‘I would never’: defending, explaining, and denying suspect allegations of sexual offence during internal affairs interrogations

Despite extensive research on sexual offences, there is a significant gap in understanding how perpetrators perceive their own actions. This article addresses this gap by examining how suspects of sexual offences defend, explain, or deny their actions during interrogations. Using a discursive psychology approach, the study analyses interrogations with Swedish police personnel suspected of criminal offences (n = 9). The examination focuses on how suspects reject being categorised as criminals by providing explanations, defences, and denials in relation to allegations of sexual offences. The results reveal that suspects construct themselves and their versions of the events as reliable and trustworthy, while portraying the plaintiff as unreliable. These strategies introduce doubt about the circumstances surrounding the alleged offences.