Developmentally Sensitive Forensic Interviewing of Preschool Children: Some Guidelines Drawn From Basic Psychological Research

• NCJ Number: 215207
• Journal: Criminal Justice Review Volume: 31 Issue: 2 Dated: June 2006 Pages: 132-145
• Author(s): Connie M. Tang
• Date Published: June 2006
• Length: 14 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article presents basic psychological research in the areas of memory development, language development, and conceptual development as they relate to the forensic interviewing of preschool children.

Abstract

When young children are suspected to be victims or eyewitnesses of crimes, forensic interviewers need to make a decision about whether to interview a particular child. With no established guidelines, interviewers make decisions intuitively, often based solely on language abilities. Because of what is known about preschoolers’ memory, language, and conceptual development, more guidelines should be generated. Guidelines for determining whether to interview a preschooler include: (1) the need for a child to be able to engage in verbal conversations; (2) the need of the child to be older than 3; and (3) if the crime occurred after the child is 2 years or older, the child may be able to report the event in coherent sentences. After deciding to interview the preschooler, the forensic interviewer must elicit accurate information from the child. Therefore, questions must be asked in the right format. When interviewers have to fall back on forced-choice and yes/no questions to extract necessary details, they should let preschoolers know that it is okay to say “I don’t know” when appropriate. After ascertaining the accuracy of children’s reports, the next step or task for the interviewer is to help the children give as complete a recall as possible. By initiating conversations through questioning and by reminding children that the interviewer is ignorant, a forensic interviewer increases the chance of extracting the greatest amount of information from children. It is important that some kind of interviewer-aided recall takes place for preschool children to provide the most amount of information, such as emotional reinstatement and scripts. By reviewing basic psychological research in the areas of memory, language, and conceptual development, useful guidelines are generated for forensic interviewers. References