Interviewing young children: protocol, practice and perception in police interviews Sarah Krähenbühl.

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1 Interviewing young children: protocol, practice and perception in police interviews Sarah Krähenbühl Key words: eyewitness testimony, repeated questions, investigative interviews, children Introduction Appropriate interviewing practice is essential for witness, victim and defendant alike. In the United States (1984) Federico Macias was convicted of murder and received the death penalty. Four years after her original testimony, which had been crucial to Macias conviction, a 13-year-old witness made the following statement: Because different people asked me so many questions about what I saw I became confused. I thought I might have seen something that would be helpful to the police. I didn t realize that it would become so important. I thought they wanted me to be certain, so I said I was certain even though I wasn t the more questions I was asked, the more confused I became. (Ceci and Bruck, 1995: 304) This statement was made two weeks before Macias scheduled execution; the death penalty was not imposed and he was finally exonerated in This article will outline the interviewing practices (primarily in England and Wales) used by investigative interviewers with children. There will be a descriptive summary of the use and effect of question repetition in police interviews (a full account of which can be found in Krähenbühl, Blades, and Westcott, 2007), which will be followed by the results of a study using semi-structured interviews with police interviewers to examine their perceptions of their own interviewing practices. The premise that witnesses tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth may be naive, simplistic and unrealistic (Ainsworth, 1998: 33). However, as children take part in legal proceedings as witnesses, procedures have been established to allow children s witness evidence to be elicited and represented fairly.

2 Research such as the effect of different questioning strategies on the accuracy and quantity of information a child provides (Hershkowitz, 2001, 2002; Lamb and Fauchier, 2001; Lamb and Garretson, 2003; Lamb et al., 1996; Lamb, Sternberg, Orbach, Esplin, and Mitchell, 2001; Orbach et al., 2000; Orbach and Lamb, 2001; Peterson, Dowden, and Tobin, 1999; Peterson and Grant, 2001; Sternberg et al., 1996; Sternberg et al., 1997; Zajac, Gross, and Hayne, 2003), and governmental directives (Davies, Marshall, and Robertson, 1998; Home Office, 1989, 1998) have influenced and directed the formation of investigative interviewing protocols. These protocols facilitate the eliciting of appropriate eyewitness testimony from children involved in legal systems. In England and Wales the Memorandum of Good Practice (MOGP) interviewing protocol was introduced in 1992 for use with children under the age of 14 for violent offences and under the age of 17 for sexual offences. This protocol was revised in 2001 and replaced by Achieving Best Evidence (ABE) for use in interviewing children under the age of 17, regardless of the offence involved, and also for interviews with vulnerable or intimidated adults (Home Office, 1992, 2001, 2007). In England and Wales, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) takes the decision about whether a case should proceed to prosecution or be suspended. The CPS decision depends on many factors, amongst which the quality of the child s testimony plays a major part, in conjunction with the quantity and quality of corroborative evidence required. As corroborative evidence is not always available, particularly in cases of alleged abuse, this places particular emphasis on the quality of the child s testimony: the strength of the additional evidence required was dependent on the clarity and consistency of the child s account. Where a child s testimony was considered to be exceptionally clear and detailed, evidence of opportunity might be considered sufficient. When the child s account was vague or inconsistent, a case would only be prosecuted where there was other strong evidence supporting the child s account, such as clear medical signs or testimony from other children who were making similar allegations. (Davis, Hoyano, Keenan, Maitland, and Morgan, 1999: 46) Attrition rates for allegations of child abuse and neglect are high, which suggests that the quality of children s testimony, as described by above by Davis et al. (1999) appears to be insufficient. Gallagher and Pease (2000) found that less than one-fifth of cases (in 1997) proceeded to prosecution. Factors concerning the witness s statement, credibility,

3 ability to give evidence, reaction to the court case itself or reluctance to proceed accounted for approximately half of the reasons given by the police for taking no further action. The MOGP and ABE interviewing protocols (Home Office, 1992, 2001, 2007) are semistructured, and emphasise the positive use of free recall and the use of specific rather than closed questions. Free recall is when the interviewer, in effect, invites the child to talk without directing the child to a particular topic, for example by saying What shall we talk about? Responses to specific questions (often termed open-ended questions) are unlimited but the interviewer may direct the topic. Specific questions often start with wh- (who, what, when, where, why) or how (the 5 wh questions) - for example What did he do when he went downstairs? Closed questions are those with limited responses available - they often require a yes or no response or a choice between alternatives; for example Did he go downstairs? or Was the jumper brown or blue? The beneficial effect of free recall and specific questioning styles in eliciting information have been demonstrated in several studies of forensic transcripts (Hershkowitz, 2001; Korkman, Santtila, and Sandnabba, 2006; Lamb and Fauchier, 2001; Lamb et al., 1996; Orbach et al., 2000; Orbach and Lamb, 2000) and in many experimental studies (Dent and Stephenson, 1979; Fivush, 1993; Steward, Bussey, Goodman, and Saywitz, 1993). Such questions not only elicited the most accurate details (Akehurst, Milne, and Köhnken, 2003; Lamb et al., 1996; Memon and Vartoukian, 1996; Orbach et al., 2000; Peterson et al., 1999; Quas and Schaaf, 2002; Sternberg et al., 1996) even across lengthy delays in time (Jones and Pipe, 2002; Peterson, 2002), but also resulted in lower susceptibility to suggestibility and misinformation (Gee, Gregory, and Pipe, 1999; Gobbo, 2000; Holliday, 2003). Current interviewing practice In order to facilitate the interviewing of children and in response to Governmental Acts (Criminal Justice Act 1988, 1991), requirements and recommendations from Public Inquiries (Butler-Sloss, 1988; Home Office, 1989; Department of Health, 1988, revised edition 1991) the MOGP was developed (Home Office, 1992). Adherence to the MOGP protocol was not mandatory but provided guidance to enable appropriate interviewing in order to elicit an accurate and complete account of an event that would meet the court s requirements. The use of the protocol was also intended to ensure that interviews would

4 be conducted in a manner that promoted the best interests of the child (Bull, 1992; Home Office, 1992, 2001, 2007). Both the ABE and MOGP interviewing protocols contain the four interviewing stages described below: Rapport, Free Narrative, Questioning, and Closure. In the Rapport stage, a relationship between the child and the interviewer is established, the interview aims and conventions are explained (through ground rules ) and the interviewer enhances their knowledge of the child s social, cognitive and emotional development. The ground rules include establishing that the child understands the difference between truth and lies, and that to say I don t know or I don t understand is acceptable. During the Free Narrative stage the interviewer asks only open-ended invitations to speak. The information obtained from the child should not be subject to interviewer direction or influence; the interviewer s role is as facilitator rather than interrogator. The Questioning stage starts with open-ended specific questions that may then be replaced by closed questions and, if required, turn to leading questions (although these are generally to be avoided). Repetition of questions should be used with caution, because: Repeating a question soon after a child has answered may be interpreted by children as a criticism of their original response persistent repetition of a question may lead a child to give an answer he or she believes the interviewer wants to hear. (Home Office, 1992: 18) In the final closure stage, the interviewer may take the opportunity to check details that have arisen in the questioning stage. The child is given the opportunity to ask questions and contact information is provided. The interviewer then returns to neutral topics of conversation to leave the child in a positive state of mind at the end of the interview. Implementation Evidence indicates, however, that interviewers do not always follow the methods and procedures prescribed in interviewing protocols (Powell and Snow, 2007; Westcott and Kynan, 2006). Issues that have been raised by studies of interviews indicate an inappropriate reliance on closed and suggestive questions or prompts (Sternberg, Lamb, Davies, and Westcott, 2001; Warren, Woodall, Hunt, and Perry, 1996; Westcott and Kynan, 2006; Westcott, Kynan, and Few, 2006), which provided up to half of the

5 information gained (Cederborg, Orbach, Sternberg, and Lamb, 2000; Sternberg et al., 2001). Between 1985 and 2002 (in Norway) there was a reduction in the use of suggestive and closed questions; however, the frequency of open-ended specific questions did not increase (Thoresen, Lønnum, Melinder, Stridbeck, and Magnussen, 2006). Additionally, children are not always given the opportunity or encouragement to participate in free narrative (Davies, Westcott, and Horan, 2000; Sternberg et al., 2001; Warren et al., 1996), thus reducing the opportunity presented by following the interviewing protocol for children to provide uninfluenced or undirected testimony. Davies, Wilson, Mitchell and Milsom (1995) found that the structure and question guidance of the MOGP protocol were not being consistently followed and that a quarter of interviews lacked a free narrative phase and that only a third of interviewers began the questioning stage with open-ended or specific questions. Nevertheless, three-quarters of the interviews were judged to provide clear accounts of the alleged incidents and leading questions were rare. These problems could have been due to unfamiliarity or a lack of experience in the MOGP interviewing principles, but later evaluations produced similar findings (Davies and Westcott, 1999; Davies et al., 2000; Sternberg et al., 2001; Westcott and Kynan, 2006; Westcott and Jones, 1997). Children were still asked inappropriate questions (Lamb et al., 1996; Powell, Fisher, and Wright, 2005) and encountered confusing language, terminology or question structures (Perry et al., 1995; Plotnikoff and Woolfson, 2004; Saywitz, Jaenicke, and Camparo, 1990). This discrepancy between theory and practice is not limited to interviewing protocols in England and Wales, however, and similar concerns regarding questioning strategies used by interviewers have been expressed by researchers in the US (Warren et al., 1996), Sweden (Cederborg, 2004; Cederborg et al., 2000), Israel (Lamb et al., 1996) and Norway (Myklebust and Alison, 2000). In addition to procedural reforms, therefore, interviewer training has been developed to promote child welfare during their involvement in legal procedures and to enable the prosecution of those responsible for committing crimes (Goodman, Quas, Bulkley, and Shapiro, 1999). For example, the difficulty experienced by professionals in maintaining the use of open-ended questions was addressed by Powell and Snow (2007) through provision of practical suggestions for formulating open-ended questions in the free

6 narrative stage. Westcott et al. (2006) found that the use of a review programme for trained interviewers had positive outcomes with improvements in interview quality. In spite of such training, however, the use of question repetition in practice seems almost inevitable if the child s response to the interviewer s initial question is non-existent, inadequate or if there are practical problems (for example, if the original question had been misheard). The use of question repetition has, however, been shown to result in changes in children s responses (Krähenbühl and Blades, 2006; Moston, 1987; Poole and White, 1991) that are not only generally detrimental to accuracy but also to consistency, especially among younger children. Warren, Hulse-Trotter and Tubbs (1991) found that children who were given a direct suggestion that an original response was incorrect changed their responses more often than children who were given no explanation. However, changes in responses may also occur when the rationale for repetition did not imply inaccuracy (Howie, Sheehan, Mojarrad, and Wrzesinska, 2004) or when no rationale for repetition was given (Krähenbühl and Blades, 2006). This is important since the level of consistency in responses was rated as one of the top three criteria used by professionals in their assessment of the accuracy of a child s testimony (Steward et al., 1996). Moreover, jurors may have existing stereotypes concerning child witnesses, which include the belief that confidence equates with accuracy, age-related abilities, gender and specific offence-related issues (Gilstrap, Fritz, Torres, and Melinder, 2005). The assumption that accuracy equates with consistency is also questionable (Quas, Davis, Goodman, and Myers, 2007) but a jury may view a child who is seen as inconsistent or uncertain more negatively. Study of police interviews Krähenbühl et al. (2007) conducted a study of ninety-five interviews conducted between 1994 and 1997 according to the MOGP interviewing protocol (Home Office, 1992). The interviews were collected from 13 different police forces on an opportunity sampling basis and provided in transcript form by the Open University. Whilst it is acknowledged that interview training and protocol revision may have had an effect on current interview practice, the core features of the interviewing protocol - the four-stage approach and the emphasis on free narrative and open-ended questions - remain the same in current interviewing protocol guidance (Home Office, 2007).

7 The interviews were conducted primarily by police officers with children aged between 4 and 11 (twenty-one interviews with 4-5-year-olds, nineteen with 6-7-year-olds, twenty with 8-9-year-olds and thirty-five with year-olds). The children interviewed were either victims or witnesses (or both) of alleged abuse ranging from indecent exposure to rape and abduction. The duration of the interviews was between 11 and 136 minutes (M = 40.15, SD = minutes). In the opinion of the interviewers, 84 (88.4%) of the children had experienced the abuse they alleged. The quantity, position, pattern, style, intent and consequence of question repetition used by the interviewers was documented and examined to establish the effect that those repetitions had on children s responses. It was not possible to assess the children s responses for accuracy. Children s responses were coded for consistency and change; a change could add to the original information elicited or else it could provide novel (i.e. unrelated but not necessarily contradictory) information. In all age groups less than half of all questions were open-ended. One-fifth of all interviews (nearly two-fifths of interviews with 4-5-year-olds) did not contain a free narrative stage. Question repetition was found in all but two of the interviews and accounted for over a quarter of all of the questions asked. The majority (four-fifths) of repetitions were in found in the questioning stage of the interview and over half were in gist (the same meaning but using different words) style. Three-quarters of the repetitions were either immediate (with no response made between the previous question and the repetition) or with a single response in between. Over a third of repetitions were made because of a previous silent response to the question and a quarter were made in order to elicit more detailed information; however, leading questions were extremely rare (less than 2%). Responses to three-quarters of repetitions resulted in a change in response, of which one-quarter represented additional information and half novel information. Interviews with the 4-5-year-olds tended to follow a different pattern from those with the older children. The 4-5-year-olds had the shortest interviews but had the highest number of questions and the highest number of repetitions per interview. These children were most likely to remain silent in response to questions, which would necessitate the use of repetition. This persistent silent response resulted in 4-5-year-olds showing similar levels of consistency, if not similar amounts of information, to the older age groups.

8 The results of this study support previous research (Cederborg et al., 2000; Davies et al., 2000; Davies et al., 1995; Hershkowitz, Horowitz, and Lamb, 2005; Lamb and Fauchier, 2001; Lamb et al., 2003; Orbach and Lamb, 2000; Westcott and Kynan, 2006), which suggested that the interviewing protocols are not being fully implemented because of omission of the free narrative stage, the quantity of closed questions and the quantity and spacing of repeated questions. The results also demonstrated that not only was the use of repetition a practical necessity, it was almost exclusively used for appropriate reasons such as eliciting further information or because there had been no verbal response to the previous question. However, the changes the children made in their responses to repetitions, even if these changes represented further information, could have an adverse effect on their consistency and therefore possibly compromise their credibility (Davis et al., 1999) and the likelihood that their case would proceed (Gallagher and Pease, 2000). Whilst this interview study therefore revealed a discrepancy between theory and practice, it was not clear whether the interviewers themselves were aware of their own behaviour or its implications. Serving police officers were therefore asked about how they conducted interviews in order to gain insight into their opinions of the interviewing process in practice. Police perception study This study took place in 2 parts. First, in 2005 the author monitored a MAIVIC (Multi- Agency Investigation and Video Interview Course) at a Police Headquarters. Second, in 2006 the author conducted semi-structured interviews with experienced police interviewers about their interviewing practices. The MAIVIC interview training course instructed police officers and social workers to conduct interviews under the ABE (Home Office, 2001) interviewing protocol. There were 3 modules (each lasting 4 days): a generic module on the ABE protocol, a module on interviewing children and a module on interviewing vulnerable adults. Through active participation in the training, the author intended to ascertain what aspects of the interviewing protocol were covered, in what way, and to what effect. Also, participation enabled the author to experience some of the difficulties experienced by interviewers in putting theory into practice and gave insight into implementation of the protocol from the interviewers perspectives.

9 The participants volunteered to take part in the study via contact with the Police Training manager; their name, age, rank and police force was not recorded in order to maintain anonymity; and all of the participating officers had been trained in ABE interviewing (Home Office, 2001). Three of the officers had between two and three years of experience; they generally conducted between three and five interviews with children aged between 4 and 16 per month. The fourth interviewer had five years of interviewing experience and conducted a similar number of interviews per month. The semi-structured interviewing method was used, as there were specific points the author wished to address within a restricted time-scale without the constraints on responses imposed by use of a questionnaire. There was no attempt made to specifically follow ABE (Home Office, 2001) interview protocol guidance in the interviews. However, rapport was established (although not recorded) and the interviewers were asked specific open-ended questions which would have been used in the questioning stage of an investigative interview. The author took notes of the interviewers replies to questions as it was stipulated by the Police force that the interviews could not be recorded in any other form. A copy of those notes was returned to each of the officers to amend if they wished. As the information presented below represents a summary of the amended notes, it was not considered appropriate to conduct a systematic analysis of the material gained from the interviews. Interviewer training The basic tenets of the interviewing course were that the best interests of the child were of utmost importance and that, in the words of the course leader, Incompetency comes down to the person asking the questions. The initial generic module had the following objectives: to identify vulnerable persons; to outline the principles of multi-agency investigations; to explain communication issues, recognise categories of abuse, and to plan and prepare an investigative interview; to identify relevant documentation and outline the Four Phase Approach to interviewing; to recognise issues surrounding medical examinations; and to describe issues relating to pre-trial therapy for witnesses and outline responsibilities of those involved in conducting a video interview.

10 The module concerning interviews specifically with children had the following objectives: to recognise issues surrounding language development; to describe appropriate circumstances in which to conduct a video interview; to outline specific areas for consideration when communicating with disabled children; to recognise issues concerning sex offenders in relation to the interviewing process; to conduct an Investigative Interview to a recognised standard; to summarise the areas of concern for a non-abusing carer and outline the powers to protect children; to describe the support mechanism for witnesses attending court; and to explain the principles of a Child Protection Conference. After successful completion of the course, interviewers could conduct interviews with children and/or vulnerable adults. Initially, the interviewers were encouraged to take on the role of a second interviewer (a second interviewer may be present at the interview but is there to liaise with the first interviewer rather than interviewing the child directly) or video recording controller (who records the interview and may liaise with the first interviewer before the interview is terminated), in order to gain experience before conducting an interview as a first interviewer. The police interviewers were expected to submit a copy of a video interview (in which they had the first interviewer role) to Police Headquarters to obtain feedback. Police perceptions The interview study described above (Krähenbühl et al., 2007) demonstrated that there were difficulties encountered in implementing the interviewing protocol. The study also demonstrated that, on the whole, interviewers did try to follow the prescribed guidelines but found it particularly difficult with younger children who did not always respond positively to interviewer requirements or expectations. Wright and colleagues (Wright and Powell, 2007; Wright, Powell, and Ridge, 2006), who have studied the experience and perceptions of police officers and expert witnesses, found that the personal attributes of interviewers (being relaxed and friendly, showing empathy and sensitivity) were emphasised by police officers above knowledge of legislation, children s development, previous experience or interviewing techniques. This contrasted with the child eyewitness memory experts, who emphasised the importance of the use of appropriate interviewing techniques (specifically the use of openended questions) above the importance of individual characteristics. Wright and Powell suggested that the over-emphasis of personal qualities could constitute a barrier to the

11 effective use of open-ended questions in interviews with child witnesses. This suggests that there is also a discrepancy between those who devised the protocol (although there were representatives from the Association of Chief Police Officers involved with the ABE development via the Memorandum Project Steering group) and those who interview on a frequent basis, in their understanding of the significance of what the interviewing protocol is intended to promote. The following issues were explored in the interviews with the police officers who volunteered to participate in the study. 1. What would you describe as the easier and more difficult factors involved in interviewing children? Interviewers described the positive factors of immediate job satisfaction experienced when the interview went well. Interviewing was described as a situation where one could learn from others in order to become more skilled. Interviewers stated that older and more mature children were easier to talk with as they understood what was required and understood the questions being asked. Interviewers said that they experienced difficulties in communicating with younger children in a manner that maintained the child s attention and yet covered all of the information required. There was awareness of difficulties in discussing serious or sexual offences; there was a fine line between getting what you need and the person s needs. The hardest thing was when interviewers knew what the child was trying to tell them but they needed the child to be explicit. A way needed to be found of eliciting the level of detail necessary for clarity in order to take the case further, but without prompting or leading the child in any way. One of the most difficult and frustrating aspects of interviewing was when the rapport between interviewers and a child did not develop despite every effort made. Rapport was emphasised as necessary with all interviewees but how this was done, and how long it took, depended on the child s age and level of confidence. The establishment of ground rules was easier with older children but took too long with younger children who had more limited attention spans. Children who did not have recognised special needs still covered a wide spectrum of abilities both in terms of cognitive development and length of attention. These factors had

12 to be taken into account when determining the language to be used and the possible length of the interview. One interviewer found that a lack of general experience (such as that obtained through being a parent, for example) made interviewing younger children more difficult. Pre-interview home visits were described as being extremely useful particularly with very young children. 2.What would you consider a highly successful interview and, vice versa, a disappointing interview? A highly successful interview was seen as one where the child disclosed evidentially relevant information that could lead to a successful prosecution. In such interviews, rapport would have been successfully established and the interviewers would feel comfortable with the child. One interviewer stated that the interview was likely to go well if rapport and ground rules are kept to a minimum. A disappointing interview was when interviewers were aware of being unable to engage children and of asking questions that resulted in a child bottling-up or withholding information. This situation was frustrating, especially as there was no opportunity to go back and start the interview again. 3. How aware are you of the type of questions you ask? Which forms of questions do you find more effective in eliciting information? The interviewers were extremely aware of the questions used. Interviewers would plan meticulously to structure the interview and form a mental checklist of issues and questions that they wished to follow. It was crucial to Engage brain before you speak and to formulate: 1) what information was hopefully going to be elicited by the question; 2) what type of question would be instrumental in obtaining this information; and 3) how to phrase the question in a way that was appropriate to the child s understanding. The 5 wh questions were considered most effective in eliciting information. Closed questions would tend to be used more frequently with younger children who may not really understand what is expected of them. Closed questions may help these younger children to understand what was required. Interviewers were wary of using direct or leading questions if these were required then interviewers would move away from the subject, to go off track or lighten up for a while and return to the subject later.

13 Interviewers considered it was important not to overwhelm a child with questions and believed it was usually more successful to have as natural a conversation as possible. Interviewers acknowledged a tendency to jump in too soon, however, and that whilst it was necessary to move at a pace that kept the child engaged the child must also be allowed time to finish what they wanted to say. There needed to be a balance between having to pull out the information and at the same time ensuring that the questioning behaviour would not lead to problems with the CPS or defence. The controller and/or second interviewer were considered to be important in ensuring that points did not get missed and that enough detail was elicited. 4.Do you repeat questions in interviews? If so, why are they used, in which stages do they occur, how often and in what form? Interviewers were aware of repeating questions but tried to avoid them or keep them to a minimum because using them Didn t do anything apart from potentially frustrate [the child]. There was a Golden Rule, however, which was to be very careful not to repeat questions to the extent that it could be perceived as intimidating the child. Repetition was appropriate to check whether the child understood the question or to clarify a particular point and in these situations, interviewers would explain why the repetition took place. Repetitions could also be used at a later stage when the child didn t answer the initial question or didn t answer appropriately. However, interviewers can t push it too far as you can t force them into saying something they don t want to. When a child did not give a response to a question, the interviewers reaction depended on the age of the child. If the child was young then it might be better to move away from the subject being discussed, go back to building rapport, or move to an alternative activity (for example drawing) and then return to the subject. However, one interviewer expressed concern that because time was limited, this technique could only be used for short periods. With older children who did not respond to a question, interviewers would consider asking the controller for some fresh ideas as to how to approach a subject the child did not wish to discuss. Interviewers stated that repetitions would account for approximately 5-10% of all questions asked. Where there was a multiple incident, one interviewer expected the amount of repetitions to rise to approximately 30% of questions asked. The most common

14 form of repetition was in gist (same meaning but different wording) form, so that the child was not necessarily aware of the repetition. The interviewers stated that there was no point in trying this technique more than a couple of times, however, and that subsequently a closed question would be appropriate. Interviewers would avoid repetition that was immediate or verbatim (repeated word for word) but would try to use gist repetition after intervening questions. However, the form of repetition used would depend on what you were trying to get out. When there had been no response to the original question, interviewers would rephrase the question immediately because they would be concerned that the child had not understood the original. If the response to the original question had been incomplete or insufficient, then repetition would be used in order to ask more specifically what was being asked or state more clearly what information was required. If a child said that they did not understand a question or gave an unrelated response then, depending on the age of the child, interviewers might challenge this or attempt to get the child to qualify the response given. 5. Have you any concerns over the use of repetition? If so, what are those concerns and how would you address them? Interviewers thought that question repetition was useful in eliciting information but should be used with caution because too much could numb the child towards the interviewer, and could confuse the child or give the impression that the interviewer did not believe them. There was also concern that the extensive use of repetition could make interviewers appear intimidating or oppressive and possibly jeopardise the case. Interviewers thought it was useful to reflect after each interview as to how well it went and, if there were problems, to think about why their interviewing style had not worked with a particular interviewee. If rephrasing or qualifying a question did not succeed in eliciting the information required, then interviewers would accept responses such as I don t know or can t remember from the child. 6. To what extent do you think that question repetition is equally appropriate in all situations? The reasons for using repetition depended on the age of the child being interviewed. One interviewer suggested that older children might not answer a question through choice rather than through a lack of understanding. Accordingly it made sense to stay on the

15 same subject longer and justifiable to use more repetitions with a younger child, but it was necessary to move forward quicker with an older child. Interviewers stated that repetition was appropriate when there was reason to expect (from other information/evidence) that the child did know the answer and could respond if encouraged to do so. Interviewers thought that repetition was inappropriate if it was over-done as this may be detrimental to interviewee cooperation; there was concern that young children in particular might become frustrated. One interviewer suggested the adoption of a different interviewing style with younger children, behaving less like a drill sergeant and trying to be more animated to enhance understanding and keep the child s attention. In response to a request for any other comments, interviewers said they thought that their training course was of a high standard and prepared the interviewers as much as was possible although the real training came through experience. One interviewer mentioned that it would be useful (if time and work load permitted) to observe more experienced interviewers before doing their first interview. It was important to liaise with the controller before the interview began, and also near the end, to check that everything had been covered. Feedback was generally informal and came from colleagues or from the families of the children involved. Formal feedback might come from the CPS if there was a particular problem with the interviewing procedure. Discussion and conclusions All of the interviewers demonstrated a clear understanding of the intention and practical implementation of the ABE (Home Office, 2001) interviewing protocol. Interviewers were clear as to appropriate interviewing strategies, the advantages associated with the use of specific questions, the avoidance of excessive repetition, the need for rapport, and that the needs of the child were of paramount importance. The interviewers also expressed difficulties associated with interviewing on an individual level, describing the frustration of being unable to elicit information, and their concerns about inexperience. On a more procedural level, interviewers described the restrictions they felt were imposed by the requirements of the legal system and their concerns about the impression that their interview style would make on other adults concerned (the jury, defence, CPS and so forth), which needed to be balanced against strategies required to elicit information. There was also frequent concern about conducting interviews with younger children, and how to

16 enable and encourage these children to give their testimony to the best of their abilities within the constraints of the interviewing process. There were specific areas in which the interviewers perceptions did not concur with the evidence about interviewing practices detailed by previous research, however. For example, Wright and Powell (2007) found that interviewers emphasised their own personal attributes above interviewing techniques used with children, but the police interviewers in this study emphasised the relationship they were able to establish with the child and the advocated questioning strategy, with a particular emphasis on the use of open-ended questions. However, whilst the interviewers advocated the use of open-ended questions, there seemed to be little concern that the use of closed questions would be less likely to elicit accurate details (Akehurst et al., 2003; Lamb et al., 1996; Orbach et al., 2000; Orbach and Lamb, 2000; Sternberg et al., 1996) and that such questions might be more likely to result in acquiescence to the introduction (either intentional or otherwise) of misinformation and suggestibility (Gee et al., 1999). In relation to establishing rapport, this was limited in the practice of these interviewers to a subjective assessment of the interviewer s personal state and as a description of the quality of the relationship they had with the child. There was little focus on the establishment of understanding of the ground rules or an assessment of cognitive, social and emotional development in the individual child. In the rapport stage, it would be possible that question repetition would be frequent and advisable in order to establish the broader issues, but this was not apparent in the interviewers responses. The interviewers also did not mention any difficulties specifically associated with the Free Narrative stage, which was found in previous research to have been omitted or not utilised fully on occasions, particularly in interviews with younger children (Krähenbühl et al., 2007; Sternberg et al., 2001; Westcott and Kynan, 2006). The interviewers were not asked directly about this stage, as it is described in the ABE as the core of the interview and one in which the child should not be interrupted (Home Office, 2001: 41). It is surprising, however, that it was not mentioned in the context of identifying when it would be inappropriate to use question repetition. It is interesting to note, however, that the amount of repetition used in interviews was greatly underestimated by the interviewers, who estimated its use of to be between a fifth

17 and two-fifths of its actual usage. More significantly, although the interviewers described the effects of repetition in terms of adverse effects on their relationship with the child, the child s cooperation and the impression that their repetition strategy would have on others, there was no awareness expressed that repetition may be disadvantageous to accuracy or the amount of details elicited (Krähenbühl and Blades, 2006; Moston, 1987; Poole and White, 1991). The ABE interviewing protocol (Home Office, 2001) provides comprehensive guidance to those who interview children in preparation for legal proceedings and could also be used in other contexts where more formal testimony is required. However, research has shown that the implementation of the protocol guidance is neither complete nor always feasible with children, especially younger ones. The research described in this paper, however, did not ascertain conclusively the basis for the discrepancy between interview practice guidance and implementation. Further research, with more substantial interviews and a larger participant pool, would establish whether there are problems with interview practice or whether interviewers are responding to characteristics of their practice that are not acknowledged or covered in the interviewing guidance. If the former were correct then it is possible that more training or supervision would lower attrition rates; if the latter were found to be the case, however, then a different range of research questions would be required. References Ainsworth, P. B. (1998). Psychology, law and eyewitness testimony. Sussex: Wiley and Sons Ltd. Akehurst, L., Milne, R., and Köhnken, G. (2003) 'The effects of children's age and delay on recall in a cognitive or structured interview', Psychology, Crime and Law, 9, Bull, R. (1992) 'Obtaining evidence expertly: The reliability of interviews with child witnesses',the International Digest of Human Behaviour Science and Law, 1, Butler-Sloss, Lady Justice E. (1988) The report of the inquiry into child abuse in Cleveland 1987, Cmnd 412. HMSO: London. Ceci, S. J., and Bruck, M. (1995) Jeopardy in the courtroom: A scientific analysis of children's testimony. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

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