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Art of Interrogating Rapists

NCJ Number
155668
Journal
Polygraph Volume: 24 Issue: 1 Dated: (1995) Pages: 6-12
Author(s)
W F Merrill
Date Published
1995
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This paper explains the relevant factors to consider when conducting interviews and interrogations of rapists, including both contact rapists and sexual aggressor rapists.
Abstract
Contact rapists are known through casual acquaintance or work relationships and include perpetrators of date rape. In contrast, sexual aggressor rapists are those who demand sex with force or threat and are more uninhibitedly aggressive and impulsively antisocial than contact rapists. Investigators must consider the behavioral aspects of the commission of the crime and determine what type of offender committed the offense to conduct an interrogation successfully. The basic theme in an interrogation with a contact rapist is that the act is one that went out of control from simple beginnings; the suspect should be handled as a participant in a moral crime. In interrogating sexual aggressors, the investigator should void displaying shock at the acts or the offender. They should recognize that the sexual aggressor may be selfish or unselfish and may be in one of four categories: power reassurance, power assertiveness, anger retaliatory, and anger excitation. By developing rapport, the interrogator gives the offender the opportunity to confess. 13 references

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