top of page
SISVO strategic interviewing of sexual and violent offenders

STRATEGIC INTERVIEWING OF SEXUAL AND VIOLENT OFFENDERS

This NCACIA course is a 24-hour (3 day) course.  Topics of instruction will include:

 

Day 1: Foundations, Statement Analysis, and Personality Assessment

 

The first day builds the foundational skills for strategic, evidence-driven offender interviewing.


Participants will explore:

​

  • Course Introduction & Core Concepts: Overview of ineffective interview strategies and their risks, including false confessions and wrongful convictions.

  • The Integrated Cognitive Behavior Interview (ICBI) Method: A research-backed methodology for conducting interviews that is most effective in eliciting truthful statements while exposing deception and contradiction. 

  • Corroboration & Analysis Integration: How to combine corroboration, statement analysis, and evidence for stronger cases.

  • Statement Analysis Techniques: Statement Validity Analysis (SVA), the Comprehensive Statement Evaluation Tool (CSET), and the Deception Recognition Tool (DRT).

  • Personality & Communication Assessments:​ DISC Method and Process Communication Model (PCM).

  • Offender Psychology: Personality disorders linked to sexual and violent offending, behavioral profiling, suspect history review, and related assessment tools.

​

Day 2: Nonverbal Communication, Interview Planning, and Thematic Development

 

Day two focuses on the interplay of nonverbal behavior, structured planning, and psychological theme development.
 

Topics include:

​

  • Body Language Analysis: Lower and upper body cues, cluster/timing interpretation, mirroring techniques, and the role of mirror neurons.

  • Interview Structure & Preparation: Developing effective interview plans, strong introductions, and rapport-building strategies.

  • Corroboration in Initial Interviews: Using case elements to structure early questioning, including targeted questions on grooming, power, and control.

  • Theme Development Strategies: Applying minimization, rationalization, and cognitive dissonance frameworks to offender narratives.

  • Offense-Specific Theme Application: Tailoring approaches for domestic/intimate partner violence, adult sexual assault, child sexual abuse/exploitation, child physical abuse/death, and homicide.

 

Day 3: Advanced Strategies, Legal Considerations, and Evidence Introduction

 

The final day addresses high-level interviewing techniques, legal boundaries, and integrating evidence for maximum impact.
 

Participants will learn:

​

  • Legal and Ethical Considerations: Miranda warnings, language barriers, cognitive ability and comprehension, and avoiding coercion.

  • Linguistic Indicators of Deception: Recognizing hedging words, qualified denials, excessive irrelevant detail, victim denigration or minimization, offender-initiated narratives, and graduated admissions.

  • Strategic Questioning and Re-engagement: Circling back, exploiting contradictions, and recognizing Freudian slips.

  • Evidence Integration: Timing and strategy for introducing physical, testimonial, and digital evidence to test or break deceptive narratives.

  • Practical Application: Scenario-based exercises synthesizing all learned techniques.

​

Upon completion of this intensive three-day program, participants will possess the tools to conduct ethically sound, psychologically informed, and strategically structured interviews with sexual and violent offenders. They will be equipped to recognize deception, manage complex personalities, and integrate corroborative evidence effectively to support successful prosecutions.

bottom of page