Framing in criminal investigation: How police officers (re)construct a crime

Failures in criminal investigation may lead to wrongful convictions. Insight in the criminal investigation process is needed to understand how these investigative failures may rise and how measures can contribute to the prevention of this kind of failures. Some of the main findings of an empirical study of the criminal investigation process in four cases of major investigations are presented here. This criminal investigation process is analyzed as a process of framing, using Goffman's framing (Goffman, 1975) and interaction theories (Goffman, 1990). It shows that in addition to framing, other substantive and social factors affect the criminal investigation.