Journal of Criminal Psychology

Publisher:: Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Publication date:: 2021-02-01

ISBN:: 2009-3829

Issue Number

No. 15-2, February - February - December - November - October - August - July - July - November - September 2025

Latest documents

Guest editorial: Special issue exploring contemporary developments in the retrieval and evaluation of witness testimony
Experiences of asylum interviews by asylum officials, interpreters and asylum seekers in Finland
Purpose: Recent legal psychological research has highlighted shortcomings in asylum interviews; however, few studies have examined how the interview participants (interviewer, interpreter and asylum seeker) experience and perceive the interviews. The purpose of this study was to explore how these interview participants experience rapport and communication within asylum interviews, as well as to investigate how well interviewers’ and interpreters’ views align with empirical evidence regarding best-practice interviewing. Design/methodology/approach: Interviewers (n = 62), interpreters (n = 63) and asylum seekers (n = 49) answered an online survey with mainly closed questions about preparation, rapport, interview content, interpretation and overall experiences of the interviews. Interviewers and interpreters reported experiences from interviews conducted in 2021, whereas asylum seekers referred to their interview experiences from 2016 to 2022. Data were explored descriptively. Findings: The views of interviewers and interpreters were mostly aligned with evidence-based interviewing recommendations. However, contrary to recommendations, interpreters reported favouring closed questions over open prompts. Most asylum seekers reported feeling nervous or afraid during the interviews, and three-fourths reported difficulties in sharing their experiences and disclosing personal information. This indicates that more work on how to build rapport in cross-cultural, interpreter-assisted interviews is needed. The interpreters’ preference for using closed questions presents a risk to interview quality that should be mitigated through training for interpreters as well as improved collaboration between interviewers and interpreters. Originality/value: To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to explore experiences of asylum interviews from the perspectives of interviewers, interpreters and asylum seekers.
Publisher’s note
Publisher’s note
Publisher’s note
Rapport in police interviews with victims: a linguistic comparison between UK and Spain
Purpose: This study aims to explore how rapport is operationalised in police interviews with victims in the United Kingdom and Spain. Rapport is considered a key element in the success of investigative interviewing and therefore, police interviewers are trained to use rapport-building techniques throughout the interview. Previous research has enabled us to understand what rapport is and how it works in interviews with victims (Abbe and Brandon, 2012; Dando et al., 2016; Walsh and Bull, 2010). However, it has been highlighted that the expression of rapport may vary between cultures (Matsumoto and Hwang, 2021), as there are cultural and linguistic differences concerning interactional factors. Design/methodology/approach: To uncover this, British and Spanish police interviewing guidelines are examined with regard to rapport techniques and how they are conceptualised. Then, a discourse-pragmatic and ethnographic approach is applied to real interviews with victims in the United Kingdom and Spain, to analyse what happens in real practice and how rapport with victims is expressed linguistically in British English and European Spanish. Findings: The study unfolds certain linguistic subtleties in relation to “face-related issues” that need to be considered for future research on rapport in investigative interviews with victims, particularly in multicultural interviewing contexts. Originality/value: The findings from this study contribute to a better understanding of how rapport is operationalised in different contexts and how the expression of rapport is tied to cultural and linguistic patterns that influence how people communicate.
The effect of volition and memory distrust on eyewitness suggestiblity
Purpose: Post-event information (PEI) may distort eyewitness memory and lead to erroneous eyewitness testimonies. This paper aims to explore whether factors such as volitional engagement with PEI (e.g. choice to engage with a co-witness) and memory distrust influence misinformation acceptance and the perceived credibility of a co-witness. Design/methodology/approach: Participants (n = 223) completed the Memory Distrust Scale and then watched a short mock crime video. Thereafter, two-thirds of the participants were asked whether they would prefer or not to listen to a co-witness’ account of the witnessed event (choice condition), and one-third of the participants did not have the choice (control condition). Every participant listened to the co-witness account (which contained items of misinformation); thus, those who preferred to listen to the testimony were in the choice-yes (i.e., volition) condition and those who preferred not to listen were in the choice-no (i.e., non-volition) condition. Finally, participants completed a cued recall task assessing their memory of the video and acceptance of misinformation. They also provided ratings to establish the perceived credibility of the co-witness. Findings: The results indicated that neither volition nor memory distrust influenced misinformation acceptance. However, those who preferred to listen to the testimony (i.e., the choice-yes condition) perceived the co-witness as more credible than those in the choice-no or control conditions. Practical implications: The findings suggest that witnesses are susceptible to misinformation regardless of their willingness to engage with or avoid PEI. Further implications and future research directions are discussed. Originality/value: To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to investigate the role of volition and memory distrust as a trait in eyewitnesses tendency to engage with or avoid post-event information. The research explores whether these mechanisms impact upon memory conformity and perceived co-witness credibility.
Exploring how young people in the UK understand coercive control: a qualitative study
Purpose: Since the criminalisation of coercive control (CC), there have been a growing number of cases in the UK; however, there continues to be minimal research, understanding and education about this type of abuse. Hence, it is unsurprising that young people are at the highest risk of CC as they enter their first intimate relationships with limited awareness of the risks. The aim of this study is to explore how 16- to 24-year-olds in the UK understand CC in intimate relationships. Design/methodology/approach: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 23 young people to explore their knowledge of CC, sources of knowledge and learning opportunities. Reflexive thematic analysis was used to examine the interviews. Findings: A total of 14 participants had heard of CC. Participants attributed victims and perpetrators behaviour to individual and environmental factors, including societal and gendered expectations. Young people explained that their knowledge came from experiences, online sources and family and friends. However, participants recognised the importance of credible messengers and sources, and some were sceptical of information shared online. Most had not learnt about CC in formal education but expressed the importance of incorporating it into the secondary curriculum. Originality/value: To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to explore how young people understand CC in the UK. The findings highlight the need for better understanding and formal education around CC, provide a platform for future work and encourage the incorporation of young voices in developing interventions.
Exposure to information about sexual crimes and its relationship to perceptions of social threats and belief in a just world
Purpose: The purpose of the two online experimental studies was to examine how information about threats related to sexual crimes influences personal beliefs regarding social threats (in line with the finite pool of worry concept) and belief in a just world, as proposed by Melvin Lerner. Design/methodology/approach: In the first experiment (n = 256), female participants were presented with press information about a sexual crime that occurred at a student concert. Different groups were informed whether the perpetrator was apprehended (or not) and asked to indicate the punishment they thought should be imposed. In the second experiment (n = 251), participants in the experimental group were asked to read texts about various threats that may concern them. Findings: In both experiments, the authors measured the perceived risk of being a victim of a sexual crime (and, in Study 1, other threats) as well as belief in just world (at both personal and general levels). Analysis of results has shown that participants’ focus on one threat did not reduce their concerns about other threats. However, belief in just world appears to be negatively associated with the fear of being a victim of a sexual crime. Originality/value: The findings concern the relationship between the sense of threat and belief in a just world. In this regard, both of the studies consistently showed that the threats the authors induced did not affect the level of belief in a just world. However, the second experiment revealed that belief in a just world is related to the fear of being raped. Belief in a just world serves as a foundation for good adaptation and functioning. It provides cognitive control, motivates hard work and long-term goal-setting and gives life meaning (e.g. Dalbert, 1999; Dalbert and Sallay, 2004; Sutton and Winnard, 2007). Therefore, a woman’s fear of being a victim of rape has implications that extend beyond this narrowly defined issue.
Collaborative interviewing of eyewitnesses: a field study
Purpose: When eyewitnesses talk to each other after witnessing a crime, they can contaminate each other’s memory. However, laboratory research shows that collaborative interviewing can also result in correction of mistakes and retrieval of more new information. The aim of this study is to examine whether these laboratory findings would generalise to real police interviews in The Netherlands. Because little is known about which interviewing techniques Dutch police detectives use, the secondary aim was to examine how Dutch detectives approach individual and collaborative eyewitness interviews. Design/methodology/approach: In a field study, witnesses of serious incidents (e.g. police shooting) were interviewed individually and then collaboratively by real investigators, resulting in 15 interviews of 1–2 h each from five witness pairs (5,534 details in total). Transcripts were coded for detail type, forensic relevance, verifiability, retrieval strategies and interviewing techniques. Results were described using both quantitative descriptive data and a qualitative analysis of interview excerpts. Findings: On average, collaborative interviews resulted in 131 new details, over half of which were considered highly relevant to the police investigation. Interview excerpts demonstrated how content-focused retrieval strategies (acknowledgements, repetitions, restatements, elaborations) can elicit new and highly relevant details. Interviewers mostly asked clarifying questions and equal numbers of open, closed and yes/no questions, but rarely allowed for uninterrupted free recall. Interviewers asked a higher proportion of open questions during collaborative interviews than during individual interviews. Research limitations/implications: Limitations included the small sample size and lack of a control condition. Originality/value: To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to investigate the effectiveness and feasibility of the Collaborative Eyewitness Interview in real-world settings.