Analysing Police Interviews: Laughter, Confessions and the Tape

Description

Winner of the British Society of Criminology 'Criminology Book Prize 2012' This book uses transcripts from real UK police interviews, investigating previously unexplored and under-explored areas of the process. It illustrates the way in which police and suspects use language and sounds to inform, persuade and communicate with each other. It also looks closely at how interactional tools such as laughter can be used to sidestep the legal boundaries of this setting without sanction. The work reveals the delicate balance between institutional and conversational talk, the composition and maintenance of roles and the conflicts between the rules of interaction and law. The analyses offer detailed insights into the reality behind the myth and mystique of police interviews and contain findings which have the potential to inform and advance evidence-based police interview training and practice.

Elisabeth Carter is Visiting Fellow in the Department of Sociology, University of Essex, UK.

[Analysing Police Interviews] offers detailed insights into the reality behind the myth and mystique of police interviews, providing empirical evidence that may inform and advance police interview training and practice. * The Year's Work in English Studies * Stimulating, rigorous and insightful. As well as revealing the inner workings of the police interview - a mainstay of everyday law enforcement - Analyzing Police Interviews is often entertaining and the real life examples at its heart provide a unique glimpse into the workings of this central element of the police toolkit. -- Nigel Fielding, Professor of Sociology and Associate Dean (Research), University of Surrey, UK