The investigative interviewing of children andother vulnerable witnesses: Psychologicalresearch and working/professional practice

摘要

This article will first of all outline what is generally meant by 'vulnerable' witnesses. It willthen briefly review research on why obtaining effective witness accounts is important andon beliefs concerning vulnerable witnesses. Some issues to do with vulnerable witnesses'access to justice will be briefly presented, as will the steps taken by a government toimprove access. Such steps include the publication of official guidance documents on howto interview in a skilled manner, this guidance being extensively based on the findings ofdozens of psychological research studies (conducted, for example, at schools or 'in thelaboratory') and relevant theory. Several psychologists' studies of the actual investigativeinterviewing of child witnesses and of vulnerable adult witnesses (e.g. by the police intheir investigations) will then be reviewed, followed by an account of an outstandingexample of how the findings of psychological research has improved interviewerperformance. The limited number of studies of the effects of long delays and ofinterviewer manner will then be reviewed. This will be followed by an overview ofresearch and guidance on some extra issues pertaining to the interviewing of particularlyvulnerable witnesses. At the end, this article will mention some remaining issues thatpsychological research should address. Overall, the aim of this article is to demonstratethat the findings of psychological research are very relevant to good interviewerperformance and can have a profound positive influence on 'what works' in theinvestigative interviewing of vulnerable witnesses.