Page:FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin 54 (8).pdf/28

 ==Chapter 5 Interviewing Techniques for Homicide Investigations==

This article discusses techniques that have been used in the interviews of persons who have already been convicted. Law enforcement officers should seek appropriate legal advice before using these techniques in attempts to obtain judicially admissible confessions.

One goal of the study of sexual homicide crime scenes and criminal behavior patterns was to explore how murderers commit their crimes. An in­-depth analysis of interviews with con­victed murderers allowed us to re­trieve first-hand information about their patterns of values and beliefs, patterns of information storage, levels of recall on the crimes, and admission of responsibility for the murders.

This article presents our experi­ences in interviewing convicted serial sexual murderers with the hope of adding to law enforcement's knowl­edge of interviewing techniques. Al­though our interviews were conducted with murderers already convicted and incarcerated, we believe our observa­tions provide insight for interviewing suspects in order to identify a killer. 26 / FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin