This study examined whether the implementation of Section 28 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act (1999) improved lawyers' questioning strategies when examining child witnesses in England. The government's Section 28 pilot study involved judges holding Ground Rules Hearings, during which restrictions and limitations were placed on the…

This study examined whether the implementation of Section 28 (S28) of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act and the introduction of mandatory ground rules hearings reduced the complexity of the questions English lawyers asked when examining child witnesses. This study compared cases with (n = 43) and without (n = 43) the S28 special measures…

The current study explored the expected consequences of disclosure discussed by 204 5- to 13-year-old suspected victims of child sexual abuse during the course of investigative interviews conducted using the NICHD Investigative Interview Protocol. Expected consequences were mentioned in nearly half of all interviews, with older children and those…

Objectives: The study was designed to assess the effectiveness of the flexibly structured NICHD Investigative Interview Protocol for child sexual abuse (CSA) investigative interviews by police officers and mental health workers in Quebec. The NICHD Protocol was designed to operationalize "best practice" guidelines and to help forensic…

Developmental differences in references to temporal attributes of allegedly experienced events were examined in 250 forensic interviews of 4- to 10-year-old alleged victims of sexual abuse. Children's ages, the specific temporal attributes referenced, and the types of memory tapped by the interviewers' questions significantly affected the quantity…

Objective: The goal of the present study was to examine how children disclosed sexual abuse by alleged perpetrators who were not family members. Methodology: Thirty alleged victims of sexual abuse and their parents were interviewed. The children were interviewed using the NICHD Investigative Interview Protocol by six experienced youth…

Fourteen interviewers conducted 51 investigations of child sexual abuse with children (ages 4.5 to 12.9 years). Interviewers used a script including either open-ended questions or direct questions. Both rapport-building scripts took about seven minutes. Children who had received the open-ended training provided twice as many details and words…

Objective: To understand how the Swedish legal system perceives and handles mentally handicapped children who may have been victimized. Method: Twenty-two judicial districts in Sweden provided complete files on 39 District Court cases (including the Appeals Court files on 17 of these cases) involving children with learning difficulties or other…

Interviewed 145 children between ages 4 and 12 years within days or months after an alleged incident of sexual abuse. Found that the proportion of substantive investigative utterances eliciting new details increased with age and decreased after delays of more than 1 month. Age related to length and richness of informative responses. (Author/KB)

Transcripts of forensic interviews with 98 alleged victims of child sexual abuse were analyzed for key content criteria. Other information on these cases was independently evaluated by professionals. Key criteria more often appeared in accounts independently rated as likely to have actually occurred, and several criteria were helpful in…

The impact of anatomical dolls on reports provided by 3- to 12-year-old alleged sexual abuse victims (N = 178) was examined. Children produced as many details in response to open-ended invitations with and without the dolls. In response to directive questions, the 3- to 6-year-olds were more likely to reenact behaviorally than to report verbally,…

Objective: To identify characteristics of suspected child abuse victims that are associated with disclosure and nondisclosure during formal investigations. Methodology: The database included all suspected cases of physical and sexual abuse investigated in the state of Israel between 1998 and 2002. All investigative interviews were conducted using…

Describes the factors that influence children's competence when they are being interviewed about sexual abuse and discusses ways in which investigative interviewers can maximize the quality and quantity of information they obtain from alleged witnesses and victims. Strategies for developing rapport and eliciting factual information are described.…