A structured forensic interview protocol improves the quality and informativeness of investigative interviews with children: A review of research using the NICHD Investigative Interview Protocol

Abstract

Objective-To show how the results of research on children's memory, communicative skills, social knowledge, and social tendencies can be translated into guidelines that improve the quality of forensic interviews of children.Method-We review studies designed to evaluate children's capacities as witnesses, explain the development of the structured NICHD Investigative Interview Protocol, and discuss studies designed to assess whether use of the Protocol enhances the quality of investigative interviews.Results-Controlled studies have repeatedly shown that the quality of interviewing reliably and dramatically improves when interviewers employ the NICHD Protocol. No other technique has been proven to be similarly effective.Conclusions-Use of the structured NICHD Protocol improves the quality of information obtained from alleged victims by investigators, thereby increasing the likelihood that interventions will be appropriate. IntroductionWhereas Kempe and his colleagues (1962) helped launch scholarly interest in physical child abuse with their landmark paper nearly 50 years ago, professional (and popular) interest in child sexual abuse came much later. It was prompted in part by dramatic increases in the numbers of reported cases, and by awareness that many cases of abuse might go unrecognized Correspondence and reprint requests should be addressed to Michael E. Lamb, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, University of Cambridge, Free School Lane, Cambridge CB2 3RQ, UK. E-mail: mel37@cam.ac.uk. Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. NIH Public Access Author ManuscriptChild Abuse Negl. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2008 January 9. Published in final edited form as:Child Abuse Negl. 2007 ; 31(11-12): 1201-1231. NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript because the victims were the only possible sources of information and were seldom given the appropriate opportunities to describe their experiences to those who might have been able to help them. Indeed, because alleged victims are often the only available sources of information, considerable efforts have been made to understand how children's testimony can be made as useful and accurate as possible. Since 1990, furthermore, highly publicized cases in the United States (California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Florida), Norway (Bergen), New Zealand (Christchurch), and the UK (Cleveland, Newcastle), among others, have drawn attention to the counterproductive ways in which alleged victims of sexual abuse are sometimes interviewed. In many such cases, inappr...

Making the most of information‐gathering interviews with children

“…In the laboratory setting, for example, the CI and the NET appears to help children report more information, whereas the NICHD Investigative Interview Protocol described below , Lamb, Orbach, Hershkowitz, Esplin, & Horowitz, 2007Orbach, Hershkowitz, Lamb, Sternberg, Esplin et al, 2000;Sternberg, Lamb, Davis, & Westcott, 2001) enhances the amount of information that children report in response to more open-ended prompts in the investigation of abuse allegation.…”

“…The NICHD Investigative Interview Protocol covers all phases of the investigative interview and is designed to translate research-based recommendations into operational guidelines in order to enhance the retrieval of informative, complete, and accurate accounts of alleged incidents of abuse by young victim-witnesses (Lamb, Orbach, Hershkowitz, Esplin, et al, 2007;. This is accomplished by creating a supportive interview environment (before substantive rapport building), adapting interview practices to children's developmental levels and capabilities (e.g.…”

Forty Years of Forensic Interviewing of Children Suspected of Sexual Abuse, 1974–2014: Historical Benchmarks

“…This child population remains a serious challenge for both mandated investigators and forensic interviewers. Children ages four and older have been successfully interviewed [27], but younger children may also be victims of sexual abuse and lack the verbal and non-verbal skills to communicate their experiences in a forensic interview [28][29][30]. They remain a population in need of protection.…”

“…The authors advised review of background information before the interview, a practice that has led to debate because of concerns that prior knowledge could bias the interviewer [41], but now is considered best practice and is incorporated into most interview protocols [23,27]. Jones and McQuiston advised against having a parent present in the interview room, but rather assuring the child knew where the caretaker was and allowing the child to check in with the parent, if needed, during the interview process.…”

Sexual Abuse – Current Medico-legal, Forensic and Psychiatric Aspects

“…It implies methodological accuracy and scientific validity not only to assure greater adequacy and effectiveness of the interventions in alleged or actual abuse cases (scientific evidence-based methodology) but also in order to prevent many errors possibly able to heavily affect the lives of the various subjects involved in such legal proceedings despite of the "evidence," although the certainty or not of the abuse itself ( [51][52][53]; Noto Charter update at July 7, 2002). This is the age-old issue faced by those responsible for evaluating the testimony of a minor.…”