Investigative interviews with individuals who perpetrated sex crimes: A scoping review

Sex crimes (CS) are a global public health problem with profound negative consequences for victims, their families, and society. The perpetrator's testimony is crucial for case outcomes because sexual offenses are frequently underreported, often due to limited evidence and lack of victim testimonies. Therefore, perpetrator investigative interviews play a decisive role in criminal investigations. The aim of this scoping review is to identify and describe evidence-based investigative interview techniques for gathering testimony from SC perpetrators using a structured methodology. Studies were identified through manual reference checking and in five electronic databases: Scopus, B-On, Web of Science, PsycINFO, and PubMed. Eight studies met the inclusion criteria. Most of the studies focused on rape and child sexual abuse. Five studies presented interview protocols, while three focused on interview techniques that interviewers should employ to elicit more information. It was possible to conclude that both the presented interviews and the techniques share a similar general structure. Clinical, forensic, and criminal implications are elaborated.
This work was funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology – FCT (Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education), under the grant UIDB/05380/2020, https://doi.org/10.54499/UIDB/05380/2020. This work was also conducted at CIPsi, School of Psychology, University of Minho, supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT; UID/01662/2020) through the Portuguese State Budget. Cláudia Gouveia was also funded by a Doctoral research grant from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, grant number 2023.03217.BD.