Law enforcement officers will find this article most valuable. Not only that, those who care about their security should not take this short piece for levity. Criminals now invade every location and institution; this calls for everyone to be guard and learn the ways they deploy to perpetrate their heinous acts. Body language can always reveal them—any observant person that pays attention will be able to draw them out with ease. Without much ado, let’s get down to business.
Oxygen, a news platform dedicated to crime and criminality in its interview with Sergeant Brian Harris, a renowned expert on criminal confessions reels out five signs that show a suspect being guilty of an accusation; they are:
Hair gestures: Sgt. Harris notes that people who play with their hair use it as a distraction. This is intentionally meant to delay response from the subject. They are obviously confused on what to say and they must think and fabricate their response before throwing them to you. So, in playing with their hair, they turn your attention away from the main issue and make you lose taste for it.
Groin grabbing: I know this will definitely blow your mind—sex offenders have specific gestures that interrogators are always after. According to Harris, sex offenders will their hands in the groin area as they begin to narrate their story. So, the next time you are interrogating a criminal whose offence is related to sex, pay attention to the movement of their hands. However, you should know that this is not absolute in itself.
The cleaner: When interrogating a person, you will notice that they will start fidgeting with tables or papers without any tangible reason. Harris refers to these kinds of people as “the cleaners.” According to him, these people are “obsessed with wiping the table or brushing lint or cleaning shoes.” He notes that these behaviors help people escape from the interview and the situation in which they find themselves (Oxygen, 2018).
Shoulder shrugging: We all have seen kids and teenagers shrug their shoulders when asked questions in an attempt to be passive in a conversation. But for potential criminals, it means something very different. Sgt. Harris notes that giving a shoulder shrug during a narrative response could indicate a lie. Specifically, Harris says “Part of the response is truthful but the shoulder shrugging indicates that the body is in conflict with the words being spoken.” Why should people shrug their shoulders when they have nothing to fear? This is an evasive means of covering up their offences (Oxygen, 2018).
The surrender: One of the best ways to assume someone is finally giving up on their story is when they give up and put their hands in their face. Sgt. Harris calls this a “Surrender” and notes that “without a neck the head would fall off.”
You can always focus on the aforementioned signs anytime you are interrogating people but I want to make it very practical this time around. Baynes and Hague (2017) narrate the story Mick Philpott, a child-killer who lied he never knew anything about the occurrence. However, body language experts opined that they were aware he perpetrated the crime a year before his conviction. The Philpotts wept at an extraordinary press conference as they appealed for witnesses on the fire incident that killed six children. The experts did further analysis of three high profile criminals and arrived at the telltale signs of criminals.
In the press conference, Philpott holds his sad expression and emotion too long and his sobs appear fake, according to experts who analyzed the footage. Professor Dawn Archer, a specialist in linguistics at Manchester Metropolitan University who led the team of experts furthered that “In most people, emotion comes and goes and, when someone says something positive, like when he said something good is going to come out of this in the case of the family donating Dwayne’s organs, he holds the sad expression. Often, a person who is sad will drop their shoulders and hold themselves different and this will make their voice low – but, in Philpott’s case, he continues to be loud and vocal. Mairead, his wife, is the same with her eyebrows held in a triangle shape looking sad throughout the whole conference, unless she puts her face to the table. Also, the only child he mentions by name is Dwayne and that is when he is talking about donating his organs, no other child is named but he does name neighbors who helped. This suggests psychological distancing and Philpott could be doing this because he is sad but also he could be doing it because he is guilty.”
In the quote above, there are many telltale signs of criminal body language. Let me conclude by offering clues you can follow in detecting a criminal. The first step is to start by asking neutral questions. By asking someone basic, nonthreatening questions, you are able to observe a response baseline. Ask them about the weather, their plans for the weekend, or anything that would elicit a normal, comfortable response. When they respond, observe their body language and eye movement—you want to know how they act when they are telling the truth. Do they shift stance? Glance in one direction or the other? Or look you dead in the eye? Make sure you ask enough questions to observe a pattern (Jantz, 2015).
Once you move from neutral territory to the “lie zone,” you should be able to observe a change in body language, facial expressions, eye movement, and sentence structure. Everyone will give different subconscious clues when telling a lie, which is why it’s important to observe a normal baseline prior to entering the lie zone. Liars often pull their body inward when lying to make themselves feel smaller and less noticeable. Many people will become squirmy and sometimes conceal their hands to subconsciously hide fidgety fingers. You might also observe shoulder shrugging (Jantz, 2015).
References
Baynes, C & Hague, C (2017).Body Language Experts Reveal How They Knew Child-Killer Mick Philpott Was Lying About His Guilt. Retrieved from https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/body-language-experts-reveal-how-9573578
Jantz, G (2015). 6 Ways to Detect a Liar in Just Seconds. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/hope-relationships/201507/6-ways-detect-liar-in-just-seconds
Oxygen (2017). 5 Signs a Suspect is Guilty, According to a Criminal Investigator. Retrieved from https://www.oxygen.com/criminal-confessions/crime-time/5-signs-a-suspect-is-guilty-according-to-a-criminal-interrogator
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