Assignment 1: Forensic Interviewing Techniques

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1.3. Research question 1: Forensic interviewing techniques A forensic interview is a structured conversation with a child or minor with the intention of eliciting detailed information about a possible event (s) that the child many have experienced or witnessed. Concurrently, for Van Heerden (1977: 8) forensics refer to the computerized activities or scientific knowledge employed by law enforcement agents to serve justice. In the study, forensic investigation is used to refer to any computer-related activities or methods used by police, investigators, prosecutors and all other law enforcement agents to gather facts, track down criminals, arrest or detain them, gather information, preserve information and finally present it in the court of law. …show more content…

However, according to Cheung (2003: 45), the outcomes have not been reached, and most studies are descriptive in nature, without validating data to support the suggested techniques. According to Warren and McGough (1996) the major interviewing techniques in child forensics are dived into four areas namely; rapport-building skills, competency testing, obtaining the details of abuse and closing the interview. Cheung (2003) argues that rapport-building is an important process to ease the child victim anxiety. In his other book, Cheung (1997: 277) indicated that most professionals “generally did not respond to or avoided personal questions that were related to the child’s current feelings or emotions”. Wood, McClure and Birch (1996) also found that the rapport stage is the most important process, not just a step, for investigative interview. According to Cheung (2003: 46) the rapport building skills can actually help both the child and the interview relax during the interview.Kuehnle (1996: 139) describes four guidelines for rapport development: i. Ask simple questions about the child and provide some personal details about

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