The article explores the idea of ‘offender-centric’ policing in cases of rape, with its focus on suspect and offender admissions and behaviours. It features discussion of 11 cases, illustrating offender-centric pathways to charge or conviction, the challenges facing complainants, suspects and police officers, along with missed opportunities to focus on a suspect’s behaviour. The importance of victim care and support is discussed, and it is argued that victim care should accompany an offender-centric approach to rape investigation. It is also argued that there are potential dangers with offender-centric tactics, specifically, that without due care it may become a self-confirming investigative tool influenced by confirmation bias which may lead to flawed decision-making. The article concludes by arguing that offender-centric policing has benefits in those cases with suspects who engage in predatory behaviour, have a history of previously undisclosed sexual offending and domestic violence and other problematic behaviours. It also has value in focusing the attention of investigators on what steps were taken by a suspect to ascertain the complainant’s consent. While the offender-centric approach cannot address all investigative challenges in rape cases, it is a useful addition to existing strategies.

本文探讨了强奸案件中“以罪犯为中心”的警务理念，重点关注嫌疑人和罪犯的承认和行为。它讨论了 11 个案例，说明了以罪犯为中心的指控或定罪途径、投诉人、嫌疑人和警察面临的挑战，以及错失关注嫌疑人行为的机会。讨论了受害者关怀和支持的重要性，并认为受害者关怀应该伴随着以罪犯为中心的强奸调查方法。也有人认为，以罪犯为中心的策略存在潜在危险，特别是，如果没有应有的注意，它可能会成为受确认偏见影响的自我确认调查工具，这可能会导致有缺陷的决策。文章最后指出，以犯罪者为中心的警务在嫌疑人从事掠夺性行为、有先前未公开的性犯罪和家庭暴力以及其他有问题的行为历史的案件中是有益的。调查人员的注意力集中在嫌疑人为确定投诉人的同意采取了哪些步骤方面也很有价值。虽然以罪犯为中心的方法不能解决强奸案件中的所有调查挑战，但它是对现有策略的有用补充。