The Language Of Police Interviewing

Police interviewing is a critical part of the justice process, and more attention is now being paid to training in interview techniques. This new study uses tools drawn from interactional sociolinguistics and conversation analysis for a detailed study of some police questioning of adult suspects, and work undertaken in the training of police in interviewing children. Critical discourse analytic techniques are used in interpreting the outcome and the implications for training are explored.

Georgina Heydon is a Research Fellow in the Linguistics Program at Monash University, Australia.