This presentation examines the relationship between confession rates and sex offender characteristics (i.e., offender age, relationship to victim, personality type, offense history and prior experience with the criminal justice system.) In addition, several studies that investigated the effectiveness of various interviewer styles (investigator demeanor and approach) will be reviewed. Lastly, the presenter will provide anecdotal comments (from 121 admitting adult male sex offenders) related to the thoughts and concerns they had while they were initially being interviewed by detectives. Comments focus on the reason they declined to be interviewed, lied about their behavior, or confessed. Video clips will be used to illustrate some of the specific skills used by police to enable offenders to confess, along with recommendations for specific interview comment/questions from twenty-six veteran child abuse detectives from ten law enforcement agencies in Oregon.
Learning Objectives:
Participants will review the research related to overall confession rates with sex offenders and the factors that inhibit and increase confession rates
Participants will review the various interviewer styles that appear to increase confession rates
Participants will review footage of an interview with a suspect sex offender and be able to examine the effective tactics used by the officer
