The influence of suspect-driven techniques on the perceived guilt, perceived seriousness of the crime and the attribution of blame : within investigative interviews about sexual assault on college campus

This research demonstrates the influence of suspect-driven techniques including Supplication, and Denial of the Victim compared to No Comment on the perceived Seriousness of the Crime, the Attribution of Blame and the perception of the Guilt within sexual assault on college campus. Since investigative interviews are mostly the only available evidence, one should explore the behavior of suspects to detect if the above-mentioned techniques change the perception of the Seriousness of the Crime, the Attribution of Blame and the perceived the Guilt (Zajac, Westera, Ali, & Powell, 2019). Furthermore, it is proposed that the gender of the suspect affects the influencing techniques and likewise the dependent variables. Therefore, a between-participants 3 x 2 design with a sexual assault scenario was conducted. To test the impact of the suspect’s gender and the effectiveness of the above-mentioned techniques both aspects were manipulated. The results indicated that the techniques do not influence the perceived Seriousness of the Crime, the Attribution of Blame and neither the perceived Guilt. Therefore, investigative interviews as evidence are crucial and will not be misinterpreted when considering the above-mentioned techniques. It is suggested to replicate the study with a greater sample and without the occurrence of a pandemic.