Conducting Forensic Interviews

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Conducting Forensic Interviews

Because forensic interviews can play a pivotal role in investigations of sexual and emotional abuse of children, child protective services (CPS) workers need to know how they are conducted.

Many Models and Techniques

The first important point to know about forensic interviews is that there are many ways to conduct them, and that there is no single model or method endorsed unanimously by experts in the field. Some of the many forensic interviewing models in use today are the Child Cognitive interview, Step-Wise interview, and Narrative Elaboration. Like many of the others in existence, these three have been shown to be more effective at helping children recall information than standard interviewing techniques. For example, one study found that school-aged children trained in Narrative Elaboration provided 53% more accurate information in a narrative report of a past school activity than did children in a control group who received no intervention (Saywitz & Goodman, 1996).

There are, however, some basic elements common to most forensic interviews, which usually include phases such as introduction, rapport building, developmental assessment (including learning the child’s names for different body parts), guidelines for the interview, competency assessment (where, among other things, it is determined if the child knows the difference between lying and telling the truth), narrative description of the event or events under investigation, follow-up questions, clarification, and closure (Cordisco & Carnes, 2002). Forensic interviews may also incorporate the use of aids and props, such as anatomically detailed dolls, anatomical diagrams, dollhouses, puppets, etc. Despite the differences that exist in the approaches interviewers take, it is possible to get a general sense of what a forensic interview is like. To do this, we will examine the Step-Wise Interview.