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“IT’s the Devil”: Responsibility Allocation And Negotiations In Police-suspect Interrogations In Ibadan, Nigeria

  • Ayo Osisanwo*
  • , Opeyemi Adegbosin
  • *Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal contributionsJournal articlesResearchpeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Suspects employ diverse strategies to take or deny the responsibility of committing a particular crime for which they are interrogated. This paper examined how responsibilities are negotiated, to identify the strategies used to responsibilise and deresponsibilise crimes. Levinson’s Activity type and Caffi’s concepts of responsibilisation and deresponsibilisation serve as the theoretical anchors for the study. Interrogation sessions which included different case types were conducted at the Oyo State Criminal Investigation Department, Iyaganku, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. Nine strategies for (de)responsibilisation and six speech acts were identified. Suspects (de)responsibilise during interrogation to achieve personal goals of accepting or rejecting culpability.

Original languageEnglish
JournalJournal of Forensic Psychology Research and Practice
Volume25
Issue number1
Pages (from-to)172-192
Number of pages21
ISSN2473-2850
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2025

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

  1. SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
    SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

Research areas and keywords

  • (De)responsibilisation
  • conversational maxims
  • police-suspect interrogation
  • English

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

  • Applied Psychology
  • Pathology and Forensic Medicine

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