Tell Me What Happened: Questioning Children About Abuse

This book is an important resource for improving the quality of interviews received by the courts and minimizing the risks of miscarriages of justice for victims and defendants. It summarizes evidence supporting the effectiveness of the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Protocol and showcases its superiority over other current interviewing techniques. It offers advice and opinions drawn from actual investigative interviews and academic research, covering topics such as children's testimony, interview and questioning strategies, the NICHD Investigative Interview Protocols, interviewing victims under the age of six, interviewing children with developmental disabilities, using tools and props to complement the Protocol, training and maintaining good interviewing practices, and more.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 344 pages
Publication date: 14 September 2018
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Inc

This book represents a scholarly and ambitious endeavor to enhance the quality of interviews received by courts and mitigate the risks of miscarriages of justice for victims and defendants. It provides a comprehensive update to the previous review of research on children's testimony, reexamining and addressing how the information provided by young witnesses is influenced by the manner in which they are questioned. Drawing upon both experimental and field studies conducted in various countries, the book summarizes evidence supporting the effectiveness of the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Protocol, highlighting its superiority over other current interviewing techniques for eliciting detailed and forensically useful content from child complainants.

Written with both child protection professionals and researchers in mind, "Tell Me What Happened: Questioning Children About Abuse" offers valuable advice and opinions drawn from actual investigative interviews as well as academic research. The insightful chapters cover a wide range of topics, including children's testimony, interview and questioning strategies, how investigators typically interview alleged victims, the NICHD Investigative Interview Protocols, the impact of following the Protocol on interviews and children's responses, interviewing victims under the age of six, interviewing children with developmental disabilities, utilizing tools and props to complement the Protocol, training and maintaining good interviewing practices, and more.

This book serves as a primary source of guidance for practitioners and professionals involved in child protection. It updates guidance for interviewers by incorporating consideration of emotional and motivational factors to better understand children's behavior during interviews. Moreover, it integrates the substantial body of research on children's testimony, providing a comprehensive and up-to-date resource for those working with vulnerable children. By improving the quality of interviews and reducing the likelihood of miscarriages of justice, this book contributes to the pursuit of justice and the protection of children.

Weight: 440g
Dimension: 153 x 228 x 16 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781118881675
Edition number: 2nd Edition