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

Abstract

This article describes the evolution of forensic interviewing as a method to determine whether or not a child has been sexually abused, focusing primarily on the United States. It notes that forensic interviewing practices are challenged to successfully identify children who have been sexually abused and successfully exclude children who have not been sexually abused. It describes models for child sexual abuse investigation, early writings and practices related to child interviews, and the development of forensic interview structures from scripted, to semi-structured, to flexible. The article discusses the controversies related appropriate questions and the use of media (e.g., anatomical dolls and drawings). It summarizes the characteristics of four important interview structures and describes their impact of the field of forensic interviewing. The article describes forensic interview training and the challenge of implementing training in forensic practice. The article concludes with a summary of progress and remaining controversies and with future challenges for the field of forensic interviewing.

Acquiring courage to face the truth: shifts in attitudes toward child sexual abuse

“…The Protocol has been translated into many languages. It has influenced a number of other protocols implementing its components in the interview structure (Faller, 2015). tional campaigns often conducted by women's movement and children's protection movement organizations that have fought (and still fight) for the rights of women and children (Finkelhor 1982).…”

In My Shoes – Validation of a computer assisted approach for interviewing children

“…The NCAC Child Forensic Interview Structure was designed to gather the greatest amount of reliable information in a child-sensitive, developmentally-appropriate, and legally-defensible manner when conducting forensic interviews with children (National Children's Advocacy Center, 2012). It closely follows the structure of the extensively researched NICHD Forensic Interview Protocol (Faller, 2015;Lamb, La Rooy, Malloy, & Katz, 2011;National Children's Advocacy Center, 2012), however, it has a more flexible structure, which can be adapted to the needs of individual children and community practices. The NCAC has provided training in forensic interviewing for the past 30 years, and more than 100 000 child abuse professionals within the United States and 33 countries have been trained in using the NCAC interview protocol (National Children's Advocacy Center, 2015).…”

“…The most common rules are to instruct the child to say, "I don't know" if they do not know the answer, "I don't understand" if they do not understand the question, to correct interviewer error, "If I say something that's wrong, tell me," and instructions not to guess. In some interview protocols, it is also important that the child promises to tell the truth and to practice the difference between the truth and a lie (Faller, 2015). These rules enable children to know the expectations of the interview, which helps them perform better (Lyon, 2014;Saywitz, Snyder, & Nathanson, 1999), and are thought to improve the accuracy of the reports (Faller, 2015).…”

Case Study of a Child and Youth Advocacy Centre (CYAC) in a Canadian City

“… The forensic interview standard states that forensic interviews must be "conducted in a manner that is legally sound, of a neutral, fact finding nature, and are coordinated to avoid duplicative interviewing" (National Children's Alliance, 2017). Usually, interviews are conducted in a room that has a twoway mirror or closed-circuit television (CCTV) allowing other agencies from the MDT to simultaneously gain the information they need to conduct their own investigation (Faller, 2015;Smith, Witte & Fricker-Elhai, 2006).…”

“…The NCA is another non-profit organization which established a set of standards to help facilitate national CAC development (Walsh et al, 2003). Ten standards exist which consist of key components which must be met either on or offsite 4 in order for the CAC to obtain membership with the NCA as an accredited CAC, thus making it eligible to obtain funding (Faller, 2015;Walsh et al, 2003). The most recent document entitled 'Standards for Accredited Members -2017 Edition' updated the ten original components which includes:…”