Interrogation Vs Interview Analysis

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Many people believe that during an investigation interviews and interrogations have the same definition in meaning. Reid (2012) stated “A concept we teach in our basic course, is if you’re going to interview, interview. If you’re going to interrogate, interrogate,” meaning there is a significant distinct difference between the two that we must understand in order to receive an accurate and successful investigation. They can be compared in some aspects but are seen as two different approaches during an investigation. During an investigation they use different tactics to obtain information on certain aspects and involvement of a crime, which leads to the difference between an interview and interrogation. During an interview police officers, or …show more content…

Conducting an interview allows a way for investigators and police officers to determine whether or not they can trust the suspect and his credibility. It’s more so investigative rather than accusing, whereas interrogation is targeting and questioning people who are suspected as committing the crime or involvement in a specific crime. During an interrogation the goal is to find the truth, which can also lead to confessions. An interrogation is used as a tactic to encourage a person that is being interrogated to come clean and tell the truth. The interrogation process is used to give in detail to the suspect what investigators have knowledge of dealing with the suspect’s involvement in the crime. This tactic is used to encourage the person that is being interrogated to tell the truth. . The overall purpose of interrogation and interviewing is to complete the investigation. The main reason behind interviewing is to get a better understanding of the involvement in a crime, and get leads to identify anyone who is suspected of committing the crime. While the main goal of interrogation is to find the truth, receive facts and find the people responsible for the …show more content…

They also state that things such as age, lack of vocabulary, short attention spans and many more create challenges for investigators during the interview phase (Orthmann & Hess, 2013, p. 369). When dealing with children many investigators have to make sure they do not overwhelm the child. Being young at a certain age and having to answer certain questions about family members, or crimes that has happened to or in front of them can be hard and overwhelming for a child. Investigators also deal with children’s short attention span. Orthmann and Hess also state that “because young children have a short attention span, fact-finding interviews should last no more than 15 or 20 minutes” (2013, p. 365). This shows that it can be very difficult to complete interviews and receive accurate information due to a child’s short attention span. It can be easy for children to get off track or simply forget questions asked by the investigator. The hardest challenge investigators face is creating a comfortable atmosphere for the child to open up to. Many children are afraid to talk to authorities or investigators because they are strangers, and sometimes don’t want to expose information about a relative or family member, that they are very close to. It can be very difficult. Another difficult problem that investigators

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