Interviewing Children

Interviewing Children Chapter 7 7-1

The Child Interview • Criminal investigators must determine what happened • Need disclosure from the child • Reliability will be an issue • Social Service investigators determine if something happened which requires child protection

Limitations on Reporting by Age • Infancy: The first two years • Rely on medical documentation • Early Childhood: Ages 2 to 6 • Short attention span • Time and space are difficult concepts • Only in rare instances should the child be interviewed more than ½ hour • Middle Childhood: Ages 7 to 12 • Language is well developed • Play remains primary expression • Emotion language possible • Can distinguish fiction versus reality

Field Assessment: a First Responder Situation • Explain the reason for the visit to the caretaker • The child may need to be visually examined for bruises and marks • Secure emergency medical attention if needed • Interview the child outside of the presence of the caretaker

Assessing the present and future risk of harm to a child is a legal requirement in all states The standard of proof for reporting suspected abuse or neglect is mere suspicion Is there any reason to believe that the child has been abused, neglected, or witnessed abuse towards a parent or sibling? Has the child received a suspicious injury? Are there weapons or ammunition that are accessible to this child? Does the primary caretaker abuse alcohol or drugs? Is the child depressed or suffering from lack of medical attention? Step I: Risk Assessment

Choice of evaluation model is based on the goals of the interview Child Interview Model Parent-Child Interaction Model Multidisciplinary Team Approach Step 2: Models for Evaluating Abuse

Child Interview Model • Child interview is central for abuse determination • Premise: children rarely make false allegations

Parent-Child Interaction Model • Determination is based on expected behaviors between offending and non-offending parent and their offspring • Should not be used for criminal complaint

Multidisciplinary Team Approach • Input from child professionals for abuse determination • Criminal investigator must have active participation

Determine the Reason for questioning Determine the Purpose of the questioning Identify the Population Identify the Interviewer The interview reason determines its length The purpose of the interview determines the model to be used The interview population determines the limitations of the interviewee The choice of interviewer depends on the population Step 3: Preliminary Considerations Checklist

What, if any, crime occurred? Who is the perpetrator? Where did it occur? When did it occur? Against who did it occur? How was it perpetrated? Have crime elements been satisfied? Has an offender been identified? Has the location been specified? Has the time frame been determined? Has the victim been identified? Have the specifics been articulated? Step 4: Remain Neutral

Forensic Child Interviewing • Based on the multidisciplinary approach • A traditional structured format Phase I: Caretaker Instructions Phase II: Evaluation Phase III: Child Preparation Phase IV: Establish Rapport Phase V: Interview

Forensic Child Interviewing Phase I: Caretaker Instructions • Prior to meeting with the child, instructions should be provided to the caretaker • Obtain necessary release forms

Forensic Child Interviewing Phase II: Evaluation • Using the preliminary considerations checklist (slide 7), conduct an evaluation of the upcoming interview

Forensic Child Interviewing Phase III: Prepare the Child • Use the Comprehensive Monitoring (CM) Preparation Model

Comprehensive Monitoring (CM) Preparation Model • Prior to the interview this is a practice session with the child interviewee conducted by a non-interviewing person • Practice identifying instances of non-comprehension • Practice responding with verbalizations that indicate lack of understanding • Increase the interviewee awareness of the negative consequences of responding to questions not fully understood

Forensic Child Interviewing Phase IV: Establish Rapport • Establish rapport through age appropriate language

Forensic Child Interviewing Phase V: Conduct the Interview • Establish that the child knows the difference between the truth and a lie • Don’t use “cop talk” • Avoid the use of leading questions

Practice Interview • NIJ found that children who experienced a practice cognitive interview about an unrelated event gave the most complete reports about the target event • A practice interview is highly recommended but not required

Basics of the Child Cognitive Interview 3 Phase Procedure • Adapted from the adult version • Step 1 focuses on developing rapport • Step 2 involves techniques designed to elicit from the child as complete a narrative account of the crime as possible • Step 3 involves the use of additional memory-jogging techniques

Step 1: Rapport and Preparation • Develop rapport with the child in accordance with recommended guidelines • Prepare child for the interviewer's questions through a set of four instructions

Rapport Development • Do not ask child’s name — “You must be Mary. My name is Bob.” • Ask simple questions about the child’s world and provide information about yourself. • Do not ask questions that could be regarded as coercive — “Do you want to be my friend?” • Empathize with a nervous child’s feelings. • Use positive, open-ended questions likely to promote conversation — “What are your favorite TV shows?”

Prepare the Child with Four Instructions Give the child permission: • Not to know all of the answers! • There may be some questions that you don’t know the answers to, that’s ok. • Not to answer if they don’t want to! • You don’t have to answer, just tell me. • Have them ask what you mean if they don’t understand! • If you do not know what I mean, ask me to say it in new words. • Answer the same for repeat questions! • I may forget that I already asked you a question, you don’t have to change your answer.

Step 2: Narrative Report • This step is the most important! In the most recent version of cognitive interviewing these are the only two mnemonics used • Reconstruct the circumstances mnemonic • Be complete, report everything mnemonic

Interviewer Guidelines for Reconstruct the Circumstances Mnemonic • Reconstruct circumstances. To keep the child grounded in reality and minimize fantasy the interviewer must avoid such terms as “pretend” or “imagine.” Instead, instruct the child to “picture that time when … as if you were there right now. Think about what it was like there. Tell me out loud. Were there any smells there? Was it dark or light? Picture any other people who were there. What things were there? How were you feeling when you were there? Who else was there?”

Interviewer Guidelines for Report Everything Mnemonic • Be complete/report everything. Instruct the child to start at the beginning and tell everything that happened, from the beginning to the middle, to the end. Tell everything you remember, even little parts that you don’t think are important. Sometimes people leave out little things because they think little things are not important. Tell me everything that happened.

Suggestions for Step 2 • Don’t interrupt while the child is talking. • If needed, prompt in a neutral way, “and then what happened”. • Take notes sparingly; ask for clarification when the child is finished. • Speak slowly so the child will do so also. • Use open-ended questions for clarification.

Step 3: Changing the Order and Perspective Mnemonic • Use memory-jogging techniques to obtain new information • Change the order mnemonic • Change the perspective mnemonic

Memory-jogging Techniques • Backward-order recall • Alphabet search • Speech characteristics • Conversation • New perspective

Backward-order Recall • Ask the child to recall events in backward order, from the end of the incident to the beginning. • Prepare the child for the backwards technique before asked by prompting the child “what happened right before that?”

Alphabet Search • If a child believes that a name may have been mentioned during the incident, ask the child to go through the alphabet as an aid to recalling the first letter of the name

Speech Characteristics • Probe for speech traits. • Did a voice remind the child of another’s? • If so, why and what was unusual about the voice?

Conversation • How did the child feel about what was said? • Unusual words or phrases?

New Perspective • Use this technique only after the child seems to have exhausted his or her memory of the event. • Ask the child to recall the incident from the perspective of someone else present. “Put yourself in the body of … and tell me what you would have seen or heard if you had been that person?” • Ask the child to recount the incident from a different perspective, such as through the eyes of someone else who was present, or through the eyes of an inanimate object, such as a stuffed animal that was present.

Does the Technique Work? Tested by NIJ on 3rd and 6th Graders • Memory recall improved by 45 percent with cognitive method • Older children recalled significantly more facts than the younger children • 3rd graders did not make more recall errors than 6th graders • When the backwards order technique was used, it elicited new information 44 percent of the time

Positive Interviewers • Appeared to develop rapport effectively, showed interest in what the children were saying, maintained a high level of attention, and generated expanded responses through open-ended questions • They produced the most information and had the highest accuracy rate of 90 percent

The Child Reporter • Accuracy • Account may be incomplete • If leading questions are asked inaccurate responses may occur • Embarrassing or humiliating events may be difficult to express • Memory and fantasy • Investigate for corroborating evidence • Avoid terms such as pretend or imagine

The Child Victim • Use tools to assist the child in expression • Crayons, drawing, or dolls • Allow the child to name and explain any drawings without prompting

Interviewing Children