ABSTRACT
Many governmental and local agencies are involved in conducting investigative interviews, including the police, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, the military and the security services. The focus of this chapter is on investigative interviews of suspects for the purpose of potential prosecution. There will be some references made to the importance of obtaining ‘reliable’ (the term ‘valid’ is more commonly used among psychologists) accounts from victims and witnesses, because accurate accounts from them can influence whether or not guilty suspects decide to confess (Kebbell et al. 2005). Similarly, an inaccurate account can result in the wrong suspect being arrested, questioned and, on occasions, wrongfully convicted (Gudjonsson 2003a).
