REVIEW: "The Art of Investigative Interviewing", Charles L. Yeschke

BKARININ.RVW   20030721

"The Art of Investigative Interviewing", Charles L. Yeschke, 2003,
0=7506-7595-0, U$39.99
%A   Charles L. Yeschke
%C   225 Wildwood Street, Woburn, MA  01801
%D   2003
%G   0=7506-7595-0
%I   Butterworth-Heinemann/CRC Press
%O   U$39.99 225 1-800-366-BOOK, fax: 800-446-6520 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
%O  http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0750675950/robsladesinterne
  http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0750675950/robsladesinte-21
%O   http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/0750675950/robsladesin03-20
%P   244 p.
%T   "The Art of Investigative Interviewing"

This book could have been very important.  Interviewing, if done
properly, is a highly technical field, and the author is obviously
familiar with the Reid techniques.  Unfortunately, the work lacks
structure, a focus on practical methods, and clarity of writing.

Chapter one addresses ethical standards and practices, but mostly
consists of fuzzy opining on ethics in general.  Although codes of
conduct for related professions are listed, very little of the text is
directly related to interviewing.  Lists of motivations and drives
that may interfere with interviewing are given in chapter two.  Except
for verbal clues to deception, the material is vague and not very
helpful.  Preparation, in chapter three, is mostly about the
interviewer's attitude.  Chapter four discusses the legal rules for
interrogation, primarily in terms of the US Miranda decision.  "Public
and Private Interviewing," in chapter five, does not have any clear
point.  There is a lot of nebulous philosophizing about rapport and
active listening in chapter six, although it does end with a few good
tips in regard to body language, facial expression, and so forth. 
Chapter seven examines abuse of authority, but the content on
neutrality basically repeats the earlier material on active listening. 
The argument that expectations can be self-fulfilling, in chapter
eight, repeats prior ideas, and is rather confused.  Chapter nine
presents an extremely detailed and complex, but useful, outline of the
structure and stages of an interview.  The framework will help you to
plan and anticipate what could happen.  An inexplicit deliberation on
setting and "intensity" is in chapter ten.  Different types of
questions are described in chapter eleven, and it has some helpful
points.  Three "case studies" are provided in chapter twelve: one
demonstrates the interview process and may be helfpul, the others are
mere transcripts.

In the absence of better guides, this book does contain a number of
useful tips, but it is very difficult to extract the techniques from
the opinions and verbiage.

copyright Robert M. Slade, 2003   BKARININ.RVW   20030721

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