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"One reason a murderer may not be able to admit the crime is that admission would destroy his premise of justification.' Agents, he had an elaborate answer We found that when someone Subject: Well, it could have been tor each piece of evidence presented. outright denied they had murdered or that his [sexual] performance was He said friends had given him the 100 had anything to do with the crime, the inadequate. She might have thought pairs of high-heeled shoes in his use of an imaginary third person was it was. Or he might have thought it closet. He argued that photographs helpful. The Agents would go through was and she said something about tound in his possession were not his, the details of the crime and ask the it. because he would not be such a subject why he thought this third This conversation ilustrates that the sloppy photographer. He presented person would commit such an act. murderer was able to provide a extreme detail for each piece of evi- This technique projected responsibility reason (sexual inadequacy) for the dence brought against him to "prove' or guilt away from the subject and crime being committed and suggests why he could not have been the mur- onto someone else. Note this strategy that the intent to kill was triggered into derer. in the following interview by the action through an internal dialog proc- There also may be cases where Agents with a murderer: Agent: Suppose we do it this way. ess within the offender. the murderer justifies in his own mind Let's just divorce you trom that Often someone who denies justi- the issue of admitting or denying guilt. ties his or her actions by blaming The following statement from a serial situation. I'm sure you've thought about it alot. Suppose it wasn't you someone else. In our study, for exam- murderer illustrates this position: involved and it was someone else. ple, a murderer justified his killing by Agent: Could the police have done describing the victim as a "tramp." anything for you in order to get a What, in your mind, would be the reasons for someone doing One reason a murderer may not be confession? able to admit the crime is that admis- Subject: Well, at first I didn't admit something like that?. Subject: I'd say she either said or sion would destroy his premise of jus- my guilt. I wouldn't admit to anybody. But I didn't really deny did something extremely wrong tification. Agent: Like what, for instance? Obtaining information from sus- either. pects is a critical technique for law enforcement. Well-developed skills in interviewing can provide important in- tormation, which can be linked with crime scene data. Through the use of various interviewing techniques, the investigation can receive maximum benefit from the interview process. Interview techniques discussed in this article have given members of the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit new in- sight for tapping into the fantasy sys- tems of these criminals and for effec. tively dealing with their defenses. 181 incluc