Investigative Interview Techniques

This talk will provide an overview of investigative interviewing tools and techniques used within a forensic context. The focus here is to elicit detailed and reliable information from witnesses and suspects as this can play a central role in legal decision-making and, ultimately, the delivery of justice. For a number of psychological reasons, even cooperative witnesses do not spontaneously report all the information they know. Further, interviewers can inadvertently limit or contaminate witness accounts through the use of misleading or otherwise inadequate questioning techniques. As such,investigative interviewing is a multi-faceted skill to master, and demands a sound understanding of memory, communication, and other cognitive, social, and environmental factors that may affect the content and accuracy of witness or suspect accounts. Throughout the talk, psychological factors known to underpin successful investigative interviews will be introduced, including building and maintaining rapport, establishing the role of the interviewer and interviewee, providing retrieval support, and asking the right questions at the right time.