Examination of the Questioning Styles of Police Officers and Caregivers When Interviewing Children With Intellectual Disabilities

• NCJ Number: 213126
• Journal: Legal and Criminological Psychology Volume: 11 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2006 Pages: 35-53
• Author(s): Sarah E. Agnew; Martine B. Powell; Pamela C. Snow
• Date Published: February 2006
• Length: 19 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

This study examined the types of questions and words used by police officers and caregivers when they interviewed intellectually disabled children (n=28, ages 9-13) about events in which they had been involved.

Abstract

The authors of this study concluded that the amount and accuracy of the evidence obtained from interviews with intellectually disabled children is likely to be partly dependent on the degree to which the police interviewers adhere to best-practice guidelines, along with the children's previous experience with an open-ended style of communication with adults. The interviews by police officers had few leading, coercive, or negative characteristics, which is generally consistent with best-practice recommendations for interviews with children; however, the police officers frequently interrupted the child and did not use strategies that would encourage the child to continue talking. The caregivers used a high proportion of direct, leading, and coercive strategies to elicit information from their children. Even when caregivers used open-ended questions in the interviews, their children provided less event-related information than in the course of the interview with police officers. The children and their caregivers were recruited from six special schools throughout Victoria, Australia. Upon recruitment, the children were assigned to either a "mild" or a "moderate" level of intellectual impairment. All of the children participated in a 30-minute event repeated on four separate occasions, administered by a research assistant in the presence of the classroom teacher. This was done to simulate children's participation in a repeated event. Minimal information about the event was provided to the interviewers. The police interviews were conducted within 2 weeks of the final presentation of the event, and all interviews conducted by the caregivers were completed within 4 weeks after the final event. Interviews were audiotaped and transcribed for coding. 5 tables and 47 references