General characteristics
- Logical structure and unstructured production
- Quantity and quality of detail
- Advanced application of detail analysis
Deceptionology & S.C.A.P.E.
Study statements. Question conclusions.
Training in the structured review of written and verbal statements, together with Statement Credibility Assessment & Practical Evaluation.
Programme overview
Deceptionology, responsibly reframed.
The programme studies how people communicate truth, error, uncertainty and deception in written and verbal accounts.
Participants explore why people may mislead, omit, exaggerate or remember imperfectly, and how language, structure, context and interview conditions can affect a statement. S.C.A.P.E. stands for Statement Credibility Assessment & Practical Evaluation.
The purpose is to organise observation and generate questions — not to pronounce a person truthful or deceptive from a checklist. A statement must be considered alongside the circumstances in which it was obtained and any independent evidence.
S.C.A.P.E. subject areas
A broad framework for careful review.
The curriculum organises observation across content, context, interview quality, motivation and consistency. Each element must be interpreted cautiously.
Specific contents
- Contextual embedding and descriptions of interaction
- Reproduction of conversation and unexpected complications
- Unusual, superfluous or misunderstood details
- External associations and accounts of mental state
Motivation-related contents
- Spontaneous corrections and additions
- Admitting lack of memory or doubt
- Self-deprecation and pardoning another person
- Offence-specific details
Practical evaluation
- Language, knowledge, affect and susceptibility to suggestion
- Suggestive, leading or coercive interviewing
- Motives, disclosure context and pressure to report
- Consistency with other statements, evidence and physical possibility
Realism observance
- Sensory, contextual, spatial and temporal information
- Affective information and clarity
- Reconstructability, realism and cognitive operations
Content analysis
- Social introduction, conviction, knowledge and memory
- Statement structure and placement of emotion
- Objective and subjective time
- Extraneous or missing information and changes in language
Credential clarity
Training programme — not a diploma.
The former MES website described this material as a diploma course and used a professional-sounding completion title. That wording is not used here.
Successful participants receive an MES Certificate of Completion for the training completed. The programme does not confer a diploma, degree, formal qualification, licence or professional designation, and does not authorise a person to present themselves as a regulated expert.
* Current duration, access period and assessment terms are confirmed by MES in writing before enrolment.
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Request the current Deceptionology & S.C.A.P.E. outline.
MES will confirm the present syllabus, delivery format, entry requirements, fees and certificate wording before registration.