Evaluating police interviewing practices with suspects in child-sexual abuse cases

Abstract

This article examined adherence to current best practice recommendations for police interviewing of individuals suspected of committing child-sexual offences. We analysed 81 police records of interviews (electronically recorded and then transcribed) with suspects in child-sexual abuse cases in England and Australia. Overall we found areas of skilled practice, indicating that police interviewing in Australia and England is in a far better place than 20 years ago. However, this study also demonstrated that there is still a gap between the recommended guidelines for interviewing and what actually happens in practice. Specifically, limitations were found in the following areas: transparency of the interview process; introduction of allegations; disclosure of evidence; questioning techniques; and the interviewing approach or manner adopted. The practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Keywords:

• police interviewing
• sex offender
• suspects
• best practice

Acknowledgements

Thank you to those who assisted in the collection of the sample of police interviews from England and Australia that were analysed in this study and thank you to Dr Andy Griffiths for his feedback on an earlier draft of this paper. Thank you to Colin Eipper for his assistance in developing the data-capturing programme used in this study. This research was supported by an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant (LP0775248). Address for Correspondence: Professor Martine Powell, School of Psychology, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Hwy, Burwood, 3125, Victoria, Australia. Tel: [phone].

Notes

1. ‘beginning’, ‘middle’, and ‘end’ were calculated relative to the total number of questions in the interview.

2. Statutory laws in Australia and England indicate that police officers should inform the person of the ‘circumstances of the offence’ for which they are about to be questioned. This affords the suspect the opportunity to make informed decisions and exercise his statutory rights.