Despite widespread reforms to legislation and policy, rape complainants still find cross-examination distressing, demeaning and humiliating. We conducted a systematic and holistic examination of cross-examination strategies to discern: (1) the range of tactics that defence lawyers use to challenge rape complainants' accounts; and (2) whether-and if so, how-the approaches used currently differ from those used prior to the reforms. We compared the strategies and tactics used in cases that were prosecuted in the 1950s to those used in cases from the turn of the twenty-first century. Although contemporary complainants were subjected to lengthier cross-examinations involving a broader range of tactics than their historical counterparts, there was little difference in the breakdown of strategies and tactics across time periods.

This study explored the perceptions of ten Crown Prosecutors about the utility of police interviews as video evidence-in-chief for adult sexual assault complainants to determine how to improve these interviews. A themed analysis of prosecutors' responses indicated three major concerns about these interviews: the interviewer using wordy instructions, the lack of chronology and logical structure, and the relentless pursuit of unnecessary detail. These findings suggest that prosecutors' concerns are primarily due to police using cognitive interview methods that attempt to enhance the amount of detail recalled by a complainant. The authors discuss why generating large amounts of detail may be problematic in interviews with sexual assault complainants and provide recommendations for how police can adapt interview practices to better meet evidential needs.

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This study explored police perceptions of video recording rape complainant interviews for investigative and evidential purposes. Officers (N ¼ 136) rated the accuracy of one of three mock transcripts of a rape complainant video interview: A 'standard interview' containing inappropriately closed and leading questions; a 'structured interview' with open and appropriately closed questions and a 'cognitive interview' (CI) containing the CI mnemonics. Officers' in the standard condition rated the complainant as less accurate and that they were less likely to proceed with charges than in the structured and CI conditions. Officers cited the main advantages of video interviewing as improved forensic quality and interviewing practices, and the ability to use the interview as good evidence. Officers' rated the ideal characteristics of the complainant's video interview similarly when used for investigative compared to evidential purposes. These findings suggest video recording complainant interviews may be one way of improving quality resolutions in rape cases.

Achieving just outcomes in rape cases is difficult, but there are ways we can improve the investigation and prosecution of these crimes, now. We outline how targeting variables, within control of the criminal justice system, can improve the quality of information police obtain from interviews with complainants and suspects. We explore how, by preserving these accounts on video, the criminal justice process can better use this information to improve effective decision making from investigation through to criminal trial through to prevention.