Interview, Interrogation, and Instrumentation Vocabulary Flashcards

A comprehensive vocabulary collection covering key definitions, techniques, and terminology related to criminal interviews, interrogation methods, modus operandi, legal concepts, evidence, and forensic laboratory divisions.

Interview

The questioning of a person who is believed to possess knowledge that is official to the investigator, where the person questioned usually gives their account in their own manner and words.

Golden Rule in the Conduct of Interview

Never conduct or let anyone conduct an interview if the interviewer has not gone to the crime scene.

Elicitation

The method of acquiring desired information from a person who is unaware he is providing wanted information and if aware may not intend to give information.

IRONIC

An acronym representing the stages of an interview: Interview preparation, Recall (Warm-up), Opening statement, Narrative, Inquiry, and Complement.

Shunting

A technique for controlling digression by asking a question that relates the rambling discourse back to the original line of questioning.

Skipping by Guessing

A technique of questioning intervening details by anticipating conclusions to skip the probable outcome of various stages of the subject's recital.

Child (under R.A. 7610)

A person below eighteen (18) years of age or those over but unable to fully take care of or protect themselves from abuse, neglect, cruelty, exploitation, or discrimination due to a physical or mental disability or condition.

Cognitive Interview

An interview method that calls for using a secluded, quiet place free of distractions and encouraging subjects to speak slowly.

Background Investigation (BI)

An expensive technique in personnel security used to verify information on an application form and to obtain other information pertinent to employment decisions.

Positive Vetting

The process of inspecting or examining with careful thoroughness through a personal interview conducted under stress to confirm or deny information previously given by an applicant.

Prowling

The process whereby a subject's reaction in a future critical situation is predicted by observing behavior, interviewing, or analyzing responses to a questionnaire.

Exit Interview

A security management tool that gives departing employees an opportunity to list grievances and helps managers learn of previously unknown problems.

Modus Operandi

An individual or group's habitual way of operating.

Tutok-Kalawit Gang

A crime group whose modus operandi involves suddenly hugging a victim like an old friend while discreetly poking a sharp object on their side to demand cash and valuables.

Ipit Gang

A crime group operating in crowded places or vehicles that pushes, pulls, or squeezes a victim to distract them while stealing their wallet or cellphone.

Interrogation

The questioning of a person suspected of having committed an offense or a person who is reluctant to make a full disclosure of information pertinent to an investigation.

Third-Degree Tactics

The illegal use of physical force, threats of force, or physical, mental, or psychological abuse to obtain information or confessions.

Extenuation

An interrogation technique where the investigator indicates that they do not consider the subject's indiscretion to be a grave offense.

Shifting the Blame

An interrogation technique where the investigator expresses belief that the suspect is not a criminal by nature and attributes the offense to a temporary weakness or pressure.

Mutt and Jeff

An interrogation technique employing two agents: one relentless and harsh (Mutt) and the other kind-hearted and sympathetic (Jeff).

Bluff on Split-Pair Technique

An interrogation technique used when multiple co-suspects are questioned separately, where the interrogator claims to one suspect that their accomplice has already implicated them.

Admission

A self-incriminatory statement by the subject containing some information concerning elements of the crime, but falling short of a full acknowledgment of guilt.

Confession

Information supporting the elements of the crime given by a person involved, or a direct acknowledgment of the truth of the guilty fact as charged.

Statement

A legal narrative description of events related to a crime.

Deposition

The testimony of a witness reduced to writing under oath or affirmation before an authorized person, in answer to interrogatories and cross-interrogatories.

Duress

The unlawful imposition of physical restrictions on behavior, such as prolonged detention or deprivation of food and sleep.

Coercion

The application or threat of illegal physical force and methods during questioning.

Psychological Constraint

The unlawful restraint of the free action of the will through threats or methods that instill fear.

Ham Letting

Forcibly taking any relative of a suspect in exchange for the suspect's surrender or appearance, or forcing people to vacate their place of abode.

Circumstantial Evidence

Indirect proof of identity or guilt established by proving other facts or circumstances from which the perpetrator's identity can be inferred.

Associative Evidence

Physical evidence such as weapons, tools, garments, or fingerprints that may identify the criminal by connecting them to the scene of the crime.

Corpus Delicti

The body of the crime, or the actual fact that a specific loss or injury was sustained through a criminal act.

Presumptive Test for Blood

A preliminary screening test (e.g., Benzidine TMB Reagent) used to determine if a stain may be blood and eliminate non-blood samples.

Confirmatory Test for Blood

A definitive test (e.g., Hemin/Teichmann or Takayama) used to conclusively confirm the presence of hemoglobin in a suspected stain.

Biological Precipitin Test

A test used to establish whether a blood stain is of human or specific animal origin.

Teichmann Test

A micro-crystal test for blood that forms brown rhombic hematin crystals upon positive identification.

Takayama Test

A micro-crystal test for blood that forms pink feathery hemochromogen crystals upon positive identification.

Florence Test

A preliminary test for semen used to detect the presence of choline.

Polygraph

A multichannel diagnostic monitoring system that measures physiological changes in response to questions to assist in detecting deception.