Essentials of the Mindful Interview Method: A Training Manual for Gathering Reliable Statements

Essentials of the Mindful Interview Method instructs interview practitioners in gathering authentic reliable information from their subjects in order to understand an event that occurred, or otherwise help identify a culprit.

Every day, well-intentioned interview practitioners violate basic principles that can alter the authentic statements made by their subjects. Building on the foundational theories and methodologies from The Mindful Interview Method: Retrieving Cognitive Evidence (ISBN: 9781032200798), this book provides interviewer practitioners with crucial investigative techniques to elicit important details about an event where integrity of the interview process is critical. Across six chapters, the book provides guidance to organizations for creating policies and protocols designed to reduce misidentifications and wrongful convictions of innocent persons. It provides best-practice instructions on how to best interview eyewitnesses, using strategies that capture the witnesses’ remembrances without influencing or tainting them.

By sharing a more mindful approach for conducting these interviews, this book is a vital guide for interview practitioners associated with criminal justice, law enforcement, corrections, probation, and criminal investigators in gathering information related to an investigation, whether they are trying to identify a suspect or determine the cause of an event of importance.