Interviewing Witnesses Flashcards
Social psychology to interviewing witnesses
Childs POV, rapport building and can work together
Limitations to current interviewing witnesses
Limited resources for training
After training, may slip into inappropriate interview habits e.g. Confirmation bias
Approx population of learning disability
1%
What are the increased risks that people with LD’s have?
Victims of physical attacks, sexual abuse and exploitation, emotional and social insecurities, lack of education on sexuality and sexual abuse
Examples of some vulnerable witnesses
Children, children with learning difficulties, adults with learning difficulties, intimidated, older adult, English as a second language.
People with LD and the CJS
Lack of interviewing guidelines, professionals aware of lack of skills, stereotype that people with LD are suggestible, little research to base training on
Milne and Bull (2001) model of intellectual disability
- slower and reduced processing capacity across memory processes
- lower intelligence, poorer memory, increased uncertainty= increased suggestibility
- leads to confabulation and less accuracy
Percentage of offending population with learning difficulty
5-10% (Talbot and Johnson, 2010)
Categories of LD
Adults with learning difficulty
Youth with learning difficulty
Young children- difficulties with comprehension
Vulnerability with LD may increase _______
compliance
Newburn et al (2002) how many surveyed young offenders experienced coercion?
25% youth offenders
What was the old way police would interview witnesses?
Investigative mindset and taking notes
Cognitive interview was developed by who and when?
Geiselman and Fisher (1984)
3 core principles of CI
Memory, communication and social dynamics
CI training is part of Professional Investigation Programme, why?
To improve professional competence of all police officers and staff tasked with conducting investigations
What research is CI based on?
Memory processes- encoding, storage and retrieval
What are the phases of the CI?
Establish rapport, explain aims of interview, initiate free report, questioning, varied extensive retrieval, closure.
Why is establishing rapport important in the cognitive interview?
Personalises the interview which reduces anxiety and creates a relaxed atmosphere
Why is explaining aims of the interview important? (CI)
Report everything and transfer control as they have the important details
Why is initiating free report important? (CI)
Mental context reinstatement, open ended questions, interviewer non-verbal behaviours
Questioning in CI
Probe for questions after recall, open ended, can take time
Varied extensive recall in CI
Change the temporal order (recall backwards/other perspectives- person or location)
However, witness may speculate
Closure in CI
Want them to feel connection so they may come back (thank you), positive first impression
Additional interviewer behaviours in CI
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
