Skills and abilities in crime investigation: the investigative journalist versus the detective

One of the factors which seems to be important in ultimately leading to the over-turning of wrongful convictions, particularly for serious crimes such as murder, is the informal involvement of journalists, particularly in terms of their investigations into cases. This paper is, in part, based upon findings from ongoing PhD research which is concerned with examining the involvement of investigative journalists in post-war miscarriages of justice cases in England and Wales, in relation to wrongful convictions for murder. The paper particularly focuses upon the attributes and skills used by journalists in investigating such cases. It then compares these with those used by detectives, with the aim of determining the similarities and differences in the investigative approaches and investigative strategies used by these two groups.