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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Nicole Adams-QuackenbushORCiD
This is the authors' accepted manuscript of an article that has been published in its final definitive form by International Investigative Interviewing Research Group, 2019.
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Controlled studies have demonstrated that guilt-presumptive questions usually accompany interviewer guilt bias and accusatory behaviours towards a suspect. When evaluating policesuspect interviews, however, conventional methods primarily focus on the appropriateness of questions, and guilt-presumption is not featured as a questioning strategy. Instead, guiltpresumptive utterances are aggregated with other types of inappropriate opinion statements. There is often more happening within an interview than is immediately identifiable by simply focusing on question types. Examining the interactivity and behaviours that lead to accusations can reveal subtleties that have a profound influence on the flow and outcome of the interview. To demonstrate this, we analysed six interviews from a single Dutch murder investigation for guilt-presumptive language (accusations and insinuations of guilt) and question appropriateness. We then analysed the police-suspect interactions within the interview that occurred prior to, and immediately after the guilt-presumptive language was used. The findings demonstrated that accusations prompted suspect denials, facilitated a drastic decline in suspect cooperation, and impeded the ability for interviewers to gain investigation relevant information (IRI). We argue that more applied research on guilt-presumptive language is needed in the investigative interviewing literature, particularly in the context of biased decision-making regarding questioning strategies.
Author(s): Adams-Quackenbush NM, Horselenberg R, Tomas F, van Koppen P
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Investigative Interviewing: Research and Practice
Year: 2019
Volume: 10
Issue: 1
Pages: 37-60
Print publication date: 01/08/2019
Online publication date: 01/08/2019
Acceptance date: 28/09/2018
Date deposited: 24/08/2020
ISSN (print): 2227-7420
ISSN (electronic): 2227-7439
Publisher: International Investigative Interviewing Research Group
URL: https://www.iiirg.org/journal/volume-10-issue-1/
