What is the best practice for conducting suspect interviews in the case of RASSO (Rape and Serious Sexual Offences) and VAWG (Violence Against Women and Girls) investigations?

Background

"Surveillance and sensing is the ability to lawfully monitor and collect data from people, activity, movements, behaviours, objects and data overtly and covertly.

We wish to develop practices that support vulnerable witnesses, victims, and suspects at interview. We seek best practices in conducting:
1. Pre-interview assessments, to identify vulnerability or intimidation (within the meaning of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act, 1999), to determine which ‘special measures’ are appropriate, and to establish how best to communicate;
2. Voluntary Attender Interviews with suspects using secure digital recording devices, including understanding the impact this approach has on interview quality, the outcome of the investigation, and jury decision making;
3. Investigative interviews with vulnerable suspects, establishing the extent current national police interview models are fit for purpose when conducting interviews with vulnerable suspects, such as those who have Autism Spectrum Disorder, Personality Disorder or mental health conditions; and,
4. A suspect centric approach in RASSO (Rape and Serious Sexual Offences) /VAWG (Violence Against Women and Girls) investigations to determine how to structure suspect interviews if a suspect’s previous behaviour has an impact on ‘consent’ (s74-76 SOA 2003)."

Next steps

"We welcome your engagement with our ARIs in the following ways:
• If you have evidence that completely or partly supports or answers one of our ARIs, we invite you to share that with us. For any ongoing research relevant to policing and crime reduction, we encourage you to register your research on the College of Policing’s research projects map, which has been designed to promote collaboration and support requests for participants.
• If you are, or plan to be, carrying out research that relates to one of our ARIs, we’d like to hear about it. While we cannot respond to speculative approaches for research funding, we will where possible act to support your ambitions, including finding you policing partners where possible.
• If you are submitting a funding or grant application that aligns with one of our ARIs, we hope that referencing policing’s ARIs will help to strengthen your case for the possible public impact of the research.
• We will use the ARI document to structure our academic engagement, prioritise events and build new connections with external partners. We will be using our ARIs in our engagement with UKRI, and we will publish any opportunities for funding via our website https://science.police.uk/
Please send any correspondence and questions to csa@npcc.police.uk, including ‘ARI’ in the subject heading."

Source

This question was published as part of the set of ARIs in this document:

Policing Areas of Research Interest

Related UKRI funded projects


  • Towards the development of a framework for the interviewing of vulnerable people by the police in Japan

    This application develops research collaboration between researchers and police officers, both in Japan and the UK, to identify, for the first time, the framework for a best practice model for the interviewing of vulnera...

    Funded by: FIC

    Lead research organisation: De Montfort University

    Why might this be relevant?

    Addresses best practices for interviewing vulnerable suspects in Japan and UK, aligning with the question's focus on suspect interviews in RASSO and VAWG investigations.

  • The Extension of Pre-recorded Cross-examination and Related Special Measures to Adult 'Intimidated' Complainants in Sex Offence Cases

    Pre-recorded cross-examination enables vulnerable and intimidated witnesses to record their evidence so that they do not have to testify at a criminal trial. It is the most far-reaching and significant 'special measure' ...

    Funded by: ESRC

    Lead research organisation: University of Oxford

    Why might this be relevant?

    Investigates pre-recorded cross-examination for adult complainants in sex offence cases, partially relevant to the question's focus on suspect interviews in RASSO and VAWG investigations.

  • Promoting justice: Professionalising frontline policing with an evidence-based Structured Interview Protocol

    Evidence obtained from victims and witnesses is of critical importance to the criminal justice system. Current interview procedures for eliciting this evidence frequently fall short of best practice, and have not kept pa...

    Funded by: ESRC

    Lead research organisation: Goldsmiths University of London

    Why might this be relevant?

    Focuses on developing a Structured Interview Protocol for frontline officers, partially relevant to the question's focus on suspect interviews in RASSO and VAWG investigations.

  • Supporting the interviewing and legal representation of crime victims and suspects using digital communication methods. Is it 'remotely possible?

    Reacting to COVID-19 required significant, immediate changes to Government processes including the Criminal Justice System. Police investigations must continue, and victims, witnesses and suspects of crime must be interv...

    Funded by: COVID

    Lead research organisation: Northumbria University

    Why might this be relevant?

    Partially relevant as it focuses on remote communication for interviews, but does not specifically address best practices for conducting suspect interviews in RASSO and VAWG investigations.