APPLYING SUGGESTIBILITY RESEARCH TO FORENSIC INTERVIEWING

1. APPLYING SUGGESTIBILITY RESEARCH TO FORENSIC INTERVIEWING L. Dennison Reed, Psy.D. NSU Center for Psychological Studies Child Sexual Abuse: Assessment

2. The interview strategies that follow are taken primarily from two sources:APSAC’s Practice Guidelines for Forensic Interviewing in Cases of Suspected Child Abuse (2012 edition)and the “NICHD” Structured Interview Protocol

3. NICHD Structured Interview Protocol • The NICHD protocol, developed by Michael Lamb et al. is a structured interview protocol that has undergone more research in actual CSA investigations than any other forensic interview protocol. • It has become the ‘gold standard’ for forensic interview protocols. • APSAC’s 2012 Practice Guidelines for Forensic Interviewing in Cases of Suspected Child Abuse incorporate the key components of the NICHD interview protocol

4. Seven Ways to Elicit Accurate and Detailed Information from Children Without Resorting to Leading

5. Seven Ways to Elicit Accurate and Detailed Information from Children Without Resorting to Leading Avoid ‘interviewer bias’ Encourage children to tell the truth Develop rapport Rely on open-ended questions as much as possible Use the “practice narrative” (to encourage detailed responses) Discourage guessing Empower the child to disagree with you and to correct your mistakes

6. #1 AVOID INTERVIEWER BIAS • Maintain an objective stance • Do not assume that the information provided by 3rd parties (e.g., parents) is necessarily accurate • Always consider multiple hypotheses and explore the merits of each one

7. #2: ENCOURAGE CHILDREN TO TELL THE TRUTH Kids don’t necessarily assume that telling the truth is important during forensic interviews so they need to be told Use a developmentally appropriate means of assessing their understanding of “truth” and “lie”

8. Children’s statements during Forensic Interviews can serve as theMost Compelling Evidence of Abuse Since forensic interviews often occur months or even years before a case goes to trial, children’s memory regarding details of the abuse at the time of the forensic interview is often superior to their memory at the time of trial Children may also be less anxious and more willing to discuss their abuse during sensitive, one-on-one forensic interviews than they are during a formal trial where there are many unfamiliar spectators

9. Although many children provide compelling abuse allegations during forensic interviews (CSA screening), their allegations may be excluded by the Court or may be viewed by the Court and Jurors as not credible because the child failed to demonstrate the “competence to take the oath” during the forensic/screening interview

10. CHILDERN’S COMPETENCE TO TAKE THE OATH • The ‘competence to take the oath’ refers to the witnesses’ ability to demonstrate: • An understanding of the difference between truth and falsehood, and • An appreciation of the obligation to tell the truth (i.e., realizing that lying can result in negative consequences) • Most often, challenges to children’s competence to take the oath center on younger children—especially preschoolers

11. Incompetent Children or Incompetent Interviewers? Even though kids as young as 3-years-old often recognize the difference between lying and telling the truth and recognize that lying is ‘bad,’ they often appear incompetent when they are questioned in a developmentally inappropriate fashion

12. AGE-RELATED TRENDS IN CHILDREN’S COMPETENCE TO TAKE THE OATH Children under 9 or 10 are not good at: explaining differences defining terms generating examples

13. Developmentally Inappropriate“Truth-Lie” questions for children under 9-10 “What’ is the difference between the truth and a lie?” “What does it mean to tell the truth?” “Can you give me an example of a lie/the truth?”

14. Other truth/lie questions that should be avoided with young children • “Have you ever told a lie?” Either answer is a problem. “Yes” = the child is an admitted liar. “No” = the child is obviously lying because virutally all kids lie on occasion. • Hypothetical questions that require the child to acknowledge that the interviewer is lying: “If ‘I’ said my shirt is white (when it’s actually blue), would that be the truth or a lie?” • Many children will perform poorly when asked the foregoing questions despite being quite capable of identifying statements as true or false and recognizing that one can ‘get in trouble’ for lying

15. Truth/Lie Discussion with a 9 year old.Example of some “Don’ts”—especially when interviewing kids under 9 or 10

16. Tom Lyon and Karen Saywitz constructed a developmentally sensitive protocol for Qualifying Young Children to Take the Oath The Lyon & Saywitz protocol is especially well-suited for children ages 3 through 8 Many children as young as 3 and 4 have been found to be competent to take the oath when using this protocol See handout. Free versions of this protocol are also available online at: http://works.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1008&context=thomaslyon

17. The Lyon & Saywitz Protocol • Involves presenting four truth/lie “difference” tasks and four “morality” tasks using pictures as a reference point • The colorized pictures should be used instead of black and white copies to aid the child in distinguishing between the objects used (e.g., a ‘red’ apple vs. an orange) • Very young children and children with short attention spans are often drawn to the colorful pictures and attend well to the tasks

18. Introduction of the Truth-Lie Task “I talk with lots of children. It’s important that they always tell me the truth. So, before we begin, I want to make sure that you understand how important it is to tell the truth.”

19. EXAMPLES OF LYON & SAYWITZ’S“TRUTH – LIE TASK”

20. TRUTH VS. LIE TASK (1) Here's a picture. Look at this animal--what kind of animal is this? OK, that's a [child's label]. LISTEN to what these girls say about the [child's label]. One of them will tell a LIE and one will tell the TRUTH, and YOU'LL tell ME which girl tells the TRUTH. (point to girl on the left) THIS girl looks at the [child's label] and says "IT'S a [child's label]." (point to girl on the right) THIS girl looks at the [child's label] and says "IT'S a FISH." Which girl told the TRUTH?

21. TRUTH VS. LIE TASK (2) Here's another picture. Look at this food--what kind of food is this? OK, that's a [child's label]. LISTEN to what these girls say about the [child's label]. One of them will tell a LIE, and one will tell the TRUTH. (point to girl on the left) THIS girl looks at the [child's label] and says "IT'S an [child's label]." (point to girl on the right) THIS girl looks at the [child's label] and says "IT'S a BANANA." Which girl told the TRUTH?

22. EXAMPLES OF LYON & SAYWITZ’S “MORALITY TASK”

23. Here's a School Principal. She wants to know what happened to these boys. Well, ONE of these boys is GONNA GET IN TROUBLE for what he says, and YOU'LL tell ME which boy is GONNA GET IN TROUBLE. LOOK (point to left boy). This boy tells the TRUTH. (point to right boy) This boy tells a LIE. Which boy is GONNA GET IN TROUBLE? MORALITY TASK (1)

24. MORALITYTASK (2) Here's a Lady who comes to visit these girls at home. She wants to know what happened to these girls. Well, ONE of these girls is GONNA GET IN TROUBLE for what she says. LOOK (point to left girl) This girl tells a LIE. (point to girl on right) This girl tells the TRUTH. Which girl is GONNA GET IN TROUBLE?

25. Example of Lyon & Saywitz Truth/Lie Protocol Used with a child who is 3 years, 11 months old

26. It is quite unlikely that a child would ‘guess’ all the correct answers to the Lyon & Saywitz Protocol The likelihood of a child guessing the correct answer to all 4 “difference” questions and all 4 “morality” questions is 1 in 400. (The same probability as tossing a coin and getting “heads” 8 times in a row)

27. Elicit a Promise to Tell the Truth Criminal charges cannot be filed unless there is “sworn testimony” from a material witness, e.g., the victim Also, judges are more inclined to admit child hearsay statements that the child made ‘under oath’ Research has shown that children are more likely to tell the truth when they make a promise to do so

28. Advantages of the Lyon & Saywitz Method for Assessing Children’s Understanding of “Truth-Lie” Because it is developmentally appropriate for very young kids, it maximizes their likelihood of appearing competent The colorized visual images capture the attention of young kids It has been tested on the front-lines in real-life child sexual abuse cases It passes muster in court.

29. #3 DEVELOP RAPPORT Reduces suggestibility Enhances trust and greater willingness to talk about distressing topics. Reduces child’s anxiety, thereby enhancing cognitive performance, i.e., the child is more attentive and better able to access their memory. It encourages more spontaneity and detail in the child’s responses.

30. Rapport Building Techniques Friendly non-verbal communication Address child by name; compliment child Show empathy/concern for child’s comfort /distress Convey your comfort with interviewing kids Show interest in child’s interests Seek to reduce child’s embarrassment/guilt Provide positive reinforcement for effort Inquire about something that is ‘fun’ for the child

31. #4 RELY ON OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE • Open-ended questions are not leading • Children’s responses to open-ended questions are generally far more consistent and accurate than their responses to option-posing and leading questions • Examples of open-ended questions: • Tell me why you came to talk to me today • Tell me all about (something the child mentioned) • Tell me more about (something the child mentioned) • What happened right before/right after (something the child mentioned)

32. Even children as young as 4 years old can provide substantial information in response to open-ended questions • (Using the NICHD interview protocol), almost half of the information provided by 4- to 6-year-olds was in response to open-ended questioning (Lamb et al., 2003) • Although young children provide less information in response to open-ended questioning than older children do, the information they provide is no less accurate

33. Forensic Interviewers tend to rely too much on Option-posing questions and begin using them PREMATURELY • Option posing “yes/no” questions accounted for 85% of the inconsistencies in children’s statements • Although option-posing questions are sometimes necessary, they should not be used until open-ended questions are no longer eliciting information

34. Practice SessionOption-posing (yes/no) questionsvs. Open-ended Questions“Tell me all about . . .”“Tell me more about . . .”“What happened right before …”“What happened right after…”

35. Which type of questioning (option-posing or open-ended)… • Elicited more information? • Was easier for the interviewer? • Was less frustrating for the person being interviewed? • Elicits more accurate information?

36. Strategy for Using Open-ended Questions • Begin with open-ended questions • Continue with open-ended questions until the child is no longer providing information • And, as soon as the child provides ‘new’ information, return to open-ended questions

37. Substituting Open-ended Questions for Option-Posing Question {Assume that the child previously told the interviewer that Roger touched her pee-pee—but she has never alleged that Roger did anything else to her} You told me that Roger touched your pee-pee. Tell me all about that. Tell me more about that. What happened right before/right after Roger touched your pee-pee? {‘before’ can be hard for younger kids} KEEP REPEATING OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS until the child no longer provides information RETURN TO OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS as soon as child provides new information

38. #5 USE THE “PRACTICE NARRATIVE”

39. The “Practice Narrative”Using Open-ended Questions to Elicit More Spontaneous and Detailed AccountsBefore Inquiring about Abuse In typical conversations with adults, young children provide minimal detail When sexually abused children were first asked open-ended questions about neutral/pleasant topics early in the forensic interview (before abuse-related questioning), they later provided 2½ timesas much detail about their abuse!

40. The Practice Narrative: “Fun activity” “Tell me all about . . . What you like to do for fun Your birthday party (a recent holiday, etc) Follow up with: “Tell me more about . . . ”“What happened right after . . . ?”

41. The Practice Narrative:“Time Segmentation” • Ideally, when you get to abuse-related questioning later on, the child will be able to provide enough information so that the ‘sequence’ of events is clear. The time segmentation practice narrative prepares the child to provide such information • Ask the child to provide information about an innocuous event in chronological order and follow up with open-ended questions: • “Tell me everything you did today from the time you got up this morning until you got here . . . Tell me the first thing you did . . . What happened right after that? What happened right before that?”

42. Audiotape example of “Uniformed Interviewer”“Time Segmentation” Practice

43. Audiotape example of “uninformed interviewer” and ‘time segmentation’ practice narrative

44. Children typically do not understand the goals of the forensic interview The investigative interview is quite UNLIKE children’s normal ways of responding to adults. When questioned by adults, children normally: “Guess” responses to questions Go along with adults and avoid correcting adults Therefore, children need to be told the “Ground Rules” of the forensic interview

45. #6 DISCOURAGE GUESSING Explain that, if you ask a question and the child does not know the answer, DON’T GUESS. “If I ask you a question and you don’t know the answer, please don’t guess! Just say “I don’t know.” Role-play and provide praise and corrective feedback. More effective with school-aged kids

46. Discouraging Guessing If I ask you a question and you don’t know the answer, just say, “I don’t know.” Okay? So if I asked you, “Do I have a dog” what would you say? “I don’t know.” Right. You don’t know. If a child guesses, provide corrective feedback and role-play further. Some kids will continue to guess.

47. Example of ‘Don’t Guess’ instruction with a 9 year old

48. #7 TEACH CHILDREN TO CORRECT YOUR MISTAKES WHEN CHILDREN SHOW THE ABILITY TO DISAGREE WITH AND CORRECT THE INTERVIEWER, THIS CAN DESTROY THE “LEADING INTERVIEW DEFENSE!”

49. Teaching kids to correct your mistakes Deliberately make errors unrelated to the suspected abuse and encourage the child to correct you. More effective for school-aged kids Risky for young preschoolers

50. Teaching kids to correct your mistakes If I get mixed up and make a mistake, I want you to correct me. I need you to help me get it right So, if I said that your name is (incorrect name), what would you say? That’s right. So if I make a mistake, please tell me and help me get it right, okay?