INVESTIGATIVE INTERVIEWING: A CHANGE OF MINDSET
States use different terminology to describe and conceptualize the questioning of victims, witnesses and suspects.
This tool does not account for all terminologies and practices, but sets traditional interrogation apart from
investigative interviewing with an emphasis on the efficacy and benefits of the latter.
The practical steps explained in this tool originate with the PEACE model (Planning and preparation, Engage and
explain, Account, Closure, Evaluation), developed in the United Kingdom in response to a number of documented
forced confessions and associated wrongful convictions in the 1980s and ‘90s. The investigative interviewing
model explained in this tool represents an evolution of PEACE, refined through experience and new research. A
wide number of States now apply the techniques described in this tool, while others are piloting or being trained
on their use.
PEACE stands for:
Planning and
preparation
Engage and
explain
Closure
Account
Evaluation
Why?
The overall aim of an interview with a victim, witness or suspect
is to obtain accurate and reliable accounts about matters under
investigation, which can stand the test of trial.
Investigative interviewing reduces the risk of human error and false
confessions, which can occur with techniques designed to make the
suspect confess and confirm what the interviewer thinks they already
know to be the truth. Research into the causes of wrongful convictions
have documented that problems associated with “tunnel vision” or
“confirmation bias” (that is, an unconscious tendency to look only for
information that “fits” and ignore or explain away information that
does not confirm what the interviewer believes to be true) are the
underlying causes of miscarriages of justice in almost every case.
“
Imposing stressors on the
brain with the aim of forcing
confessions or extracting
information interacts negatively
with motivation, mood,
memory and cognition thereby
undermining investigations.”
Shane O’Mara, Professor of Experimental
Brain Research, Trinity College Dublin,
and author of Why Torture Doesn’t Work
(Harvard University Press, 2015).
Interviews that are conducted using investigative interviewing techniques explained in this tool can have the
following direct benefits:
• The systematic gathering of
• Support the prosecution’s case,
reliable evidence to better direct
thereby saving time, money and
an investigation
resources
• Increase the public’s confidence
in the police service
How?
Investigative interviewing is a non-coercive approach using open questions to improve the flow of communication
and information. All interviews, whether with victims, witnesses or suspects, are termed “investigative
interviews”. The information gathered in interviews is tested against available facts. Well-prepared questions
clear up misunderstandings and ambiguities. Strategic disclosure of evidence during the interview helps separate
false from verifiable information.
To maintain an open mind, avoid tunnel vision and increase accuracy and reliability, police officers – like any other
factfinder – need tools and a methodology to reduce human error. The model presented in this document aims to
reduce such possibilities by providing a methodology on how to approach interviews.
CTI Training Tools 1/2017: Investigative Interviewing for Criminal Cases
3/12