William L. Fleisher

• Bachelor of Arts
• Academy for Scientific Investigation

This chapter presents an introduction to Morgan Interview Theme Technique (MITT) which helps a forensic investigator in finding the truth in a case. MITT is a projective test where the suspect is asked to make up stories concerning five presented pictures. The stories should include what happened prior to the scene in the sketch, what is happening...

This chapter elaborates the different types of question utilized in forensic assessment interviews. Four types of questions are usually asked in the forensic assessment interviews: irrelevant, relevant, comparison, and projective. Irrelevant questions are generally background questions that have nothing to do with the investigation, and therefore o...

This chapter discusses the importance of projective analysis of unwitting verbal cues during a FAINT interview. The FAINT interview involves two concurrent types of assessments: verbal and nonverbal. The truthful suspect wants the interviewer to be successful; the deceptive suspect does not. This fundamental difference in interviewee goals accounts...

This chapter introduces Criterion Based Statement Analysis (CBSA) and Scientific Content Analysis (SCAN) as two major systems of statement analysis that are in use today. In statement analysis, the forensic experts see the deceptive suspect's failure to commit to their statement. Both of systems, CBSA as well as SCAN, help identify deceptive suspec...

This chapter focuses on the subject of integrated interrogation technique that helps an interrogator in getting a confession from the suspect. The Integrated Interrogation Technique maximizes the interrogator's ability to obtain a confession from the guilty suspect. This technique revolves around 10 key factors that are introduced into the conversa...

This chapter discusses the ethical issues associated with incidents of torture and false confessions that resulted after 9/11 attack on USA. The law enforcement and counterintelligence officer have different objectives when conducting interrogations. One is to solve a crime and the other is to obtain information to prevent one. False confessions ge...

The chapter discusses various legal consideration associated with confession of a suspect in a case in USA. The Fifth Amendment in USA states that no person shall be compelled in a criminal matter to be a witness against himself. A suspect's constitutional rights are to protect him from threat of an arbitrary and oppressive federal government, and...

This chapter provides an introduction to different interviewing and interrogation techniques involving verbal and nonverbal cues that can be used by transportation and security experts to make travel more convenient and safer. To screen passengers, transportation security officials must use proven methods that are effective and fair. Effectively us...

This chapter deals with the subject of pre-employment interviewing which helps employers in knowing about candidates who may not be a perfect match for the job and may become a liability for the company in future. A pre-employment interview utilizes several techniques to ascertain information from the applicants and allow the employer to select the...

This chapter explores various tools and techniques that are used to determine or search the truth. The search for truth is not a modern concept. It dates back to the very beginnings of civilization. The earliest test for truth was trial by combat, where the truth teller was determined by fighting ability. Societies then began using psychological an...

This chapter discusses the precautions that an interviewer should take while interviewing children and mentally challenged individuals in association with a case. There are many case situations that will necessitate an investigative interview of a child or mentally challenged individual. These interviews will fall generally into two categories: one...

This chapter outlines the points that a forensic interviewer should keep in mind before writing the results of an interview in the form of a report. Ability to effectively report the results of an interview or interrogation is one of the most important skills an interviewer can have. A report is the true story of what occurred during the interview...

This chapter elaborates the psychophysiological basis of a forensic assessment that helps in eliciting truth from a person during a forensic assessment interview (FAINT). The FAINT is set up as a scientific experiment where the only stimulus presented is the interviewer's question, and all extraneous stimuli are controlled. A FAINT utilizes relevan...

This chapter discusses the concepts of truth and lie and elaborates how a competent forensic interviewer can catch the untruth or lie of a suspect. An untruth may be caused by many things, other than a deliberate attempt of deception. A lie is defined as the deliberate communication to another, verbally, written (i.e., a bad check), or by gesture (...

This chapter elaborates the importance of nonverbal behavioral assessment in determination of truth. The nonverbal behavioral assessment is the parallel line of suspect assessment. For the assessment to achieve a high level of reliability, the verbal portion of the assessment needs to be correlated with the sometimes more subtle responses of nonver...

This chapter discusses the traditional scoring system of the FAINT interviews. After completing the initial part of the interview concerning personal data, a score of +1

This chapter examines various issues associated with getting statements, recordings, and videos during an interviews or interrogations in a case. This chapter also suggests what should be done in case an interviewer decides to go for video recording of an interview. Recording of interviews and interrogations needs to be consistent with both process...

This chapter discusses how a forensic investigator can prepare himself to bring out the truth from a suspect during an interview/interrogation. The interview is an information-gathering process. The interrogation, on the other hand, seeks to encourage the guilty to admit their involvement in a crime or other incident. These differing goals, of nece...

This chapter explains how a forensic interviewer can understand aggressive behavior of a suspect and deal with an angry suspect. Aggression is often born out of frustration. Humans tend to seek to be around persons who are “like” themselves and denigrate as scapegoats those who are perceived to be “different.” There are times when a guilty suspect...

This chapter discusses the future techniques that will play important role in eliciting truth from a suspect in forensic investigations. Today, the most accurate instrument used for truth verification is the polygraph. However, future truth verification technology will focus on the brain. Three areas of exploration into the brain are of importance...

This chapter explains different formats of polygraph tests used for truth verification in forensic investigation. A “known solution peak of tension test” format is when a series of questions, usually five to nine, are asked, in which there are several buffer or padding questions (incorrect items) and one key item (correct answer). Only the examiner...

Effective Interviewing and Interrogation Techniques, Third Edition is a practical manual which provides the forensic practitioner/investigator critical insight into human behavior, enabling one to become a better interviewer, interrogator and, most importantly, an expert detector of truthful and deceptive behavior. The Forensic Assessment Interview...

This field study tested the validity of the Integrated Zone Comparison Technique (IZCT) designed for specific issue tests, utilizing 309 confirmed field cases by examiners of the Egyptian Government. During 1998 and 1999 the IZCT correctly identified 100% of the innocent examinees and 99.5% of the guilty examinees, excluding Inconclusives, or 94.8%...