This document provides guidance on interviewing child victims of crime. It discusses establishing trust and making the child comfortable, using open-ended questions to allow the child to provide a free narrative, and asking focused questions for clarification while avoiding leading questions. Developmental considerations for children of different ages are also reviewed. The goal is to gather detailed information in a sensitive, supportive manner to aid investigations and the child's healing process.
2. VICTIM, VICTIMOLOGY, VICTI
MIZATION
Victim: Individuals who experience loss, injury, or hardship
for any reason crime victim- definition experienced as a
result of crime
Victimology: “Scientific study of physical, emotional, and
financial harm people suffer because of illegal activities.”
Victimization: “Is an asymmetrical interpersonal relationship
that is abusive, painful, destructive, parasitical, and unfair.”
Child: A person under the age of 18 years
3. WHY INTERVIEW THE CHILD
To be able to safeguard the child- effect a safety plan
Determine what services are needed to support the
child
To determine the type and extent of the crime for
prosecution, court and sentencing purposes
Prevent the offender from reoffending
4. WHAT VIEWPOINT IS MOST
USEFUL?
Subjective Approach
Issues are approached from standpoint of
morality, ethics, philosophy, personalized
reactions, and emotions- victimism
Objective Approach
Requires observer to be fair, openminded, evenhanded, dispassionate, neutral, and
unbiased-victimology
5. MIND-SPACE FOR WORKING
WITH CHILDREN
The core concepts of interviewing children:
The best interest of the child guides the
intervention
Creating a comfortable environment,
Taking language development into account,
Maintaining cultural awareness
Be sensitive for developmental considerations
6. TALKING TO CHILDREN IS
DIFFERENT
Keen observers
Cant express themselves the same way
as adults
Play rather than talking
Play is preparation for life
Children play to make sense of their world
Children play to experiment
Children play to process their own
experiences
Play is not a waste of time
7. REQUIREMENTS FOR
PRACTITIONERS
Interest in children
Fun loving and able to operate on a
child‟s level
Previous counselling interviewing
experience
Willingness to learn and read
Be willing to work within the
boundaries- will also work with
parents/ role players
Receive supervision or is linked with
an accountability structure.
8. EQUIPMENT
REQUIRED
Warm and open (smile)
Safe and welcoming space
Dress comfortably
Basic kit = wax
crayons, pencil, eraser blank
paper, farm animals/ wild animals
Expansive kit
=Clay, crayons, paint –art media
9. APPROACHING
THE CHILD
Non-directive, direct approaches activate defence
mechanisms
Non threatening
Non-judgemental, not the parent
Non- prescriptive, be aware of own paradigms
„Not knowing‟ inquisitive
Limited and appropriate touch
Accommodating, toilet brakes, food, tiredness
Open and warm- respectful
Engaging
10. FROM A CHILD‟S
POINT OF VIEW
Everyone even children interpret the world through
their own experiences
Children‟s experiences are limited
They will draw talk and explain things in a way that
make sense in their world
Your job is to put yourself into the shoes of the child
and see it from their view
Be very sensitive to power positions and manipulation
tactics
11. UNDERSTANDING THE
CHILD‟S NARRATIVE
Children don‟t like to talk only, use different ways to
communicate
What is the referral what are the facts and what id
the child’s perspective?
What is the self report of the child?
What verbal/ non-verbal information that the child
has given seems to be the dominant theme?
What does the family say?
Is the behaviour of the child in line with what the
general picture is from the child‟s perspective and
from the families' perspective
12. THE CHILD AS A
CLIENT
Child needs to know the parameters
of the session
Rules of the interview
Why are they there, what will they
do
Address confidentiality, who gets to
keep the drawings /session products
Explain when you have to tell
someone else
Consent to give feedback to parents
13. DISCUSSION
What do you think is important rules and
limits when working with children?
What accountability structures are
available to you?
How would you approach confidentiality
with a child?
How does interviewing a child differ from
interviewing an adult?
What skills /attitude should a interviewer
have when working with children?
14. SPHERES OF THE
CHILD‟S LIFE
Impact of
crime/trauma
Impact of
crime/trauma
Impact of
crime/trauma
15. TRAUMA
Specific traumatic experiences have a direct
impact on child's view of self, family and
world
Interviewer should be able to identifying
and refer traumatised children to resources
in community
The child‟s general functioning and school
performance are negatively impacted by
trauma
The ‘when’ and ‘how’ trauma should be
addressed within a therapeutic environment
Listen and take notes – refer don‟t
16. TECHNIQUE
Trauma interview******
Directive: tell/ draw a picture of what
happened to you
Equipment: paper coloured paint/
crayons / pencils, age appropriate forensic
media
Engagement: tell me what happened to
you from the beginning. Tell me all you
could remember about x (senses). What
did you think? What did you feel? What do
you think feel about it now?
17. FORENSIC INTERVIEWING
INTRODUCTION
Dealing with the narrative of crime/abuse can be very
daunting
What is the need for a narrative in Court investigations?
May be asked to give a report to the court in the criminal
investigation
The interviewer could be subpoenaed to testify about the
disclosure of the child
Disclosure of the child may be important to establish the
charge sheet, building the prosecution‟s case, NB safety of
the child
18. CONTEXT
Children are more likely to give false negatives than
false positives
It takes tremendous courage of a child to give a
narrative of events where they risk significant losses
The reaction the child gets when reporting would
determine if the chid will risk telling all that happened to
them
Stay objective but take any reports seriously
Be supportive of the child‟s courage to tell
19. ROLE PLAYERS
The child self- child participation in the process
Parents parents always the parents! Primary care givers
Police – reporting of crime, taking of
statements, investigating, compiling a Court docket
Forensic interviewer- getting the child‟s statements
Social worker - Children‟s Court and family support
Psychologist – therapy (play, family therapy)
20. CASE STUDY
John (8) lives on the same property as Tom (12) in a ZoZo that his
father and stepmom is renting from Tom‟s foster mother
John is small for a 8 year old with possible alcohol syndrome he
seems to be intellectually delayed
Tom is in a special school and has reached puberty, he is physically
strong
Tom has been repeatedly raping John for the past 6 months and John
has told his step mother about one incident after she saw blood in his
underwear
John and Tom are interviewed separately to determine what happened
and what was the extent of the alleged rape
John is significantly traumatized and Tom denies that he has ever hurt
21. PROCESS OF DISCLOSURE
Is disclosure a single event or a process of
disclosure?
Research: 5% of disclosures are done in a
single event 95% follows a process of gradual
disclosure
Follows 4 phases:
denial, disclosure, recanting, confirmation
Sorenson & Snow
22. 1 DISCLOSURE
? Which process did John follow to disclose
Tentative
Active
Child test the waters
May be accidental
Full disclosure/ may be
accidental
spontaneous/graduation
Partial disclosure “once”
Specific incident is described
with emotion
Vague- child may not remember Child is empowered to give
all the detail
disclosure- maternal support
Minimise incident to make it
more acceptable
Sensory information given
May not seem convincing
May disclose perpetrator as well
23. 2 DENIAL
Reasons the child may deny that abuse took place:
Child is scared of parents reaction
Child is scared of the perpetrator
Child may not know that what happened is abuse VO
Grooming of the child was successful- normalised or threatened
Child understand the risk of losses after disclosure i.e. income
MS
Over identification with the abuser- protect
? What are possible hypotheses for Tom‟s denial?
24. 3 RECANTING/ MINIMISING
What: try to pull back from disclosure
Reaction and consequences of disclosure were
unfavourable- VO
Fear of court proceedings and police involvement
Threats of the perpetrator
Insufficient support from family especially mother Helga
Child abuse accommodation syndrome USA girl
? Tom admitted to hitting but not to rape - why how willyou
manage this?
25. 4 CONFIRMATION
Child confirms abuse when they experience safety and secure
attachment i.e. Place of Safety KZN
Active disclosure and child is also more capable (i.e. older) to
testify/language capacity
Perpetrator is no longer an active threat
Through therapy and support the child can be helped.
John freely spoke about the abuse once he was in a place of
Safety? What differences wold there be in the interview if a child is
still in danger
26. DEVELOPMENTAL
CONSIDERATIONS
Pre-schoolers 3-7
Cues /spontaneous/ behavioural
Younger than 3 language development evidence and medical
examination
Not mastered telling time/ days of the week and words describing time
Cant count number of incidents
Trouble with sequencing
Use short simple questions
Concrete words and use words familiar to the child (rape)
27. DEVELOPMENTAL
CONSIDERATIONS
Middle childhood 7-12yrs
Under 10 trouble with chronology of events
Ask child to link day of crime to other events e.g. I
played netball/ seasons day/night
More detail of number of times especially if asked to
draw different incidents
More context and detail in disclosures with better grasp
and use of language
28. DEVELOPMENTAL
CONSIDERATIONS
Teenagers:
Abstract thinking starts to develop
Black/white thinking still prevalent
Law deals with teenagers differently – expectations are
higer
Are they more/less likely to tell the truth?
Does grooming play a bigger/smaller role in teenage years?
What is the ages of consent for teens?
29. PITFALLS
Giving detail of disclosure to parents too early in process
Don‟t know who the perpetrator is- stay objective and
questioning suspicious
Retelling over and over again can contaminate information –
over assessment
Acting before sufficient information is obtained
Not considering the developmental needs of child
30. THE FREE NARRATIVE
Previously believed that abuse can only be confirmed if
the chid gives the same information using various
techniques i.e. anatomically correct dolls and drawings
and the ideal house
Techniques have undergone a lot of criticism and current
consensus is to use them only after verbal disclosure
Goal: for the interviewer to get enough information to 1)
effect a safety plan 2) gather information for court
Take process into consideration- child may need a few
interviews after the first one to get a full disclosure
31. THE INTRODUCTION
Orientate the child what you are going to do
Inform of interviewer‟s job description and role
Does the child differentiate between the truth and a lie?
General conversation about day to day events
Make child comfortable with interview
Preliminary information on child‟s verbal skills, cognitive maturity
Convey goal of interview is for child to talk
See if child can enter into a narrative
Don’t make promises
32. ESTABLISHING GROUND
RULES
Tell real things that really happened
No guessing or make believe
Don‟t understand what I mean- ask me
Take your time in telling what happened
Correct me if I‟m wrong
I‟ll ask a lot of questions – doesn‟t mean I think that your answer was
wrong
I may not understand so well and ask you to tell me more about what
happened
Create boundaries for the interview
Create a safe environment for the child to tell you what happened
33. INTRODUCING THE TOPIC
Least suggestive prompt: “Now that I know you better we can talk
about some thing else. Do you know why you are here today?”
“I understand that there are some problems in your family- tell me
about them.”
Avoid words such as bad, hurt, abuse or other interpretive words
Shift the topic of conversation to the alleged incident/s
Invitation to talk about the allegations
No direct questions- RS show that a direct question is likely to get a
positive answer irrespective of what happened
34. FREE NARRATIVE
After the topic is introduced the interviewer ask an open ended
question- narrative description of event Open ended questions
“Tell me everything you can about that.”
“Tell me from the very beginning to the end.”
Goal: get most detailed description of what happened.
No leading questions.
Age appropriate Q‟s
No double negatives.
No double barrel Q‟s
Keep it short & simple
35. QUESTIONING AND
CLARIFICATION
After finishing the free narrative is established follow
up with more focussed questions
Determine if it was a single or multiple events
Description of the crime scene
Clarification of information
Was there multiple perpetrators?
Keep the when what where who detail in mind and
add focussed questions later on to gather the needed
information
36. CLOSURE
“Is there some thing else you want to talk about?” Exit
the abuse focussed narrative if sufficient description of
event is obtained or if child does not give any more
information
Thank the child and if asked discuss the road ahead
Talk about a neutral topic to ease child‟s tension
Restore equilibrium to child.
Reconnect to neutral events.
37. SUMMERY
Be at ease in the interview
Take it slowly
The best interest of the child is paramount
Be the guardian of the child's trust
Keep very good notes of everything said
Work in a team- try not to make decisions on your own
Look after yourself
