists and Indeterminate Sentenced Prisoners in the United Kingdom

Shingler

Sonnenberg

Needs

2017

Int J Offender Ther Comp Criminol

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“…Despite the findings described above, the use of empathy in police interviews with suspects of sexual abuse has shown no direct effect on the amount of information elicited (Oxburgh & Ost, 2011;Oxburgh, Ost, Moris & Cherryman, 2014). However, empathy has been correlated with significantly more appropriate questions being asked, which in turn, elicited more information (Oxburgh et al, 2014). The same study additionally showed that suspects of CSA were asked significantly more inappropriate questions compared to suspects of child or adult murder.…”

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confidence: 81%

Swedish and Norwegian police interviewers’ goals, tactics, and emotions when interviewing suspects of child sexual abuse

Magnusson¹,

Joleby²,

Luke³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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As the suspect interview is one of the key elements of a police investigation, it has received a great deal of merited attention from the scientific community. However, suspect interviews in child sexual abuse investigations is an understudied research area. In the present mixed-methods study, we examine Swedish (n = 126) and Norwegian (n = 52) police interviewers’ self-reported goals, tactics, and emotional experiences conducting interviews with suspected child sexual abuse offenders. Following a qualitative approach, we asked the practitioners how they manage different emotions that may arise during the interview. The thematic analysis revealed extreme consistency regarding the importance of not expressing emotions in the interview room. Instead, participants described different strategies that could be used after the interview to manage and process their emotional reactions. The quantitative analyses, on the other hand, found associations between the interviewers’ self-reported goals, tactics, and emotions during suspect interviews. Specifically, interviewers who reported experiencing more negative emotions were more likely to employ confrontational tactics. Cross-country differences were observed regarding the interviewers’ self-reported tactics and goals, with Swedish interviewers using confrontational tactics and prioritizing obtaining a confession from the suspect more frequently compared to Norwegian interviewers. Organizational differences between countries may explain these findings. While almost two decades have passed since Norway implemented a research-based interview model (KREATIV), Sweden is still working towards creating and implementing a national model. The present findings provide an initial exploration of the potentially complex relationship between the goals, tactics, and emotional experiences of police interviewers who question child sexual abuse suspects.

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“…This can be further compounded where this role is in conflict with the wider goals and expectations of their organisation. These conflicting expectations can indeed have an impact on the progress of a prosecution as it has been demonstrated that while there is no direct link between empathy and the amount of investigation-relevant information obtained was found, there was evidence to suggest that more emphatic approaches to interviewing victims of abuse can lead to the adoption of more appropriate questions, and consequently, elicit more items of relevant information (Oxburgh et al 2014) . Making a child feel at ease and establishing rapport with the child prior to asking abuse -related questions is also critical (Hershkowitz et al, 2014).…”

Section: Child Protection Policing: Implications For Police Officersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Policing child abuse: challenges and opportunities for specialist units

Martin

Kelly

Jackson

et al. 2017

JCRPP

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Structured Abstract PurposeDrawing on literature from the field and the recent experience of an evaluation into a child abuse investigation in Scotland, this paper will argue that evidence from the literature suggests that a more holistic approach drawing on the ideas of communities of practice could improve the way in which child abuse investigations are conducted. DesignThis article has been informed by a recent evaluation of a new national unit that was set up to investigate suspected child abuse in Scotland. This unit was established as part of the transition from eight regional police services in Scotland to a single national police service, Police Scotland. An important part of this evaluation was to consider the messages from previous research into the development of national police units and the role of the police in child protection investigations more generally. FindingsWhat was uncovered were the challenges that police officers face in the current context of child abuse investigation particularly around construction of child abuse investigations, collaborative working, staff well-being, and training. ValueThis paper contributes to a growing body of work examining the way in which child abuse investigations are conducted by police and the importance of inter-agency collaboration to support this. It contributes to academic debates and knowledge about the overall investigation process where to date there has been a paucity of literature and research which has tended to focus on evidence and experiences and to a boarder literature recognising the need for holistic approaches to approaches to tackle Child Abuse Article Classification Viewpoint

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The Impact of Question Type and Empathy on Police Interviews with Suspects of Homicide, Filicide and Child Sexual Abuse

Cited by 21 publications

References 40 publications

Risk Assessment Interviews: Exploring the Perspectives of Psychologists and Indeterminate Sentenced Prisoners in the United Kingdom

Risk Assessment Interviews: Exploring the Perspectives of Psychologists and Indeterminate Sentenced Prisoners in the United Kingdom

Swedish and Norwegian police interviewers’ goals, tactics, and emotions when interviewing suspects of child sexual abuse

Policing child abuse: challenges and opportunities for specialist units

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