The Crime Questionnaire™

1. The CQ is a twenty-one question written "test" that quickly identifies the innocent.

2. The CQ is a written lie detector test alternative.  Using a database of answers given by verified innocent and guilty suspects, the CQ determines criminal involvement.

3. When administered orally, the CQ is a Behavior Analysis Interview.  CQ questions allow innocent suspects to comfortably play armchair detective and cause the guilty to display behaviors that are obviously deceptive.

4. The CQ is a narrowing interview that identifies the lone culprit among many innocent suspects.

5. The CQ reveals the guilty suspect's thought processes about the crime and the interrogation arguments that will get him/her to confess.

6. The CQ is an investigator's training tool that helps improve interview skills.

7. When used with conventional lie detection techniques, the CQ mentally prepares the suspect to produce conclusive test results - every time.

Suspects complete the CQ - written or orally.  There are a total of twenty-one questions on the CQ - ten Agree/Disagree with required explanations, and eleven short essay or Write-Your-Own Answer questions.

Many of the CQ questions are hypothetical ("Suppose..." and "What if...") and thus non-confrontational.  CQ questions confound the guilty, but are taken in stride by the innocent who enjoy playing "arm chair detective".

Optional sections include:  the Confession Page, the Post-CQ Gambit, and the Life History Questions.

The CQ takes about twenty minutes for the average suspect to complete, and about ten minutes for the trained investigator to analyze.

The suspect's answers to the CQ™ questions are compared to a large database of answers given by suspects in previous criminal cases and verified as truthful or deceptive, according to polygraph test results or confessions.  Language analysis principles are employed to assess the truthfulness of new or unique answers.

Innocent suspects have no problem considering consequences of crimes they did not commit.  Innocent and guilty suspects both deny committing the crime, but their denials differ in form and content.

CQ analysts are trained and certified by James W. Bassett - the creator of the CQ.

The CQ has been fully researched and tested.  In a study of one hundred thirty-two people suspected of crimes, the CQ correctly predicted polygraph results 84.8% of the time.  When child sexual abuse cases were excluded*, the CQ's accuracy rose to 89.2%.  These percentages were achieved without knowledge of case facts or suspect histories.  Correct prediction percentage would also have increased if the evaluator had the opportunity to conduct post-test interviews of the suspects.

The CQ was developed by Jim Bassett, a polygraphist in private practice for more than thirty years.  Mr. Bassett has made training presentations about polygraph techniques and the Crime Questionnaire to national and state associations.  He has published numerous articles in trade publications concerning pre-employment screening and employee theft investigation.  Mr. Bassett is a member of the American Polygraph Association, the American Association of Police Polygraphists, the Ohio Association of Polygraph Examiners, and the American Society for Industrial Security.

During the mid-1990's, Mr. Bassett started experimenting with groups of questions to see how well they would predict polygraph results in criminal cases.  During 2003 and 2004, members of the American Polygraph Association participated in a research project to validate the CQ.  With only brief crime descriptions submitted with the 132 completed CQs from criminal suspects, Mr. Bassett correctly predicted their polygraph results 84.8% of the time.

Further analysis of CQ answers from this study led to the development of a formal scoring system and the CQ Answer Databases that further increased scoring accuracy.  The CQ is the only known research-validated questionnaire of its kind.

1. Is this client probably innocent?
2. Would a polygraph test be beneficial?
3. Should the client accept a plea offer?
4. Is the client withholding information that may be mitigating?
5. Should the client be allowed to take the stand?
6. Are there other aspects of the case that should be investigated?

The CQ™ mentally prepares suspects for polygraph testing.  It confronts the guilty with probable consequences of their crimes, while leaving the innocent unfazed.  Suspects' answers regularly offer unique interrogation entrees for the investigator.

Independent assessments of CQ results and polygraph test results, when both are administered, provide a result more accurate than either the CQ or polygraph alone.

Specifically, if the polygraph test is 95% accurate and the CQ is 85% accurate, the error rate of the two tests in combination would be 5% x 15%, or .0075. 

When both of these testing procedures agree, they would be wrong in only 7 1/2 cases out of 1,000.  Likewise, their combined accuracy would be correct in 992.5 of every 1,000 cases.

After purchasing and administering a CQ™, you can fax or mail the completed questionnaire to us for analysis.  A detailed report will be returned to you within 2-3 business days.

If you prefer to become a trained and certified CQ analyst, training is available.  Click here for more information.

The best and brightest investigators ... who want to become even better and brighter! 

Click here for more information on CQ training.

Click here to read "Guilty or Innocent" - Mr. Bassett's article that appeared in the July, 2006 issue of Law Enforcement Technology magazine.