Faculty of Science, Technology and Medicine
Faculty of Law, Economics and Finance
Faculty of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences
Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust
Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine
Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History
Luxembourg Centre for European Law
Luxembourg Centre for Socio-Environmental Systems
The use of social influence and persuasion tactics during the interview of white-collar suspects
Abstract
PhDs, Post-Docs, professors as well as interested external auditors, are cordially invited to participate in and contribute to our seminar series titled: “Human Rights: Insights into Today’s Challenges” hosted by the Doctoral School of Law. The aim of the seminar is to have an in depth discussion on a different human rights issue in each seminar. Presentations of 15 to 20 minutes (or up to 30 minutes if we have two or more speakers) will be followed by an open group discussion.
Fraud and corrupton are serious and worldwide problems. Interviewing its suspects is a hard and complex job. It often concerns intelligent and powerful persons, with verbal skills that allow them to explain away guilt or to manoeuvre the interview away from salient topics. Leading interviewing approaches do not seem to consider the specifics of such interviews. Insights from cognitive and social psychology which may inform efficient tactics thus remain unattended, by fear of violating legal or ethical standards. In his research, PhD candidate TomWillems navigates the difficult question how to devise an efficient interviewing approach for white collars, without impeding on international human rights law and standards. Points of contention include the use of social influence and persuasion techniques, which might be seen to violate the right to remain silent and amount to unauthorised psychological pressure. During the seminar, this ‘pracademic’ will present his exploration of how a modern investigator could reconcile the need for effective protection of the public budget with the need to respect the dignity and autonomy of the suspect and preserve the fairness of the investigation.
Any (open or closed) question after the presentation will be much welcomed.
About the speaker
Tom Willems is a Belgian lawyer and criminologist. After a career of nearly 10 years in the Anti-Corruption and Anti-Fraud departments of the Belgian Police, he has been with the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) of the European Commission for over 20 years now. Nearly as long, he is a trainer in investigative interviewing techniques. Currently he is doing a PhD at the University of Luxembourg, researching an efficient, legal and ethical interviewing approach of suspects in fraud and corruption investigations.
Language
English.
This is a free event. Registration is mandatory.
The seminars will be held during lunch time, sandwiches and water will be provided for registered participants. PhD students will be awarded 1 ECTS for attending 5 seminars and 1 ECTS for presenting in one of the seminars. Candidates for presenting a topic are very welcome to contact us.