Assignment 1: Forensic Interviewing Techniques

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.

The literature on the techniques on how to conduct investigative interviews in a systematic way has been increasing (Faller, 1996).

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

yourself;
ii. Empathize with a child’s nervous feelings;
iii. Avoid questions that could be perceived as coercive, such as “Do you want to be my friend?” and
iv. Use positive, open-ended questions, which are likely to promote expanded conversations, for instance “What are your favorite games?

According Cheung (2003: 46), each of the above guidelines suggests that rapport building should not be treated as a mechanical question-and answer procedure; conversely, spontaneity should be encouraged.
Immediately after the rapport building stage is the competency testing stage. According to Cheung (1997), this stage should be comprised of three steps namely; to ask questions that can further develop rapport, and at the same time establish the child’s competency in answering 4WIH questions: Who, Where, What, and How questions. The second step is to assess the child’s ability to differentiate between telling the truth and telling a lie. The third step is to explain the ground rules, promising to tell only the truth and accepting “I do not know” or “I do not understand” (Cheung, 1997: 281).
According to Gardner (1995) techniques of triggering responses also need to be used. Kuehnle (1996) found in his research that young children are less likely than adults to give detailed information using free call. Gardner (1995) found that children provide helpful information in a self-expression period if their anxiety and stress can be reduced by means of rapport building questions, drawing or other projective tests. Free recall of being sexually abused involves more than a pictorial recall; it is a recall of painful, confusing, and ambivalent messages, actions, feelings and responses. In this view, Gardner (1995) recommends for the use of triggering questions in order to encourage recall. Examples of triggering questions are:
o An initial response: So what has been happening to you lately?