scholarly journals Establishing Intellectually Impaired Victims’ Understanding about ‘Truth’ and ‘Lies’: Police Interview Guidance and Practice in Cases of Sexual Assault

2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (5) ◽  
pp. 773-792
Author(s):  
Emma Richardson ◽  
Elizabeth Stokoe ◽  
Charles Antaki
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Conversation Analysis ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Police Interviews ◽  
Justice Process ◽  
Assault Victims ◽  
Real Practice ◽  
Vulnerable Adults

Abstract Effective police interviews are central to the justice process for sexual assault victims, but little is known about either actual communication between police officers and witnesses or the alignment between guidance and real practice. This study investigated how police officers, in formal interviews, follow ‘best evidence’ guidance to obtain victims’ demonstrable understandings of ‘truth and lies’. We conducted qualitative conversation analysis of 20 evidentiary interviews between police officers and victims who were ‘vulnerable’ adults or children. Analysis revealed that interviewers initiated conversation about truth and lies inappropriately in three ways: (i) by eliciting confirmations rather than demonstrations of understanding; (ii) by eliciting multiple demonstrations and confirmations of understanding, or (iii) by re-introducing ‘truth and lies’ conversations at incorrect points in the interview. Both (ii) and (iii) imply prior or forthcoming dishonesty on the part of the victim. In the context of encouraging victims to report sexual assault and achieve justice, the article reveals potential communicative barriers in which victims—or their evidence—may be discredited right at the start of the process.

Police Interviews of Sexual Assault Reporters: Do Attitudes Matter?

2012 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 263-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Rich ◽  
Patrick Seffrin
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
The United States ◽  
Rape Myth Acceptance ◽  
Rape Myth ◽  
Stress Reactions ◽  
Police Interviews ◽  
Criminal Justice Professionals ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
Myth Acceptance

Sexual assault is underreported in the United States. Survivors are often reluctant to make police reports for various reasons; one is fear of revictimization by criminal justice professionals. Conversely, police officers often lack skills for interviewing crime victims. Posttraumatic stress reactions among victims can exacerbate the problem. Although some victims prefer female interviewers, it is not known whether they are more skilled. A sample of 429 police officers completed a written survey testing their rape myth acceptance and knowledge of how to interview rape reporters. A significant relationship between rape myth acceptance and interviewing skill was discovered. Although officer gender was related to interviewing skill, the effect was mediated by rape myth acceptance. Specific officer behaviors related to high rape myth acceptance were identified. Implications for selection of police to conduct victim interviews were discussed.

Victimization and revictimization

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Walklate ◽  
Jody Clay-Warner
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Data Sources ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Policy Interventions ◽  
Key Points ◽  
International Data ◽  
Justice Process ◽  
Criminal Justice Process ◽  
Assault Victims

Central to understanding the experiences of sexual assault victims is the phenomenon of revictimization, in which victims feel victimized not only from the assault but also from their experiences of the criminal justice process. This essay discusses the nature and extent of victimization as a result of sexual assault from national and international data sources. It considers the key points at which such victims experience revictimization from their contact with the criminal justice process. It analyses the success of policy interventions designed to have an impact on those experiences. Underpinning this analysis is the concept of gender. The authors demonstrate the extent to which gendered assumptions embedded in policy and practice still frame the experiences of sexual assault victims.

“I’ve got a girlfriend”

2009 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 154-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Stokoe
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
Conversation Analysis ◽  
Social Worker ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Shared Knowledge ◽  
Self Disclosure ◽  
Personal Lives ◽  
Police Interviews ◽  
Full Turn ◽  
Clear Cases

This paper investigates when, how and for what interactional function, police officers disclose something about their personal lives to the suspects they interview. Anonymized recordings of 120 interviews between different police officers and suspects in a constabulary area of the British police service were transcribed and analysed using conversation analysis. The analysis revealed that ‘clear’ cases of self-disclosure (SDs) had two main functions: (1) When positioned as full turn responses within a suspect’s narrative telling, SDs were designed to affiliate with suspects, in contrast to ‘continuer’ turns that aligned with the telling. A similar affiliative action was accomplished by SDs positioned as sequence-launching first-pair parts of adjacency pairs. Affiliative SDs coalesced around categorial phenomena by displaying shared knowledge of categorial items in suspects’ prior turns, and by temporarily suspending ‘officer’ and ‘suspect’ category memberships and making other identities relevant (e.g., ‘heterosexual man’; ‘social worker’). (2) When positioned as second-pair part responses to suspects’ questions, SDs blocked suspects’ attempts to halt the routine pattern in police interviews of question-answer sequences, and sometimes functioned to pursue admissions from suspects. As such, these SDs had a clearer institutional function than the affiliative SDs. Four further possible types of SD were also considered for their admission-pursuing function. Overall, the paper challenges psychological and narrative analytic approaches to self-disclosure, grounding the analysis of such phenomena in the potent reality of everyday life, rather than in researcher-elicited, self-reported narrative accounts.

scholarly journals Special Measures in Child Sexual Abuse Trials: Criminal Justice Practitioners’ Experiences and Views

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eunro Lee ◽  
Jane Goodman-Delahunty ◽  
Megan Fraser ◽  
Martine B Powell ◽  
Nina J Westera
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Child Sexual Abuse ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Expert Witness ◽  
Waiting Times ◽  
Police Interviews ◽  
Child Sexual Abuse Trials ◽  
Vulnerable Adults ◽  
Criminal Justice Practitioners

Special measures have been implemented across the globe to improve evidence procedures in child sexual assault trials. The present study explored the day-to-day experiences and views on their use by five groups of Australian criminal justice practitioners (N = 335): judges, prosecutors, defence lawyers, police officers and witness assistance officers. Most practitioners reported routine use of pre-recorded police interviews and CCTV cross-examination of child complainants, but rare use with vulnerable adults. Despite persistent technical difficulties and lengthy waiting times for witnesses, high consensus emerged that special measures enhanced trial fairness and jury understanding. The perceived impact of special measures on conviction rates diverged widely. Defence lawyers disputed that this evidence was as reliable as in-person testimony. All practitioner groups endorsed expanded use of expert witness evidence and witness intermediaries. Ongoing professional development in all practitioner groups will further enhance justice outcomes for victims of child sexual abuse.    

Resisting the legitimacy of the question: Self-evident answers to questions about sources of knowledge in police interviews with child witnesses

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Guusje Jol ◽  
Wyke Stommel
Keyword(s):  
Conversation Analysis ◽  
Police Officers ◽  
Information Seeking ◽  
The Self ◽  
Child Witnesses ◽  
Inference System ◽  
Sources Of Knowledge ◽  
Police Interviews ◽  
Everyday Interaction ◽  
Explicit Request

AbstractThis paper discusses questions about sources of knowledge in Dutch police interviews with child witnesses. Police officers are instructed to ask these questions in order to allow participants in the criminal procedure to assess the reliability of the testimony. In everyday interaction, asking “how someone knows” implies that what was said earlier is not taken for granted. Therefore, questions about sources of knowledge in police interviews are potentially delicate. This paper aims to show that (a) questions about sources of knowledge are related to a specialized institutional inference system and (b) children sometimes treat those questions as causing a dilemma between the need to provide an answer and the unusual character of the question. Drawing on insights from conversation analysis, the analysis focuses on occasions when children present their answer about the source of their knowledge as self-evident. These responses suggest that the question is not genuine and legitimate. At the same time, children still try to provide a relevant answer. The self-evident answers thus deal with the explicit request for a source of knowledge and, from their perspective, the unnecessary character of the question. Police officers generally ignore the self-evident aspect of the answers in their uptakes. Yet, when they do orient to it, they justify their questions as genuine information seeking questions. Police officers thus treat sources of knowledge as something they did not know, whereas sources of knowledge often can be inferred in everyday language use. We suggest that taking this unknowing stance conveys to the child and to the tape that the police officers are not presuming specific sources of knowledge.

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