Interrogating a child on child abuse

It is a very tricky issue, in fact it is so tricky that many cases are thrown out of courts because of how children are questioned. For instance, use of anatomically correct dolls is a technique, but if you ask a child the wrong way or repeatedly the child can easily pick up on the answer the interviewer wants and will change their answer.

I once wrote a paper on false memory and suggestibility. There are some fascinating experiments that show both the positive and negatives of interviewing children ref. child abuse.

Here are two papers, in an academic format, not narrative story format that discuss your question.

http://www.arts.uwaterloo.ca/~doneill/c ... Kenyon.pdf

http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewc ... sychfacpub

I thought about it and came to the same conclusions. I am familiar with the problem. What I wanted was a few ideas regarding how to conduct the interrogation, if there was a safe way, something I suspect may not be possible.

Do you consider to be possible to conduct a harmless interrogation, for example, in the case the child hasn't actually been abused?

You can have one of two results

-1- Child abused - child accurately reports abuse.
-2- Child abused - child incorrectly says they were not abused.
-3- Child not abused - child accurately reports they were not abused.
-4- Child not abused - child inaccurately reports they were abused.

Situations 1 and 3, whatever "interrogation"...I prefer to call it an interview, it is the accuracy of the report that makes the results "harmless". Meaning the end result was the truth.

In situation 2, it is harmful as the criminal gets away with committing the crime.
In situation 4, it is harmful because an innocent person suffers, not to mention the child may come to believe they were abused when they actually were not.

Is it possible to conduct a harmless interrogation? Certainly. There are plenty of cases of situations 1 and 3. Unfortunately, there are also sometimes cases of 2 and 4.

To date, and this is why there is so much research and expert witness testimony, there has been no foolproof way to avoid situations 2 and 4.

You're focusing in the report while I am more concern in the interrogation and the psychological impact of it.

- Have Mr. "X" showed you his pennis?
- No, why?
- No reason, has he tried to put something into your donkey?
- What? Like, like what?
- Like his penis?
- What?
- Maybe your mouth? Did he tried to kiss you?
- No...
- Okay, now go to play.

Children: Pennis into the donkey? Why would Mr. "X"...? Kissing me? Like mom and dad?

TRAUMATIC EXPERIENCE...!

Augusto wrote:You're focusing in the report while I am more concern in the interrogation and the psychological impact of it.

- Have Mr. "X" showed you his pennis?
- No, why?
- No reason, has he tried to put something into your donkey?
- What? Like, like what?
- Like his penis?
- What?
- Maybe your mouth? Did he tried to kiss you?
- No...
- Okay, now go to play.

Children: Pennis into the donkey? Why would Mr. "X"...? Kissing me? Like mom and dad?

TRAUMATIC EXPERIENCE...!

I thought your question was is it possible to conduct the interview without a traumatic experience?

The answer is yes. An interview can be conducted without the child being traumatized.

How?

Interviewer: Hi little Johnny, do you remember Bob? (show photo of Bob)
Child: Yes.
Interviewer: Do you remember playing with Bob?
Child: Yes.
Interviewer: When playing with Bob, what all did you do?
Child: Well, we X, Y, Z.
Interviewer: Oh, X? So when you played X did you have fun?
Child: Yes.
Interviewer: Here are two dolls. Have you ever played with a doll before?
Child: Yes
Interviewer: Think about when you played X, can you show me how you and Bob played together?
***watch child, write notes***
Interviewer: Okay, thanks. When you played with Bob it looks like he touched you on the head a lot, is that correct?
Child: Yes.
Interviewer: And it also looked like he touched your arms and your nose, is that correct?
Child: Yes.
Interviewer: Is there anywhere else Bob touched?
Child: No.
Interviewer: Okay, thanks so much.

Not a traumatic experience. The child has no concept that the interview has anything to do with abuse.

Basically, just read up on the research literature and you will find the good and the bad ways to interview a child. There are tons of techniques.

Great interview example. Thanks...!