The relation between investigative utterance types and the informativeness of child witnesses

"And Then He Hit Me." Disclosure Patterns in Forensic Interviews of Preschool-Aged Allegedly Abused Children

Children's disclosure of abuse constitutes a multifaceted process i.e. critical for professionals to address promptly, ensuring the immediate protection of the child. Little is known about the patterns of disclosure among preschool-aged children. The present study investigated disclosure patterns in 131 forensic interviews with preschool-aged allegedly abused children, all of whom reported abuse during the interview. Specifically, we examined the point in the interview at which children disclosed the abuse, the types of questions asked by the interviewer prior to the disclosure, whether the children provided new information about the abuse in response to subsequent questions after disclosure, and the interviewers' follow-up prompts following the children's disclosure. The findings showed an average of 88.9 turns before disclosure. One-third of the children disclosed abuse during the pre-substantive phase of the interview, with almost half of these disclosing early. Even children aged 3 provided forensically relevant information across multiple turns, comparable with the 5-year-olds. However, the preschool-aged children were interviewed using techniques that were leading and involved lengthy sessions, which did not align with best practices. This may raise questions about the validity and representativeness of the findings. Implications for practice are discussed.

How to prepare for conversations with children about suspicions of sexual abuse? Evaluation of an interactive virtual reality training for student teachers

BACKGROUND

Training for child interviewing in case of suspected (sexual) abuse must include ongoing practice, expert feedback and performance evaluation. Computer-based interview simulations including these components have shown efficacy in promoting open-ended questioning skills.

OBJECTIVE

We evaluated ViContact, a training program for childcare professionals on conversations with children in case of suspected abuse.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

110 student teachers were divided into four groups and took part either in a two-hour virtual reality training through verbal interaction with virtual children, followed by automated, personalized feedback (VR), two days of online seminar training on conversation skills, related knowledge and action strategies (ST), a combination of both (ST + VR), or no training (control group, CG).

METHODS

We conducted a pre-registered, randomized-controlled evaluation study. Pre-post changes on three behavioral outcomes in the VR conversations and two questionnaire scores (self-efficacy and - undesirable - naïve confidence in one's own judgment of an abuse suspicion) were analyzed via mixed ANOVA interaction effects.

RESULTS

Combined training vs. CG led to improvements in the proportion of recommended questions (ηp2 = 0.75), supportive utterances (ηp2 = 0.36), and self-efficacy (ηp2 = 0.77; all ps < .001). Both interventions alone improved the proportion of recommended questions (VR: ηp2 = 0.67, ST: ηp2 = 0.68, ps < .001) and self-efficacy (VR: ηp2 = 0.24, ST: ηp2 = 0.65, ps < .001), but not supportive utterances (VR: ηp2 = 0.10, ST: ηp2 = 0.13, both n. s.).

CONCLUSIONS

The combination of VR and ST proved most beneficial. Thus, VR exercises should not replace, but rather complement classical training approaches.

Open-ended initial invitations are particularly helpful in eliciting forensically relevant information from child witnesses

BACKGROUND

Open-ended prompting is an essential tool for interviewers to elicit evidentiary information from children reporting abuse. To date, no research has examined whether different types of open-ended prompts elicit details with differing levels of forensic relevance.

OBJECTIVE

To examine interviewers' use of three open-ended prompt subtypes (initial invitations, breadth prompts, and depth prompts) and compare the forensic relevance of the information elicited by each.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

Transcripts of field interviews conducted by 53 police interviewers with children aged 6- to 16-years alleging abuse were examined.

METHODS

In each transcript, initial invitations, breadth prompts, and depth prompts were identified, and the child's response was parsed into clauses. Clauses were classified according to their forensic relevance: essential to the charge (i.e., a key point of proof or element of the offence), relevant to the offending (i.e., what occurred before, during, or after an incident but not an essential detail), context (i.e., background information), irrelevant to the charge, no information provided, or repeated information already provided earlier.

RESULTS

Interviewers posed fewer initial invitations than breadth and depth prompts, p < .001, ηp2 = 0.58. Initial invitations elicited higher proportions of essential and relevant clauses than breadth and depth prompts; depth prompts further elicited higher proportions of essential clauses than breadth prompts, ps ≤ 0.001. We found few effects of children's age.

CONCLUSIONS

Initial invitations are a particularly useful subtype of open-ended prompt for interviewers to elicit details that are legislatively essential for prosecution of crimes from children of all ages.

AI avatar tells you what happened: The first test of using AI-operated children in simulated interviews to train investigative interviewers

Previous research has shown that simulated child sexual abuse (CSA) interview training using avatars paired with feedback and modeling improves interview quality. However, to make this approach scalable, the classification of interviewer questions needs to be automated. We tested an automated question classification system for these avatar interviews while also providing automated interventions (feedback and modeling) to improve interview quality. Forty-two professionals conducted two simulated CSA interviews online and were randomly provided with no intervention, feedback, or modeling after the first interview. Feedback consisted of the outcome of the alleged case and comments on the quality of the interviewer's questions. Modeling consisted of learning points and videos illustrating good and bad questioning methods. The total percentage of agreement in question coding between human operators and the automated classification was 72% for the main categories (recommended vs. not recommended) and 52% when 11 subcategories were considered. The intervention groups improved from first to second interview while this was not the case in the no intervention group (intervention x time: p = 0.007, ηp 2 = 0.28). Automated question classification worked well for classifying the interviewers' questions allowing interventions to improve interview quality.

The combination of feedback and modeling in online simulation training of child sexual abuse interviews improves interview quality in clinical psychologists

BACKGROUND

Previous research has shown the effectiveness of simulation training using avatars paired with feedback in improving child sexual abuse interview quality. However, it has room for improvement.

OBJECTIVE

The present study aimed to determine if the combination of two interventions, feedback and modeling, would further improve interview quality compared to either intervention alone.

PARTICIPANTS

Thirty-two clinical psychologists were randomly assigned to a feedback, modeling, or the combination of feedback and modeling group.

METHODS

The participants conducted five simulated child sexual abuse interviews online while receiving the intervention(s) corresponding to their allocated group. Feedback was provided after each interview and consisted of the outcome of the alleged cases and comments on the quality of the questions asked in the interviews. Modeling was provided after the 1st interview and consisted of learning points and videos illustrating good and bad questioning methods.

RESULTS

The proportion of recommended questions improved over the five interviews when considering all groups combined. The combined intervention (vs. feedback alone) showed a higher proportion of recommended questions from the 2nd interview onward while the difference between the combined intervention and modeling alone and the difference between the modeling alone and feedback alone were mostly not significant. The number of correct details were affected in the same way. No significant differences in the number of incorrect details were found.

CONCLUSIONS

The results show that the combination of feedback and modeling achieves improvement greater than that of feedback alone.

Online Simulation Training of Child Sexual Abuse Interviews With Feedback Improves Interview Quality in Japanese University Students

Although previous research has confirmed the effectiveness of simulated child sexual abuse interviews with feedback, its validation is limited to Western contexts and face-to-face settings. The present study aims to extend this research to non-Western and online/remote training conditions. Thirty-two Japanese undergraduate students were randomly assigned to a control or feedback group. The feedback group conducted a set of six online simulated child sexual abuse interviews while receiving feedback after each interview in an attempt to improve the quality of their questioning style. The feedback consisted of the outcome of the alleged cases and the quality of the questions asked in the interviews. The control group conducted the interviews without feedback. The feedback (vs. control) increased the proportion of recommended questions (first interview: 45%; last interview: 65% vs. first: 43%; last: 42%, respectively) by using fewer not-recommended questions and eliciting fewer incorrect details. Furthermore, only participants in the feedback group (7 out of 17) demonstrated a reliable change in the proportion of recommended questions. The present study explores the efficacy of simulated interview training with avatars in a different cultural setting and in the context of remote administration. The differences between the present study and previous research are discussed in light of cultural and logistical aspects.

Implicit Encouragement: Enhancing Youth Productivity when Recounting a Stressful Experience

In recent years, increasing efforts have been focused on testing strategies of improving victimized children's narrative productivity, given that, for many youth, finding out what has happened to them is crucial to intervening and promoting their well-being. Implicit encouragement strategies, such as back channeling by conversational partners, have shown some preliminary promise, but their precise effects on productivity and accuracy have not been adequately examined. In this study, 98 youth, ages 8-14, completed a laboratory-based stressful activity, and a week later, a surprise memory test regarding what happened in the lab activity. Interviewers varied their use of implicit encouragement. Open-ended recall questions asked youth about both factual details and detail about their feelings and thoughts during the laboratory activity. Implicit encouragement increased the amount of both types of details and had no effect on errors. In fact, few youth provided any incorrect information in their recall reports. Neither age nor stress was related to youth's productivity or accuracy, directly or in conjunction with implicit encouragement. Results highlight the value of interviewers using encouraging behaviors when questioning children and adolescents to elicit a range of information about prior stressful experiences.

Using implicit encouragement to increase narrative productivity in children: Preliminary evidence and legal implications

Statements made by children in a range of legal settings can irrevocably impact their family structure, relationships, and living environment. Because these statements can fundamentally alter children's futures, efforts have been made to identify methods to enhance children's reports by increasing comprehensiveness, completeness, and accuracy. Interviewer support has broadly been considered a method of interest, but variations in what constitutes "support" have highlighted the need for greater specificity in documenting how different facets of supportive behaviors relate to children's reporting tendencies. In this review, we describe work focused on the effects of interviewer support, on children's memory completeness and accuracy. We then describe to a subset of interviewer behaviors that encourage elaboration in dyadic interactions: back-channeling and vocatives. We present preliminary evidence suggesting that these utterances, referred to as implicit encouragement, can increase the amount of detail provided without compromising accuracy. Implications for custody evaluations are discussed.

A call to improve the validity of criterion-based content analysis (CBCA): Results from a field-based study including 60 children's statements of sexual abuse

The growing awareness of sexually-abused children has led to a major shift: previously considered untrustworthy, children are now regarded as competent in providing medico-legal evidence. Professionals undertaking the challenging task of assessing the child's credibility need to rely upon approved evaluation methods. The Criteria-Based Content Analysis is a tool developed to assess the truthfulness of a child's verbal statement. This field-based study explores its validity and its limitations. Three independent experts rated the verbatim statements of 60 real-life alleged victims of sexual abuse. The CBCA scoring and final assessment of credibility were linked to the outcomes: confirmed or unconfirmed allegation of sexual abuse. Inter-rater reliability coefficient was 0.74. The average overall accuracy rate corresponding to confirmed and unconfirmed cases was 75%. Among the confirmed allegations, the accuracy rate reached 90%, whereas the probability of discriminating the true negative cases within the unconfirmed cases was lower than chance level. Of all the 19 criteria, items 6 "Reproduction of conversation" and 12 "Accounts of subjective mental state" were the strongest predictors of genuine accounts. A significant association between age and CBCA scores was noted, the effect of age on CBCA scores was strongest in the unconfirmed cases. Although some may argue that the validity of the CBCA is reasonably acceptable, results from this field study are less convincing. Increasing the diagnostic accuracy of the CBCA by adding new criteria, so as to raise the percentage of correct classifications in the confirmed accounts as well as in the unconfirmed accounts, would represent a major improvement.

Developmentally Sensitive Forensic Interviewing of Preschool Children: Some Guidelines Drawn From Basic Psychological Research

Interviewing preschool children who are victims or witnesses of crime to ensure accuracy and completeness of their recall is no easy task. Rising up to the challenge, a large number of empirical psychological studies related to interviewing young children have been conducted in the past decades. Most of these studies were applied research, simulating circumstances of real forensic interviews. It is believed, however, that more basic research could also be informative. The present article thus selectively reviews more basic psychological research in the areas of memory development, language development, and conceptual development as they relate to the forensic interviewing of preschool children. Based on characteristics of preschool children’s development in these areas, some useful guidelines are generated for forensic interviewers. Recommendations for future research are also made.

The Relation of Client Behavior and Therapist Helping Skills to Reduced Aggression of Boys in Individual and Group Treatment

In this study behavioral processes in the individual and group therapies of aggressive boys were compared and the relationship between these variables and treatment outcome was examined. Level of aggression was the outcome variable, measured by both self-report and teacher-report instruments. Hill's Client Behavior System (CBS; Hill, 1986) with our own ad hoc categories of Reference to Literary Figures and Response to Another, and therapist Helping Skills System (HSS; Hill & O'Brien, 1999) were the behavioral process measures. In terms of the boys' behaviors, discriminant function analyses revealed that Reference to Literary Figures and Response to Another differentiated the treatment formats; with regard to therapists' behaviors, Questions and Challenge differentiated the modalities. Results offered partial support for the greater effectiveness of group, compared to individual, therapy in reducing aggression. Outcome, however, as measured by teacher reports of aggression, was adversely affected in group therapy by the presence of specific behaviors in the boys. Implications of the findings for modifying the group therapy program as well as for the search for process variables appropriate to the treatment of aggressive children are discussed.

Organisational challenges to delivering child investigative interviewer training via e-learning

This article examined organisational challenges arising from the implementation of a new training course for investigative interviewers of vulnerable witnesses. The course was delivered via e-learning (computer exercises) and also involved mock interviews conducted over the telephone. Thematic analysis was conducted of: (a) trainees’ anonymous written feedback submitted to an online discussion forum on the training programme’s website, (b) trainees’ responses to face-to-face questions during semi-structured qualitative interviews, and (c) correspondence between trainees and trainers regarding the training programme. Despite unanimous support for the new training programme, three challenges were identified: limited allocated work time to complete the training, conflicting work practices arising from staggered course enrolment, and difficulties associated with computer and technical skills. These organisational challenges must be addressed to ensure that any future evaluation of the programme on skill performance provides a true indication of the programme’s impact on skill development. From a managerial perspective, organisational challenges need to be addressed in order to maximise the accessibility, completion and long-term success of an e-learning training model for interviewers.

Impact of interviewers' supportive comments and children's reluctance to cooperate during sexual abuse disclosure

In the field of child sexual abuse (CSA) disclosure, many studies have been conducted on the impact of interviewers' questioning style, but few have examined the impact of interviewers' supportive comments on children's cooperative and reluctant disclosure of substantive details. This field study used a sample of children ranging from 4 to 13 years of age who have all disclosed CSA. The first objective was to examine if the interviewer's and the child's comments during CSA interviews would vary as a function of the use of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Protocol. The second objective was to identify the strongest correlates of the proportion of details disclosed by the children during forensic interviews. A total of 90 matched NICHD Protocol and non-Protocol interviews done by the same interviewers were audio-taped, transcribed, and coded using verbal subscales. The goal was to explore if differences exist between the interviewers' supportive and non-supportive comments as well as children's cooperative and reluctant statements during investigative interviews conducted prior to or after the NICHD Protocol training. Results of a MANCOVA showed that the use of the NICHD Protocol had no influence on interviewers' and children's demeanors. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis controlling for relevant variables (e.g., child's age and NICHD Protocol) showed that children's reluctance and interviewers' non-support were associated with a lesser proportion of details. Overall, these results indicate that in order to promote detailed disclosure of CSA, interviewers should decrease their non-supportive comments and learn to deal more effectively with children's reluctance during forensic interviews. As such, protocols and training should encourage investigative interviewers to devote more time identifying early signs of children's verbal reluctance and to understand the negative impact of non-supportive comments on the disclosure of substantive details.

An examination of "don't know" responses in forensic interviews with children

Most experimental studies examining the use of pre-interview instructions (ground rules) show that children say "I don't know" more often when they have been encouraged to do so when appropriate. However, children's "don't know" responses have not been studied in more applied contexts, such as in investigative interviews. In the present study, 76 transcripts of investigative interviews with allegedly abused children revealed patterns of "don't know" responding, as well as interviewers' reactions to these responses. Instructions to say "I don't know" when appropriate did not affect the frequency with which children gave these responses. Interviewers rejected "don't know" responses nearly 30% of the time, and typically continued to ask about the same topic using more risky questions. Children often answered these follow-up questions even though they had previously indicated that they lacked the requested information. There was no evidence that "don't know" responses indicated reluctance to talk about abuse. Implications for forensic interviewers are discussed.

The use of paraphrasing in investigative interviews

OBJECTIVE

Young children's descriptions of maltreatment are often sparse thus creating the need for techniques that elicit lengthier accounts. One technique that can be used by interviewers in an attempt to increase children's reports is "paraphrasing," or repeating information children have disclosed. Although we currently have a general understanding of how paraphrasing may influence children's reports, we do not have a clear description of how paraphrasing is actually used in the field.

METHOD

The present study assessed the use of paraphrasing in 125 investigative interviews of allegations of maltreatment of children aged 4-16 years. Interviews were conducted by police officers and social workers. All interviewer prompts were coded into four different categories of paraphrasing. All children's reports were coded for the number of details in response to each paraphrasing statement.

RESULTS

"Expansion paraphrasing" was used significantly more often and elicited significantly more details, while "yes/no paraphrasing" resulted in shorter descriptions from children, compared to other paraphrasing styles. Further, interviewers more often distorted children's words when using yes/no paraphrasing, and children rarely corrected interviewers when they paraphrased inaccurately.

CONCLUSIONS AND PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

Investigative interviewers in this sample frequently used paraphrasing with children of all ages and, though children's responses differed following the various styles of paraphrasing, the effects did not differ by the age of the child. The results suggest that paraphrasing affects the quality of statements by children. Implications for investigative interviewers will be discussed and recommendations offered for easy ways to use paraphrasing to increase the descriptiveness of children's reports of their experiences.

An examination of the association between interviewer question type and story-grammar detail in child witness interviews about abuse

OBJECTIVE

This study compared the effects of open-ended versus specific questions, and various types of open-ended questions, in eliciting story-grammar detail in child abuse interviews.

METHODS

The sample included 34 police interviews with child witnesses aged 5-15 years (M age=9 years, 9 months). The interviewers' questions and their relative sub-types were classified according to definitions reported in the child interview training literature. The children's responses were classified according to the proportion of story grammar and the prevalence of individual story grammar elements as defined by Stein and Glenn (1979).

RESULTS

Open-ended questions were more effective at eliciting story grammar than specific questions. This finding was revealed across three age groups, two interview phases and irrespective of how question effectiveness was measured. However, not all types of open-ended questions were equally effective. Open-ended questions that encouraged a broad response, or asked the child to elaborate on a part of their account, elicited more story-grammar detail compared to open-ended questions that requested clarification of concepts or descriptions of the next (or another) activity or detail within a sequence.

CONCLUSIONS

This study demonstrates that children's ability to provide story-grammar detail is maximised when there is minimal prompting from the interviewer.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

Given the association between story grammar production and victim credibility, greater guidance is warranted in interviewer training programs in relation to the effects and administration of different types of open-ended questions.

Exploratory assessments of child abuse: children's responses to interviewer's questions across multiple interview sessions

OBJECTIVE

The present study extends field research on interviews with young children suspected of having been abused by examining multiple assessment interviews designed to be inquisitory and exploratory, rather than formal evidential or forensic interviews.

METHODS

Sixty-six interviews with 24 children between the ages of 3 and 6 years who were undergoing an assessment for suspected child abuse were examined. Each child was interviewed 2, 3, or 4 times. The interviewer's questions were categorized in terms of openness (open, closed or choice), in terms of the degree of interviewer input (free recall, direct, leading, suggestive), and for topic (whether the question was abuse-specific or nonabuse-related). Children's on-task responses were coded for amount of information (number of clauses) reported in relation to each question type and topic, and off-task responses were categorized as either ignoring the question or a diverted response.

RESULTS

Children provided a response to most questions, independent of question type or topic and typically responded with one or two simple clauses. Some children disclosed abuse in response to open-ended questions; generally, however, failure to respond to a question was more likely for abuse-specific than for nonabuse-related questions.

CONCLUSION

The findings are discussed in terms of the growing literature on interviewing children about suspected abuse, particularly in interviews conducted over multiple sessions.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

Assessment of suspected child abuse may involve more than a single investigative interview. Research examining children's responses to questioning over multiple interviews (or single interviews conducted over multiple sessions) is necessary for the development of best practise guidelines for the assessment of abuse.

Assessing the effectiveness of the NICHD investigative interview protocol when interviewing French-speaking alleged victims of child sexual abuse in Quebec

OBJECTIVES

The study was designed to assess the effectiveness of the flexibly structured NICHD Investigative Interview Protocol for child sexual abuse (CSA) investigative interviews by police officers and mental health workers in Quebec. The NICHD Protocol was designed to operationalize "best practice" guidelines and to help forensic interviewers use open-ended prompts to facilitate free recall by alleged victims.

METHOD

A total of 83 interviews with 3- to 13-year-old alleged victims were matched with 83 interviews conducted by the same interviewers before they were trained to use the Protocol. Interviews were matched with respect to the children's ages, children-perpetrator relationships, and the types and frequency of abuse. Coders categorized each of the prompts used to elicit information about the abuse and tabulated the numbers of new forensically relevant details provided in each response.

RESULTS

Interviewers used three times as many open-ended prompts in Protocol interviews than in non-Protocol interviews, whereas use of all other types of questions was halved, and the total number of questions asked decreased by 25%. Protocol-guided interviews yielded more details than comparison interviews. The mean number of details per prompt increased from 3 to 5 details when the Protocol was used. Even with young children, interviewers using the Protocol employed more invitations to elicit forensically relevant details.

CONCLUSIONS

French-speaking investigators using the NICHD Protocol used open-ended prompts rather than focused questions when interviewing alleged victims. In addition, these interviewers needed fewer questions to get relevant information when using the Protocol.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

A French version of the NICHD Protocol is now available to police officers and social workers who investigate the alleged sexual abuse of young children in French-speaking countries. This French version allowed trained interviewers to increase the use of invitations and reduce the use of more focused and risky questions. When the number of questions was controlled, more central details and more details in total were obtained in Protocol interviews, because the average prompt elicited more detailed answers in Protocol interviews. However, learning to use the NICHD Protocol required extended training and continued feedback sessions to maintain the high quality of interviewing.

The use of the NICHD protocol to enhance the quantity of details obtained from children with low verbal abilities in investigative interviews: a pilot study

This study explored the impact of the NICHD protocol to enhance the quantity and content of details reported by children with low verbal abilities. Thirty-four children aged from 6 to 14 were interviewed following their experience of sexual abuse. Half the interviews were conducted using the NICHD protocol. Results indicate that NICHD interviews contained more open-ended prompts and more details overall. Open-ended invitations yielded significantly more detailed responses than did closed-ended questions for both children with low and average verbal abilities. Although children with low verbal abilities provided fewer details than children with average verbal abilities, the NICHD protocol helped them provide detailed responses containing the core elements of the sexual abuse.

A structured forensic interview protocol improves the quality and informativeness of investigative interviews with children: a review of research using the NICHD Investigative Interview Protocol

OBJECTIVE

To show how the results of research on children's memory, communicative skills, social knowledge, and social tendencies can be translated into guidelines that improve the quality of forensic interviews of children.

METHOD

We review studies designed to evaluate children's capacities as witnesses, explain the development of the structured NICHD Investigative Interview Protocol, and discuss studies designed to assess whether use of the Protocol enhances the quality of investigative interviews.

RESULTS

Controlled studies have repeatedly shown that the quality of interviewing reliably and dramatically improves when interviewers employ the NICHD Protocol. No other technique has been proven to be similarly effective.

CONCLUSIONS

Use of the structured NICHD Protocol improves the quality of information obtained from alleged victims by investigators, thereby increasing the likelihood that interventions will be appropriate.

Young children's references to temporal attributes of allegedly experienced events in the course of forensic interviews

Developmental differences in references to temporal attributes of allegedly experienced events were examined in 250 forensic interviews of 4- to 10-year-old alleged victims of sexual abuse. Children's ages, the specific temporal attributes referenced, and the types of memory tapped by the interviewers' questions significantly affected the quantity and quality of temporal references produced. The findings documented age-related increases in 4- to 10-year-olds' references to temporal attributes, using the appropriate relational terminology, both spontaneously and in response to temporal requests. More references to temporal attributes were elicited from recall than from recognition memory, highlighting spontaneous reporting capabilities. Implications for theories concerning the developing understanding of temporal concepts and for the design of effective, age-appropriate, forensic interview techniques are discussed.

[The influence of cognitive abilities, age and characteristics of their sexual abuse experience on the statement of the presumed victims]

OBJECTIVE

The goal of the present study was to examine the effects of children's age, cognitive abilities and the characteristics of their sexual abuse experience on the quantity of details revealed about the sexual abuse in an investigative interview as a function of the type of questions asked. METHOD VERSION: Transcripts of 37 investigative interviews conducted with children between 6 and 12 years of age were analyzed according to the type of interviewer questions used and the quantity of details given by the child. The children's cognitive abilities were measured using the vocabulary, information and block design subtests of the WISC-III.

RESULTS

Results of multiple regression analyses indicate that children's age and verbal abilities as well as their relationship with the perpetrator explain 50% of the variance of the mean number of details obtained from the child following open-ended interviewer questions.

CONCLUSION

The results of this study suggest that the quantity of details obtained during an investigative interview is influenced not only by children's age but also by their verbal skills and the child-perpetrator relationship.

Interviewing youthful suspects in alleged sex crimes: a descriptive analysis

OBJECTIVE

To introduce and evaluate a structured interview protocol designed for investigative interviews of youthful alleged perpetrators of child sexual abuse.

METHOD

Seventy-two alleged perpetrators ranging from 9 to 14 years of age (M = 12 years) were interviewed by 1 of 13 experienced youth investigators, employed by the Israeli Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, about incidents that had been reported by alleged victims. All interviews were conducted as part of the investigators' regular work and followed the structured interview guide appended to this article.

RESULTS

Interviewers questioned older and younger children similarly, but addressed fewer invitations, directive questions, and option-posing prompts to suspects who denied the allegations than to those who partially or fully admitted them. The total number of details provided by the suspects did not vary depending on their age or whether or not they fully or partially admitted the allegations. In both cases, more information was elicited using invitations rather than suggestive or option-posing prompts.

CONCLUSION

Contrary to expectations, suspects who at least partially admitted their involvement provided considerable amounts of information and were very responsive to free recall prompts, although interviewers used more risky (potentially error-inducing) prompts when interviewing suspects rather than alleged victims.

A Missing Link in Suggestibility Research: What Is Known About the Behavior of Field Interviewers in Unstructured Interviews With Young Children?

Despite suggestibility researchers' focus on adult behaviors that distort children's reports, whether behaviors examined in experimental work are used in the field is unknown. The current study presents a mutually exclusive and exhaustive hierarchical coding system that reflects interview questioning behaviors of concern in experimental work. The study examined 80 unstructured interviews conducted by 41 field interviewers with 40 children ages 3 to 7 about known events. Data on the use of leading and neutral questions are presented and include distinctions between accurate and inaccurate suggested information. In addition, analyses show that interviewers are consistent in their style of questioning and that a preinterview measure of interviewers' preference for a qualitative versus a quantitative interviewing style predicted the introduction of novel information into the interview.

Age differences in young children's responses to open-ended invitations in the course of forensic interviews

To elucidate age differences in responses to free-recall prompts (i.e., invitations and cued invitations) and focused recognition prompts (i.e., option-posing and suggestive utterances), the authors examined 130 forensic interviews of 4- to 8-year-old alleged victims of sexual abuse. There were age differences in the total number of details elicited as well as in the number of details elicited using each of the different types of prompts, especially invitations. More details were elicited from older than from younger children in response to all types of prompts, but there were no age differences in the proportion of details (about 50%) elicited using invitations. Cued invitations elicited 18% of the total details, and the number of details elicited using cued invitations increased with age. Action-based cues consistently elicited more details than other types of cues.

Differences between accounts provided by witnesses and alleged victims of child sexual abuse

OBJECTIVES

To determine whether child witnesses of sexual abuse were more or less informative about the alleged incidents than alleged victims when interviewed similarly.

METHOD

Twenty-six alleged victims of child sexual abuse (aged 5 to 14 years; M=9.8 years) and 26 children who had witnessed but not experienced similar events were interviewed by experienced youth investigators about the alleged abuse. Children in the two groups were matched with respect to their age, relationships with the alleged perpetrator, and seriousness of the alleged offenses. All children were interviewed using the NICHD investigative interview protocol.

RESULTS

Witnesses and victims provided similar amounts of information about the incidents of abuse. Interviewers used more open-ended invitations and elicited more information using open-ended prompts from witnesses than from victims, whereas they used more risky (including suggestive) prompts when interviewing victims.

DISCUSSION

These results confirm that young children can be informative witnesses about events that they have either experienced or witnessed.