Although obtaining a confession was the main purpose of interrogation in 80 percent of the cases, establishing innocence was the principal aim in 5 percent of the cases and police officers were more concerned with establishing what actually occurred and whether a crime was committed in 12 percent of the cases. The main resource used by detectives in interrogation was whatever factual information they had about the suspect's involvement in a crime. The most powerful factor in whether a suspect confessed involved strength of evidence, followed by legal advice, the particular police station where the interview was conducted, and offense severity. The fact that obtaining a confession was the primary goal of interrogation in most cases strongly determined the structure of police interrogations. Further research is recommended to study why confession-oriented interrogation is so prevalent in England and to evaluate effective techniques for training police officers in interviewing skills. 3 references and 5 tables