409331.pdf (16.02 MB)
A discursive analysis of police interviews with suspected paedophiles: the implications of 'open' and 'closed' interviewing for admission and denial
thesis
posted on 2010-12-09, 09:37 authored by Kelly BenneworthThis thesis examines the discursive interaction between the police officer and the
suspected paedophile in the investigative interview. A review of the literature
revealed that paedophiles talk about their offences in terms of conventional
relationships, personal bonds and emotions whilst being discrete about the sexual
aspects of their activities. In the investigative interview, police officers must establish
accountability, avoid emotional talk and encourage paedophiles to discuss their
criminal activities in terms of direct, agentic detail. Given these two distinct
approaches to the description of unlawful sexual contact, there is the potential for
difficulties to arise in the elicitation of information in the investigative interview. This
thesis explores how police officers and paedophiles negotiate an account of `what really
happened' whilst managing conflicting descriptions of the offence. This thesis also
evaluates the relative effectiveness of interviewing strategies used by the police for
maximising admission in suspected paedophiles.
Eleven interviews conducted at Leicestershire Police Constabulary were transcribed
using the Jefferson system of notation. The offenders were male and aged between
34-54 years. The victims were male (n=5) and female (n=6) and aged between 5-13
years. Content analysis confirmed that police officers and paedophiles do describe
sexual acts between adults and children differently. A `physical' repertoire of explicit
sexual terms was used more frequently by the police officers, while the suspects
exhibited a preference for an `emotiörial' repertoire of relationship talk and
euphemisms (x2 = 125.518; df = 1; p
History
School
- Social Sciences
Department
- Communication, Media, Social and Policy Studies
Publisher
© Kelly BenneworthPublication date
2004Notes
A Doctoral Thesis. Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Philosophy of Loughborough University.EThOS Persistent ID
uk.bl.ethos.409331Language
- en