Evaluation of a comprehensive interactive training system for investigative interviewers of children

This article reports on the evaluation of an interactive interviewer training system with a large, heterogeneous sample of investigative interviewers of children. The system, delivered predominantly through computer-assisted learning activities, focused on how to elicit important evidential details from child witnesses in a narrative format. Two studies are reported, each adopting a pre-versus posttraining design. Study 1 examined the effect of the training on trainees' (N = 92) performance, using mock interviews where an actor played the role of the child in a highly controlled manner. Study 2 examined the effect of the training on field interviews (N = 156) conducted prior to and after the training. Five measures were analyzed: (a) proportion of interviewer question types, (b) proportion of desirable interviewer behaviors, (c) adherence to the interview protocol, (d) interview length, and (e) the quality of evidential information sought. Overall, the findings provide clear support for the utility of the training system. Irrespective of the type of interview or measure, adherence to best-practice interviewing increased from pre- to posttraining, with some evidence supporting sustained performance 12 months after there had been no intervening training or supervision. The implication is that there is now an evidence-based alternative to the traditional classroom-based training system for investigative interviewers. Suggestions for future research are also discussed.

Communication in investigative and legal contexts:integrated approaches from forensic psychology, linguistics and law enforcement

Communication in Forensic Contexts provides in-depth coverage of the complex area of communication in forensic situations. Drawing on expertise from forensic psychology, linguistics and law enforcement worldwide, the text bridges the gap between these fields in a definitive guide to best practice. • Offers best practice for understanding and improving communication in forensic contexts, including interviewing of victims, witnesses and suspects, discourse in courtrooms, and discourse via interpreters • Bridges the knowledge gaps between forensic psychology, forensic linguistics and law enforcement, with chapters written by teams bringing together expertise from each field • Published in collaboration with the International Investigative Interviewing Research Group, dedicated to furthering evidence-based practice and practice-based research amongst researchers and practitioners • International, cross-disciplinary team includes contributors from North America, Europe and Asia Pacific, and from psychology, linguistics and forensic practice

Communication in investigative and legal settings:integrated approaches from forensic psychology, linguistics and law enforcement

Communication in Forensic Contexts provides in-depth coverage of the complex area of communication in forensic situations. Drawing on expertise from forensic psychology, linguistics and law enforcement worldwide, the text bridges the gap between these fields in a definitive guide to best practice. •Offers best practice for understanding and improving communication in forensic contexts, including interviewing of victims, witnesses and suspects, discourse in courtrooms, and discourse via interpreters •Bridges the knowledge gaps between forensic psychology, forensic linguistics and law enforcement, with chapters written by teams bringing together expertise from each field •Published in collaboration with the International Investigative Interviewing Research Group, dedicated to furthering evidence-based practice and practice-based research amongst researchers and practitioners •International, cross-disciplinary team includes contributors from North America, Europe and Asia Pacific, and from psychology, linguistics and forensic practice

The effect of note taking on memory for details in investigative interviews

Across 3 experiments, the effect of different styles of note taking, summary and access to notes was examined for memory for the details contained in a witness interview. In Experiment 1, participants (N = 40) were asked to either take notes or listen as they watched a witness interview. In Experiment 2, participants (N = 84) were asked to either take notes in one of three ways (i.e., conventional, linear, spidergraph) or listen as they watched a witness interview. In Experiment 3, participants (N = 112) were asked to take notes using the conventional or spidergraph method of note taking while they watched a witness interview and were subsequently given an opportunity to review their notes or sit quietly. Participants were then either granted access to their notes during testing or were not provided with their notes. Results of the first two experiments revealed that note takers outperformed listeners. Experiment 2 showed that conventional note takers outperformed those who used organizational styles of note taking, and post-hoc analyses revealed that recall performance was associated with note quality. Experiment 3 showed that participants who had access to their notes performed the best. The implications of these findings for police training programs in investigative interviewing are discussed.

A qualitative evaluation of the challenges faced by dieticians when interviewing children

BACKGROUND: Investigative interviewing is a critical and challenging skill involved in the assessment and design of appropriate interventions for children's dietary problems. The current study provided an evaluation of the challenges faced by professional dieticians when conducting child investigative interviews, in the hope that this would provide a framework for the development of further guidance and resources in this important area. METHODS: Fourteen professional dieticians were interviewed; they were asked about the information that they needed to elicit from children in particular situations and the questions that they would ask to do so. They were also asked to describe the strengths and limitations of the techniques that they used. RESULTS: The results revealed that professionals faced three main challenges. The first challenge was eliciting information from children who did not want to answer questions. The second challenge was determining the level of accuracy in children's (and caregivers') responses. The third challenge was eliciting very specific information in particular situations, such as determining the cause of an allergic reaction. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, professionals had difficulty articulating the questions that they would use to elicit the information that they required; indeed, their responses focused more on the content that they wanted to elicit (such as specific details) rather than the overall process that they would use to do so. Professionals may benefit from the development of guidelines to assist them in their interviews with children, based on what is currently known about interviewing children generally.

Australian prosecutors perceptions of the utility of child investigative interview protocols

Investigative interviews with alleged victims form the central plank of evidence in the prosecution of child sexual abuse. Despite interviewers being provided with a guiding framework, child sexual abuse cases are often not prosecuted because of poor-quality evidence. The purpose of this study was to elicit feedback from prosecutors about the structure and format of current interview protocols and the ways in which these could potentially be improved from an evidential perspective. Focus group discussions (ranging in length from 180 to 190 minutes) were conducted with 13 Crown prosecutors representing every jurisdiction of Australia. Thematic analysis of the focus group discussions revealed that prosecutors were supportive of the structure of interview protocols, however, concerns were raised about four of the interview elements. These elements were the oath and truth–lie competency test, the ground rules, the practice narrative and eliciting a disclosure. The prosecutors’ concerns and their implications for protocol developers and trainers are discussed.

Improving investigative Interviews with Aboriginal children

This thesis focused on improving investigative interview protocols with Australian Aboriginal children (predominantly in cases of abuse). Current investigative interviewing procedures were evaluated, and a revised interview protocol tailored to Aboriginal children was created.

The effect of intellectual disability on children's recall of an event across different question types

This research examined the performance of 80 children aged 9–12 years with either a mild and moderate intellectual disability when recalling an innocuous event that was staged in their school. The children actively participated in a 30-min magic show, which included 21 specific target items. The first interview (held 3 days after the magic show) provided false and true biasing information about these 21 items. The second interview (held the following day) was designed to elicit the children's recall of the target details using the least number of specific prompts possible. The children's performance was compared with that of 2 control groups; a group of mainstream children matched for mental age and a group of mainstream children matched for chronological age. Overall, this study showed that children with either a mild or moderate intellectual disability can provide accurate and highly specific event-related information. However, their recall is less complete and less clear in response to free-narrative prompts and less accurate in response to specific questions when compared to both the mainstream age-matched groups. The implications of the findings for legal professionals and researchers are discussed.

What criteria do police officers use to measure the success of an interview with a child?

This study used a mixed-methods approach to explore the perceptions of a heterogeneous sample of 75 police interviewers regarding their performance in a mock interview with a 5-7-year-old child. Each officer recruited for this study was authorised to conduct investigative interviews with children. Specifically, we explored how the officers' perception of what makes a good interview differs depending on their background experience and their (perceived and actual) ability to adhere to best-practice interview guidelines. Overall, the officers' perceptions of what constitutes an effective interview were not entirely consistent with those held by experts in forensic interviewing. The majority of the interviewers perceived that the locus of control in the interview rested primarily with the child and/or the environmental setting. In contrast, experts tend to place the central onus of responsibility for the outcome of an interview on the skill of the interviewer in using open-ended questions. Several possible explanations for, and the implications of, these findings are discussed.

'Marvin the Mouse'; can he assist police to elicit evidence from young children?

This study investigated the usefulness of a computer program designed to assess young children's understanding of words that may be relevant to an investigative interview about assault. Forty-one police officers conducted two interviews with five- to six-year-old children (one was conducted with the program and one without). The program's effectiveness was based on the interviewers' ratings of the usefulness of the program as well as three independent indices of interviewer-child rapport. Overall, the police officers perceived the program to be an extremely useful pre-interview assessment. However, the program had little impact on the officers' style of questioning and the nature of the children's responses. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Oral language competence, social skills and high-risk boys : what are juvenile offenders trying to tell us?

A cross-sectional study examining the oral language abilities and social skills of male juvenile offenders is described. Fifty juvenile offenders and 50 non-offending controls completed measures of language processing and production, and measures of social skill and IQ. Information about type of offending, substance use histories and learning/literacy problems was also gathered.

Young offenders performed significantly worse on all language and social skill measures, but these differences could not be accounted for on the basis of IQ. Just over half of the young offenders were identified as language impaired. This subgroup was compared with non-language impaired offending peers on a range of variables. The findings have particular implications in the areas of early intervention for high-risk boys and investigative interviewing of juvenile offenders.

The effect of intellectual disability on the adherence of child witnesses to a “story grammar” framework

BackgroundThis study examined the ability of 78 children (aged 9–12 years) with an intellectual disability (ID) to provide a narrative account of a staged event they had participated in four days earlier.
MethodThe children were interviewed using open‐ended questions. The quality of their responses (using a story grammar framework) was compared with that of two control groups: mainstream children matched for mental and chronological age.
ResultsWhile the children with an ID and those matched for mental age provided narratives of similar length and used similar proportions of each story grammar element, the ID group was less likely than both control groups to provide a narrative account at all. Among those children with an ID who did provide a narrative account, their accounts included proportionately fewer story grammar elements than those of both control groups.
ConclusionChildren with an ID are disadvantaged as witnesses with respect to their ability to provide a detailed and coherent narrative account of events under optimal investigative interviewing conditions.

The effect of using trained versus untrained adult respondents in simulated practice interviews about child abuse

Objective
A single study tested the hypothesis that simulated practice interviews for investigative interviewers of children are more effective when the role of the child respondent is played by trained actors (i.e., postgraduate psychology students) than untrained fellow participants (i.e., child protection workers).
Method
The interviewers included 50 child protection service workers. Each interviewer received instruction in the use of open-ended questions and then engaged in two simulated practice interviews. The role of the child respondent in the practice interviews was played by either a trained psychology student or an untrained fellow participant. The key outcome measure was the proportion of open-ended questions, which was assessed immediately prior to and after the practice sessions, as well as 12 weeks post-training.
Results
Interviewers who had practiced with trained actors had higher post-training performance (M = .83, SD = .12) compared to those who had practiced with untrained fellow participants (M = .73, SD = .13, p < .05), even at the 12-week follow up (M actors = .66, SD = .25; M untrained actors = .49, SD = .23, p < .05).
Conclusions
Training programs that make better use of practice opportunities (e.g., by using trained respondents) will be more effective in improving the performance of investigative interviewers.
Practice implications
A single study investigated the relative effectiveness of two simulated practice exercises for professionals who interview children about abuse. This research is relevant to professionals who design investigative interviewer training programs because it indicates that practical exercises, which are currently chosen on an ‘ad hoc’ or convenience basis, can vary markedly in their effectiveness in encouraging adherence to open questions.

Getting the story from child witnesses : exploring the application of a story grammar framework

Investigative interviews with children about alleged abuse were analysed to determine the degree to which the child's responses adhered to a story grammar framework, and whether the presence of story grammar elements was associated with interviewers' adherence to best-practice (i.e. open-ended) questioning. The sample included 51 interviews with child witnesses from across Australia. The interviews were administered by a police officer with children (37 girls and 14 boys) aged 3-16 years (M age = 103.82 months, SD = 34.21 months). The interviewers' questions were categorised as open-ended or specific and the children's responses were classified as a story grammar element, context/background information, or 'don't know' responses. The majority of interviewer questions were specific in nature and the majority of children's responses were context/background details. Open-ended questions were more successful in eliciting story grammar from children. Of the story grammar elements, the interviewers' specific questions usually targeted setting and attempt details. These findings suggest that improvement in the narrative coherence of children's reports of abusive events can potentially be achieved by increasing interviewers' use of open-ended questions.

Evaluation of the questions used to elicit evidence about abuse from child witnesses : Australian study

This study provides one of the first objective evaluations of the performance of a group of Australian police officers when conducting interviews about child abuse. The interviews included 136 videotaped child witness statements, conducted between 2001 and 2007 by police officers from two jurisdictions of Australia. The results indicated many positive aspects of the interviewers' performance, including the use of ground rules at the outset of the interview, commencement of the free-narrative account by seeking the children's understanding of the purpose of the interview, and avoidance of suggestive questions. But the interviewers tended to raise issues of contention when the child did not provide an initial disclosure, and the proportion of open-ended questions was low relative to specific cued-recall and closed questions. Further many closed questions raised specific details not yet mentioned by the child. These behaviours were exhibited irrespective of the recency of interview or time since training. The implications of these findings are discussed.