Interviewing Children

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Interviewing Children

• Chapter 7

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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

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Limitations on Reporting by Age

• Infancy the first 2 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 vs. reality

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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 an marks
• Secure emergency medical attention if needed
• Interview the child outside of the presence of
  the caretaker

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Step I Risk Assessment

• 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 is
  accessible to this child?
• Does the primary caretaker abuse alcohol or
  drugs?
• Is the child depressed or suffering from lack of
  medical attention?

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Step 2 Models for Evaluating Abuse

• Choice of evaluation model is based on the goals
  of the interview
• Child Interview Model
• Parent-Child Interaction Model
• Multidisciplinary Team Approach

• Child interview is central for abuse
  determination
• Premise children rarely make false allegations
• Determination is based on expected behaviors
  between offending and non-offending parent and
  their offspring
• Should not be used for criminal complaint
• Input from child professionals for abuse
  determination
• Criminal investigator must have active
  participation

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Step 3 Preliminary Considerations Checklist

• Determine the Reason for questioning
• Determine the Purpose of the questioning
• Identify the Population
• Identify the Interviewer

1. The interview reason determines its length
2. The purpose of the interview determines the model
   to be used
3. The interview population determines the
   limitations of the interviewee
4. The choice of interviewer depends on the
   population

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Step 4 Remain Neutral

1. What, if any, crime occurred?
2. Who is the perpetrator?
3. Where did it occur?
4. When did it occur?
5. Against who did it occur?
6. How was it perpetrated?

1. Have crime elements been satisfied?
2. Has an offender been identified?
3. Has the location been specified?
4. Has the time frame been determined?
5. Has the victim been identified?
6. Have the specifics been articulated?

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Forensic Child Interviewing Phase I Caretaker
Instructions

• Prior to meeting with the child instructions
  should be provided to the caretaker

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Forensic Child Interviewing Phase II Evaluation

• Using the preliminary considerations checklist,
  conduct an evaluation of the upcoming interview

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Forensic Child Interviewing Phase III Prepare
the Child

• Use the Comprehensive Monitoring (CM) Preparation
  Model

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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

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Forensic Child Interviewing Phase IV Establish
Rapport

• Establish rapport through age appropriate language

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Forensic Child Interviewing Phase V Conduct
the Interview

• Establish that the child knows the difference
  between the truth and a lie
• Dont use cop talk
• Avoid the use of leading questions

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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

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Step 1 Rapport Prepare

• Develop rapport with the child in accordance with
  recommended guidelines
• Prepare child for the interviewer's questions
  through a set of four instructions

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Rapport Development

• Do not ask childs name You must be Mary. My
  name is Bob.
• Ask simple questions about the childs 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 childs feelings.
• Use positive, open-ended questions likely to
  promote conversation What are your favorite tv
  shows?

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Prepare the Child with Four Instructions

• Give the child permission
• Not to know all of the answers!
• There may be some questions that you dont know
  the answers to, thats ok.
• Not to answer if they dont want to!
• You dont have to answer, just tell me
• Ask what you mean if they dont 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 dont have to change your answer.

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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

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Interviewer Guidelines for Reconstruct the
Circumstances mnemonic

1. 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?

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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 dont think are very
  important. Sometimes people eave out little
  things because they think little things are not
  important. Tell me everything that happened.

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Step 3 Changing the Order and Perspective Mnemonic

• Use memory-jogging techniques to obtain new
  information
• Change the order mnemonic
• Change the perspective mnemonic