Interviewing Witnesses

Question 1

Social psychology to interviewing witnesses

Answer 1

Childs POV, rapport building and can work together

Question 2

Limitations to current interviewing witnesses

Answer 2

Limited resources for training

After training, may slip into inappropriate interview habits e.g. Confirmation bias

Question 3

Approx population of learning disability

Answer 3

1%

Question 4

What are the increased risks that people with LD’s have?

Answer 4

Victims of physical attacks, sexual abuse and exploitation, emotional and social insecurities, lack of education on sexuality and sexual abuse

Question 5

Examples of some vulnerable witnesses

Answer 5

Children, children with learning difficulties, adults with learning difficulties, intimidated, older adult, English as a second language.

Question 6

People with LD and the CJS

Answer 6

Lack of interviewing guidelines, professionals aware of lack of skills, stereotype that people with LD are suggestible, little research to base training on

Question 7

Milne and Bull (2001) model of intellectual disability

Answer 7

• slower and reduced processing capacity across memory processes
• lower intelligence, poorer memory, increased uncertainty= increased suggestibility
• leads to confabulation and less accuracy

Question 8

Percentage of offending population with learning difficulty

Answer 8

5-10% (Talbot and Johnson, 2010)

Question 9

Categories of LD

Answer 9

Adults with learning difficulty
Youth with learning difficulty
Young children- difficulties with comprehension

Question 10

Vulnerability with LD may increase _______

Answer 10

compliance

Question 11

Newburn et al (2002) how many surveyed young offenders experienced coercion?

Answer 11

25% youth offenders

Question 12

What was the old way police would interview witnesses?

Answer 12

Investigative mindset and taking notes

Question 13

Cognitive interview was developed by who and when?

Answer 13

Geiselman and Fisher (1984)

Question 14

3 core principles of CI

Answer 14

Memory, communication and social dynamics

Question 15

CI training is part of Professional Investigation Programme, why?

Answer 15

To improve professional competence of all police officers and staff tasked with conducting investigations

Question 16

What research is CI based on?

Answer 16

Memory processes- encoding, storage and retrieval

Question 17

What are the phases of the CI?

Answer 17

Establish rapport, explain aims of interview, initiate free report, questioning, varied extensive retrieval, closure.

Question 18

Why is establishing rapport important in the cognitive interview?

Answer 18

Personalises the interview which reduces anxiety and creates a relaxed atmosphere

Question 19

Why is explaining aims of the interview important? (CI)

Answer 19

Report everything and transfer control as they have the important details

Question 20

Why is initiating free report important? (CI)

Answer 20

Mental context reinstatement, open ended questions, interviewer non-verbal behaviours

Question 21

Questioning in CI

Answer 21

Probe for questions after recall, open ended, can take time

Question 22

Varied extensive recall in CI

Answer 22

Change the temporal order (recall backwards/other perspectives- person or location)
However, witness may speculate

Question 23

Closure in CI

Answer 23

Want them to feel connection so they may come back (thank you), positive first impression

Question 24

Additional interviewer behaviours in CI

Answer 24

Sit in relaxed manner, principle of synchrony, express friendliness and support, use eye contact frequently but don’t stare, speak slowly and short sentences, express attention and interest

Question 25

Evaluation of CI on adults (Gieselman et al., 1985)

Answer 25

Correct recall: 41% CI, 29% standard interview

Question 26

Evaluation of CI on adults (Fisher et al, 1989)

Answer 26

Trained vs untrained detectives: before training 26%, after= 40%

Question 27

The CI and child witnesses positives

Answer 27

Overall high accuracy (81-93%)

Imagery enhances children’s recall

Question 28

The CI and child witnesses limitations

Answer 28

Increase in incorrect details, confabulations, lack of theory of mind

Question 29

The Cognitive interview today

Answer 29

Adaptive, flexible, available face to face and written form, can be used with many different types of witnesses/victims

Question 30

Why is modification important in CI with kids?

Answer 30

Ability to recall chronologically develops gradually with age (Piaget, 1969)
Ability to make inferences develops gradually with age (Flavell, 1986)

Question 31

Self administered interview

Answer 31

Use pen and paper. Ask questions for witness to fill out

Question 32

Benefits of SAI?

Answer 32

Time and resource efficient
Reduces demand characteristics
(Gabbert et al 2001): just as effective as CI
More information than simple free recall

Question 33

What do we know about older people and memory?

Answer 33

Age related changes, older adults free recall less complete and accurate, age related increases in false recollection, older adults need more retrieval support

Question 34

Gawrlylowitcz et al (2013) SAI study details

Answer 34

2 groups (SAI and FR). Mean age= 70. 
Event 1: date rape vs gas man robbing house- filler then (SR or FR)
Event 2: 1 week delay then FR

Question 35

Gawrlylowitcz et al (2013) SAI results

Answer 35

SAI group more correct details without decrease in accuracy

Experiences SAI ptps more correct details for new event

Question 36

Gawrlylowitcz et al (2013) SAI summary

Answer 36

SAI had positive effect on older adults’ immediate recall;

SAI a enhances episodic process (transferable skills for future event)

Question 37

Benefits of the transferable skills of SAI

Answer 37

Facilitates retrieval through spontaneous use of mnemonics, effects at encoding through focused attention, improves narrative style, changes in metacogniton with SAI instructions

Question 38

Applied implications of SAI

Answer 38

Older adults are vulnerable to face to face offences
Underperformance by older adults might be partly due to lack of support at retrieval
Memory training programs for older adults- components of SAI may be used to develop solutions to the everyday memory concerns of older adults

Question 39

Male to female ratio of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

Answer 39

4:1

Question 40

ASD characteristics

Answer 40

Deficits in social interaction and communication and restricted, repetitive patterns of behaviour, interests and activities

Question 41

Prevalence of ASD in general population (Baird et al, 2000)

Answer 41

1%

Question 42

Memory recall in ASDm

Answer 42

Tends to feature less social elements than typical people’s (Maras and Bowler, 2010)

Difficulty binding time and spatial information in one context

Difficulty monitoring the source of memories

Question 43

Maras and Bowler (2010)

Answer 43

Correct details: no beneficial effect for ASD between CI and structured interview.

Errors: ASD made more in both interviews

Question 44

Maras and Memon (2013) CI and ASD

Answer 44

ASD do not benefit from mental context reinstatement, no better with CI compared to free recall

Question 45

Intimidated witnesses Asylum Aid briefing (2016)

Answer 45

EU wide

All women provided with relevant info, comparable standards, assumption of belief and culture of protection

Question 46

Interviewing asylum cases

Answer 46

Typically little hard evidence so interviewing is KEY

Question 47

Challenging role of interview for asylum cases

Answer 47

Trauma affects memory quality: only their statement, gaps in memory, reluctance to explain details

Question 48

Moving forward in interviewing

Answer 48

Collab between researches and policy makers
Identifying researched based policy changes
Evidence based interviewing practices that are sensitive to needs of vulnerable witnesses and those who are traumatised