How guilty and innocent suspects perceive the police and themselves: suspect interviews in Germany

Purpose Suspects are central participants of a police interview and can provide crucial information on the interview interactions with the interviewers. This study examined how the way suspects perceive interviews relates to (a) their reported status of being guilty or innocent and (b) their decisio...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Authors: May, Lennart (Author) ; Gewehr, Elsa (Author) ; Zimmermann, Johannes (Author) ; Raible, Yonna (Author) ; Volbert, Renate 1957- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2021
In: Legal and criminological psychology
Year: 2021, Volume: 26, Issue: 1, Pages: 42-61
Online Access: Volltext (kostenfrei)
Volltext (kostenfrei)
Rights Information:CC BY 4.0
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Keywords:

MARC

LEADER 00000caa a22000002 4500
001 1750715384
003 DE-627
005 20230531112121.0
007 cr uuu---uuuuu
008 210306s2021 xx |||||o 00| ||eng c
024 7 |a 10.1111/lcrp.12184  |2 doi 
035 |a (DE-627)1750715384 
035 |a (DE-599)KXP1750715384 
040 |a DE-627  |b ger  |c DE-627  |e rda 
041 |a eng 
084 |a 2,1  |2 ssgn 
100 1 |a May, Lennart  |e VerfasserIn  |4 aut 
245 1 0 |a How guilty and innocent suspects perceive the police and themselves: suspect interviews in Germany 
264 1 |c 2021 
336 |a Text  |b txt  |2 rdacontent 
337 |a Computermedien  |b c  |2 rdamedia 
338 |a Online-Ressource  |b cr  |2 rdacarrier 
520 |a Purpose Suspects are central participants of a police interview and can provide crucial information on the interview interactions with the interviewers. This study examined how the way suspects perceive interviews relates to (a) their reported status of being guilty or innocent and (b) their decision to confess or deny. Methods A total of 250 convicted offenders completed a two-part questionnaire on their perceptions during the most recent suspect interview in which they had confessed to or denied a crime they had committed (Part 1) or not committed (Part 2). Results Participants reported a total of 334 police interviews – 223 for which they reported being guilty and 111 for which they reported being innocent. An exploratory factor analysis showed that three latent factors described how they viewed the interviewers and themselves: Respectful-Open Behaviors (non-accusatorial interviewer behaviour, and no pressure in suspects), Confession-Oriented Tactics by the interviewer (minimization and maximization tactics), and Suspects’ Psychological Distress (insecurity, fear, and lack of self-confidence). Suspects perceived less Psychological Distress and less Respectful-Open Behaviors in reported innocent (vs. guilty) interview situations. In reported guilty interview situations, confessions were associated positively with Respectful-Open Behaviors and Suspects’ Psychological Distress, whereas denials were associated positively with Confession-Oriented Tactics. Innocent interview situations showed a positive correlation between confessions and Suspects’ Psychological Distress. Conclusions In this study, suspects deliver an important message to the police and the legal system: The findings substantiate the benefits of an open-minded interviewing approach, and fail to support a confession-oriented interrogation approach. 
540 |q DE-2619  |a Namensnennung 4.0 International  |f CC BY 4.0  |2 cc  |u http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ 
650 4 |a Denial 
650 4 |a Confession 
650 4 |a Suspect 
650 4 |a Interrogation 
650 4 |a Investigative interviewing 
700 1 |a Gewehr, Elsa  |e VerfasserIn  |0 (DE-588)1061386643  |0 (DE-627)805803106  |0 (DE-576)418133409  |4 aut 
700 1 |a Zimmermann, Johannes  |e VerfasserIn  |4 aut 
700 1 |a Raible, Yonna  |e VerfasserIn  |4 aut 
700 1 |a Volbert, Renate  |d 1957-  |e VerfasserIn  |0 (DE-588)131984594  |0 (DE-627)515564567  |0 (DE-576)166833312  |4 aut 
773 0 8 |i Enthalten in  |t Legal and criminological psychology  |d Hoboken, NJ [u.a.] : Wiley, 1996  |g 26(2021), 1, Seite 42-61  |h Online-Ressource  |w (DE-627)320441695  |w (DE-600)2005001-X  |w (DE-576)090886615  |x 2044-8333  |7 nnns 
773 1 8 |g volume:26  |g year:2021  |g number:1  |g pages:42-61 
856 |u https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1111/lcrp.12184  |x unpaywall  |z Vermutlich kostenfreier Zugang  |h publisher [open (via crossref license)] 
856 4 0 |u https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/lcrp.12184  |x Resolving-System  |z kostenfrei  |3 Volltext 
856 4 0 |u https://bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/lcrp.12184  |x Verlag  |z kostenfrei  |3 Volltext 
935 |a mkri 
951 |a AR 
ELC |a 1 
LOK |0 000 xxxxxcx a22 zn 4500 
LOK |0 001 3882435542 
LOK |0 003 DE-627 
LOK |0 004 1750715384 
LOK |0 005 20210306061558 
LOK |0 008 210306||||||||||||||||ger||||||| 
LOK |0 035   |a (DE-2619)KrimDok#2021-03-05#3A7FB3477DC2D0FCC4716CCD56D042C569A2A05C 
LOK |0 040   |a DE-2619  |c DE-627  |d DE-2619 
LOK |0 092   |o n 
LOK |0 852   |a DE-2619 
LOK |0 852 1  |9 00 
LOK |0 935   |a zota 
OAS |a 1 
ORI |a SA-MARC-krimdoka001.raw