NCJ Number
230064
Journal
Legal and Criminological Psychology Volume: 15 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2010 Pages: 25-38
Date Published
February 2010
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This paper describes effective interviewing techniques and several other related issues.
Abstract
The cognitive interview (CI) and other scientifically informed interviewing protocols have elevated the quality of forensic interviews with cooperative witnesses, which has been well documented in laboratory and field studies. However, many police and other investigative interviewers still do not make good use of the available scientific advances, resulting in the same interviewing mistakes being made today as they did two decades ago. Given the importance of interviewing cooperative respondents, it is encouraged that police and other investigative agencies take better advantage of the scientific research, and for academics to design studies with eyes toward real-world application. Witnesses generally do not volunteer information, and many police officers are poorly trained, if at all, to interview cooperative witnesses. It is imperative to improve upon this critical element of the investigation, which requires drawing from relevant scientific knowledge. This paper describes several formulated effective interviewing protocols, addressing several related issues: 1) whether these techniques combine to form a holistic entity or whether the techniques can be implemented independently; 2) how to train investigators to use the techniques; 3) empirical testing of the techniques; 4) applying the techniques to real-world investigations, and 5) recommended future directions for research. References