7.5 SUMMARY
Interviewers face many challenges when conducting investigative interviews. In the 1980s and 1990s, researchers identified a number of shortcomings of traditional investigative interviews (e.g. frequent interruptions, complex questions, failure to account for individual differences in witness abilities).
The Memorandum of Good Practice (MOGP) and the Achieving Best Evidence (ABE) guidelines were established in England and Wales to begin to address some of the shortcomings found in traditional investigative interviews.
The Cognitive Interview (CI) is a best-practice interviewing protocol primarily used with cooperative, adult witnesses. The CI reliably increases the amount of information recalled by witnesses. Several CI variants are available to accommodate different interview conditions (e.g. time constraints, multiple witnesses).
Children, the elderly, and individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities are considered “vulnerable” witnesses.
Children’s developing cognitive and social abilities make interviewing them in legal contexts especially challenging. The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Investigative Interview Protocol is a developmentally-appropriate, empirically-based protocol that has been shown to increase the quantity and accuracy of information that children recall.
The elderly may be more suggestible than younger adults, and they tend to provide less complete and accurate event accounts compared to younger adults. The CI enhances the event recall of the elderly just as it does with younger adults.
Individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID) can recall event details accurately, but often provide fewer event details and are more suggestible than those without ID. Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may not differ in the quality and quantity of their event recall or their suggestibility compared to same-aged peers, but they tend to have marked deficits in social abilities that could present difficulties within an interview context. With slight modifications, best-practice interview protocols may still facilitate the recall of these populations.
ESSAY/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
What were some of the shortcomings of traditional investigative interviews and how did the Memorandum of Good Practice (MOGP) and Achieving Best Evidence (ABE) guidelines begin to address some of these shortcomings?
Describe the key components of the Cognitive Interview (CI) and in what ways these techniques facilitate how witnesses recall event details. Under what conditions might interviewers consider using a variant or modified version of the CI?
How do children differ from adults in ways that have implications for children’s performance in investigative interviews? In what ways does the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Investigative Interview Protocol accommodate children’s developing cognitive and social abilities?
What characteristics make individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities and the elderly “vulnerable” witnesses? How effective are best-practice interviewing protocols at facilitating the recall of event-related information from these populations?
ANNOTATED READING LIST
Fisher, R. P., Milne, R., & Bull, R. (2011). Interviewing cooperative witnesses. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 20, 16–19. Provides a very brief overview of elements of the Cognitive Interview, the flexibility of this interview tool within a legal context, and empirical support for its use.
Lamb, M. E., Hershkowitz, I., Orbach, Y., & Esplin, P. W. (2008). Tell me what happened: Structured investigative interviews of child victims and witnesses. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley &
Sons Inc. Discusses the cognitive and social abilities of children as eyewitnesses, the development of the NICHD Investigative Interview Protocol, and research supporting its use.
Lamb, M. E., La Rooy, D. J., Malloy, L. C., & Katz, C. (Eds.). (2011). Children’s testimony: A handbook of psychological research and forensic practice. West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell. Provides a comprehensive look at the challenges that children may face as eyewitnesses (with a discussion of children with intellectual and developmental disabilities), important considerations for interviewing children, and children’s participation in the legal system.
Maras, K. L., & Bowler, D. M. (2014). Eyewitness testimony in autism spectrum disorder: A review. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 44, 2682–2697. Reviews the memory impairments of individuals with autism spectrum disorder and research studies examining their performance in eyewitness contexts.
Toglia, M. P., Ross, D. F., Pozzulo, J., & Pica, E. (Eds). (2014). The elderly eyewitness in court. New York: Psychology Press. Examines research on the ability of the elderly to be effective eyewitnesses and perceptions of the elderly in the legal system.
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