Taking stock: evaluating the conduct of forensic interviews with children in New Zealand

Wolfman, Missy; Brown, Deirdre A.; Jose, Paul E.

doi:10.1080/1068316x.2016.1168426

Cited by 21 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…However, the limited use of open‐ended questions in the present study has been reported from studies examining Israeli interviews before national adoption of the NICHD Protocol (Lamb et al, ) as well as other studies focused on interviews from the same era in the USA (Sternberg et al, ), Sweden (Cederborg et al, ), Finland (Korkman et al, ; Santtila et al, ) and Australia (Powell & Hughes‐Scholes, ), as well as in Norway between 1990 and 2012 (Thoresen et al, , ). By contrast, a recent study conducted in New Zealand reported that nearly a quarter of the interviewers' questions were open‐ended (Wolfman, Brown, & Jose, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Forensic interviews with preschool children: An analysis of extended interviews in Norway (2015–2017)

Baugerud

Johnson

Hansen

et al. 2020

Applied Cognitive Psychology

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This study examined the quality of forensic interviews conducted by specially trained police officers in the Norwegian Barnahus between 2015 and 2017, using the sequential interview (SI) model, a Norwegian version of the extended interview model that has not previously been studied. Two hundred and seven interviews of alleged abused preschool children (3-7 years old) were selected from around the country. Developmental trends in interview dynamics and the pattern of disclosure were analyzed. Analyses showed that the interviews were long but involved few open-ended and many suggestive questions, especially in interviews with the youngest children who did not disclose. Because similar findings were obtained in previous studies of Norwegian interviews not using this model, the findings suggest that the SI interview model does little to improve the formal quality of forensic interviews with very young children, and show the need to develop new forms of interviewer training which are more intensive than those currently employed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Forensic interviews with preschool children: An analysis of extended interviews in Norway (2015–2017)

Baugerud

Johnson

Hansen

et al. 2020

Applied Cognitive Psychology

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“…However, a comparison of the composition of the interviews in our study with those included in field research shows that the proportions are roughly comparable to those achieved by forensic interviewers following the Protocol (Cyr & Lamb, ; Lamb & Brown, ; Orbach et al ., ; Sternberg, Lamb, Orbach, Esplin, & Mitchell, ). Furthermore, many researchers have shown that interviewing quality and the use of recommended questioning techniques is not associated with years of experience (Powell & Hughes‐Scholes, ; Wolfman et al ., ), nor professional background (Powell, Hughes‐Scholes, Smith, & Sharman, ), meaning that there is no reason to think that our interviews would differ substantively from those in a forensic setting. We saw variations in questioning across and within groups, even though the interviewers were well trained and had access to frequent supervision and fidelity monitoring.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Fewer cued invitations were used with CWID-Moderate (but not CWID-Mild) than with the MA children. Consistent with field research showing how difficult interviewers find it to follow research-based recommendations (Korkman, Santtila, & Sandnabba, 2006;Powell & Hughes-Scholes, 2009;Wolfman, Brown, & Jose, 2016a), open invitations were used relatively infrequently irrespective of the children's cognitive or developmental level.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interviewers’ approaches to questioning vulnerable child witnesses: The influences of developmental level versus intellectual disability status

Brown

Lewis

Stephens

et al. 2017

Legal Criminol Psychol

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Purpose Children with intellectual disabilities (CWIDs) are vulnerable to victimization, but we know little about how to interview them about possible maltreatment. We examined whether interviewers used proportionally more direct and option‐posing, and fewer open questions, with CWID than with typically developing (TD) children or with less mature children regardless of disability, taking into account the contribution of the amount of information conveyed by the child. Method One hundred and twelve children (4–12 years) participated in a staged event and were interviewed 1 week later using the NICHD Investigative Interview Protocol. We examined the proportions of different interview prompts posed to CWID of either mild (CWID‐Mild) or moderate (CWID‐Moderate) severity compared with typically developing children matched for chronological (CA) and mental (MA) age. Results Even when controlling for the amount that the child said, the overall number and relative proportions of each question type posed to each group varied. Interviewers asked more cued invitations and fewer direct questions of CA‐matched children than younger TD participants or both CWID groups. Option‐posing questions comprised a larger proportion of the interviews with both ID groups than with CA matches. The few suggestive questions were posed more to CWID‐Moderate. Conclusions Although research has shown that CWID and young TD children can provide reliable information in response to very open prompting, interviewers tend not to ask such questions. Interviewing strategy was influenced by both developmental level and intellectual disability status, in conjunction with children's individual contributions to the interview, emphasizing the importance of interviewers’ understanding the capacities and vulnerabilities of the children they interview from both a developmental and cognitive perspective.

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“…Because these findings have such obvious and immediate implications for investigative practice, professional guidelines around the world have long promoted open‐ended questioning . Unfortunately, interviewers in many countries typically do not adhere to best‐practice principles (e.g., Canada ; New Zealand ; United Kingdom ; the United States ). Several factors may explain why: Interviewers may have difficulty adopting a communicative style that differs from typical Adult × Child interactions or they may disregard the evidence base underlying recommended practice in favor of more intuitive assumptions about children's capacities and effective interviewing practices .…”

Section: The Impact Of Interviewers’ Questions On Children's Responsesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can Children Be Useful Witnesses? It Depends How They Are Questioned

Brown

Lamb

2015

Child Dev Perspectives

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For several decades, researchers have examined how children develop autobiographical memory, demonstrating that even young children report useful information about their experiences. However, the way adults question children influences profoundly the amount and nature of what children report. This research is relevant for the many contexts in which children are questioned (e.g., criminal investigations, courtroom proceedings, clinical settings). In this article, we briefly review developmental changes in how children respond to various kinds of questions. And we reflect on the implications for research and practice when children are interviewed to determine what they have experienced.

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Taking stock: evaluating the conduct of forensic interviews with children in New Zealand

Cited by 21 publications

References 41 publications

Forensic interviews with preschool children: An analysis of extended interviews in Norway (2015–2017)

Forensic interviews with preschool children: An analysis of extended interviews in Norway (2015–2017)

Interviewers’ approaches to questioning vulnerable child witnesses: The influences of developmental level versus intellectual disability status

Can Children Be Useful Witnesses? It Depends How They Are Questioned

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