THE LANGUAGE OF DECEIT - AN INVESTIGATION OF THE VERBAL CLUES TO DECEPTION IN THE INTERROGATION CONTEXT

We examined the hypothesis that reliable verbal indicators of deceptio n exist in the interrogation context. Participants were recruited for a study addressing ''security effectiveness'' and either committed a t heft ''to rest the effectiveness of a new security guard'' or carried out a similar but innocuous task. They then provided either (1) a trut hful alibi, (2) a partially deceptive account, (3) a completely false alibi, or (4) a truthful confession regarding the theft to ''an interr ogator hired for the purpose of investigating thefts'' with a monetary incentive for convincing the interrogator of their truthfulness. Resu lts indicated that only 3 out of the 18 (16.7%) clues tested significa ntly differentiated the truthful and deceptive accounts. All 3 clues w ere derived from the Statement Validity Analysis (SVA) technique (amou nt of detail reported, coherence, and admissions of lack of memory). I mplications for credibility assessment in forensic interrogations are discussed.