Therapeutic jurisprudence in investigative interviews : the effects of a humanitarian rapport-orientated and a dominant non-rapport orientated approach on adult’s memory performance and psychological well-being

Abstract: Therapeutic jurisprudence (TJ) sees the law as a social force with the underlying idea that legal procedures should promote the psychological well-being (PWB) of individuals involved in juridical actions; for example, individual police interviewers could act as therapeutic agents. Investigative interviewing is guided by a truth-seeking and ethical framework; in this view, rapport is an important component for gaining trust and effective communication. Previous research shows that rapport-orientated and non-rapport orientated interview styles result in differences in interviewees’ memory performance and PWB. In the present thesis, a humanitarian rapport-orientated and a dominant non-rapport orientated approach were operationalised based on previous explorative findings of authentic crime victims’ and offenders’ perception of their interviewers as acting in either a humanitarian or dominant manner (Holmberg, 2004; Holmberg & Christianson, 2002). The studies in the present thesis were based on an experimental data collection that consisted of three phases: exposure, interview I (N = 146) and interview II (N = 127; one week and six-month retention period, respectively). Participants were randomly assigned to be interviewed in either a humanitarian rapport-orientated or a non-rapport orientated approach. Basically, it was hypothesised that a humanitarian rapport-oriented approach would increase interviewees’ recall and PWB, and that a dominant non-rapport oriented approach would decrease interviewees’ recall and PWB. Study I assessed the effects of an empirically based model of rapport and a dominant non-rapport orientated approach on adults’ memory performance in an (mock) investigative interview context. Adopting a TJ perspective, Study II described, defined, and measured interviewees’ PWB (Sense of coherence; STAI-S), while Study III investigated the impact of interviewees’ personality (Five-factor model; STAI-T) on their memory performance and PWB. Study IV explored previous findings (Studies I and III) for potential indirect effects of the interview approach on interviewees’ recall, and potential interaction effects between the interview approach and interviewees’ recall as moderated by their personality. Main results showed that a humanitarian rapport-orientated approach, in all essential parts, facilitated interviewees’ recall as well as their psychological well-being, whereas a non-rapport orientated approach, also in all essential parts, hampered interviewees’ recall and contributed to their decreased psychological well-being.