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ABSTRACT
This study examined real-life audio-taped police interviews with 56 serious crime suspects in English and Wales. It provides an analysis of how suspects responded and behaved during the interviews and considers how suspects’ responses may be affected by contextual characteristics including the presence of legal advisors. It was found that fewer suspects admitted these serious offences in comparison to previous studies, with most suspects who did admit doing so early on in the interview. The majority of suspects’ responses were identified as ‘relevant’, only a very small proportion of interviews were assessed as ‘challenging’. Significant associations between suspects’ responses and context were found. Specifically, if the (alleged) victim was female, the location of the offence was in-doors, and there was no clear motive; then, suspects were more likely to say ‘no comment’ than to respond relevantly. Suspects who were 32 years of age or over, and had previous criminal convictions, were more likely to respond ‘relevantly’ than say ‘no comment’. The study also found that whilst present in the majority of interviews, the contributions of legal advisors were minimal (though more frequent legal advisor contributions were associated with the increased use of police strategies).
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. For a copy of the coding frame with detailed definitions of each code please contact the first author.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Samantha Leahy-Harland
Dr Samantha Leahy-Harland spent over 10 years working for the Home Office (i.e., a Government department) as a researcher and policy advisor on police investigations and serious crime. Samantha then worked at Bournemouth University (BU) for seven years spending five of those as Head of Operations for Global Engagement. Alongside her full-time positions at the Home Office and BU, Samantha completed her doctorate supervised by Professor Ray Bull at University of Leicester. Samantha is now Chief Executive Officer for the independent charity, the ‘Students’ Union at Bournemouth University.
Ray Bull
Dr Ray Bull is (part-time) Professor of Criminal Investigation at the University of Derby (UK) and Emeritus Professor of Forensic Psychology at the University of Leicester. His main topic of expertise is ‘Investigative Interviewing’, a topic on which he has published many journal articles and book chapters/books including: Bull, R. (2019) Roar or PEACE: Is it a tall story? In R. Bull and I. Blandon-Gitlin (Eds.) International handbook of legal and investigative psychology. London: Routledge; Bull, R., & Rachlew, A. (2019) Investigative interviewing: From England to Norway and beyond. In S. Barela, M. Fallon, G. Gaggioli, and J. Ohlin (Eds.) Interrogation and torture: Research on efficacy, and its integration with morality and legality. Oxford: Oxford University Press. He has been asked to write ‘Expert’ reports in around 150 cases and has testified in courts on over 50 occasions. He regularly conducts workshops/training on investigative interviewing around the world. In 2014 he became (for three years) President of the European Association of Psychology and Law. In 2010 he was elected an Honorary Fellow of the British Psychological Society “for the contribution made to the discipline of psychology” (this honour is restricted to 40 living psychologists). In 2018 he accepted the invitation to be a member of the small ’Steering Committee’ that is writing the extensive guidance document on investigative interviewing as recommended to the United Nations by its ‘Special Rapporteur’ Professor Juan Mendez.