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Murderers' and sexual offenders' experiences of police interviews and their inclination to admit or deny crimes
Author(s) -
Holmberg Ulf,
Christianson SvenÅke
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
behavioral sciences and the law
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.649
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1099-0798
pISSN - 0735-3936
DOI - 10.1002/bsl.470
Subject(s) - dominance (genetics) , psychology , criminology , humanity , human factors and ergonomics , suicide prevention , poison control , social psychology , injury prevention , medical emergency , medicine , political science , law , biochemistry , chemistry , gene
This research concerns murderers' and sexual offenders' experiences of Swedish police interviews and their attitudes towards allegations of these serious crimes. The explorative study is based on a questionnaire answered by 83 men convicted of murder or sexual offences. Results show that when police officers interview murderers and sexual offenders, the individuals perceive attitudes that are characterized by either dominance or humanity. Logistic regression shows that police interviews marked by dominance are mainly associated with a higher proportion of denials, whereas an approach marked by humanity is associated with admissions. When suspects feel that they are respected and acknowledged, they probably gain more confidence and mental space, allowing them to admit criminal behaviour. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.