Forensic Interviews Regarding Child Sexual Abuse

This wide-ranging volume combines the current findings and frontline knowledge working practitioners need to know about forensic interviewing of children in sexual abuse cases. Coverage begins with the basics: legal and ethical principles, interview planning and procedure, psychometric and cultural issues, pitfalls and how to avoid them. Perspectives from a trial lawyer and a district attorney lend real-life details on criminal court procedure, interview procedure, legal standards, and what is expected of expert witnesses. Not only is developmental understanding of salient issues concerning children's competency and suggestibility offered here, but also vital guidance on the controversies surrounding false memories and untrue accusations. Included in the coverage: Working with the multidisciplinary team. Childhood memory: an update from cognitive neuroscience. Disclosure failures: statistics, characteristics, and strategies to address them.Child abusers' threats and grooming techniques. Review of psychometrics of forensic interview protocols with children. Assessing the quality of forensic interviews with child witnesses. Forensic Interviews Regarding Child Sexual Abuse brings a wealth of robust practical information to professionals working with children, including clinical and child psychologists, psychiatrists, and social workers.

A core issue for professionals responsible for addressing sexual abuse is how to correctly identify cases. Interviewing Children About Sexual Abuse: Controversies and Best Practice critically reviews the research and practice on the spectrum of issues related to interviewing the sexually abused child. Its chapters cover all the most important topics that interviewers must keep in mind, from the accuracy of children's memories to appropriate types of questions to include to the use of interview aids, and within each chapter is a comprehensive review of research and practice, leading to conclusions that can be used to guide practice in this most sensitive of assignments.

This book is a practical and thoughtful guide for the forensic interview of children, presenting a synthesis of the empirical and theoretical knowledge necessary to understand the account of child victims of abuse or witnesses of crime. It is a complex task to interview children who are suspected of being abused in order to gather their stories, requiring the mastery of many skills and knowledge. This book is a practical one in that constant links are made between the results of the research and their relevance for the interventions made when interviewing child victims of abuse or witnesses of crime and in understanding their accounts. This book also presents in a detailed and concrete way the revised version of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD-R) Protocol, a forensic structured interview guide empirically supported by numerous studies carried out in different countries. The step-by-step explanations are illustrated with a verbatim interview with a child, as well as other tools to help the interviewer to prepare and handle an efficient and supportive interview. Conducting Interviews with Child Victims of Abuse and Witnesses of Crime is essential reading for stakeholders in the justice, social and health systems as well as anyone likely to receive allegations from children such as educators or daycare staff. Although the NICHD-R Protocol is intended for forensic interviewers, the science behind its development and application is relevant to all professionals working with children.

This volume provides the first rigorous assessment of the research relating to the disclosure of childhood sexual abuse, along with the practical and policy implications of the findings. Leading researchers and practitioners from diverse and international backgrounds offer critical commentary on these previously unpublished findings gathered from b

The editors of this collection are experienced practitioners and teachers of forensic psychology. They have collected chapters written by nationally and internationally respected experts in applied research and practice to provide others with their best advice and knowledge on conducting evaluations for and testifying in court.

Investigation of child abuse is often hampered by doubts about the reliability of children as only sources of information. Over the last decade, consensus has been reached about children's limitations and competencies. New for the Wiley Series in the Psychology of Crime, Policing and Law, Tell Me What Happened summarizes key research on children's memory, communicative skills and social tendencies, describes how it can be incorporated into a specific structured interview technique and reviews evidence involving more than 40,000 alleged victims.

This work offers an overview of our understanding of children's and adults' eyewitness capabilities. The authors provide an insight into the social, cognitive, developmental and legal factors that affect the accuracy and quality of information obtained in forensic interviews.

This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. This edited collection explores the background and implementation of the Nordic Barnahus (or 'Children's House') model – recognised as one of the most important reforms related to children who are the victims of crime in the Nordic region. This book discusses both its potential to affect change and the challenges facing it. The model was introduced as a response to a growing recognition of the need for more integrated and child-centred services for children exposed to violence and sexual abuse. In the Barnahus structure, different professions work together to ensure that victimized children receive help and treatment and that their legal rights are met. This original study is organised into four broad themes: child-friendliness, support and treatment; the forensic child investigative interview; children’s rights perspectives; and interagency collaboration and professional autonomy. Each themed section includes in-depth chapters from different Nordic countries, outlining and analysing the practice and outcomes of the collaborative work engaged in by Barnahus from different perspectives. The introductory and concluding chapters offer a comparative lens useful for policy and practice implementation within the Nordic welfare state context and beyond, ensuring this book has global academic and practical appeal.