Dolls, Diagrams and Drawings: Interviewers’ Perspectives on Visual Aids in Child Witness Interviews

<p>In cases of child maltreatment child witnesses are often the sole sources of information about the suspected events, meaning their contribution to an investigation is critical. However, children may find recounting their experiences in sufficient detail challenging (Poole & Bruck, 2012). Visual aids are the tools (e.g. diagrams, drawings, and dolls) forensic interviewers often use in interviews to help children remember or describe their experiences and overcome children’s social and cognitive limitations. Research evaluating these aids indicates that any gains in information, reported by children, are typically accompanied by significant increases in false details, thus compromising the accuracy of accounts (Brown, 2011). The purpose of this study was to establish the extent to which interviewers in New Zealand use visual aids with children, and their knowledge of relevant research and the national interviewing protocol. Thirty-one New Zealand Specialist Child Witness Interviewers completed a questionnaire that assessed how and why they use aids, and their knowledge of, and adherence to, the literature and protocols guiding interviewer practice with visual aids. Interviewers’ responses indicated they used a range of aids, with both younger and older children, for a range of reasons, many of which have not been extensively researched. Generally, interviewers had poor knowledge of the existing research and protocol guidelines, and knowledge did not predict adherence to the recommendations. The findings identify the need to educate interviewers about the evidence-base surrounding various aids, as well as conducting research that more closely reflects how aids are used with children.</p>

Dolls, Diagrams and Drawings: Interviewers’ Perspectives on Visual Aids in Child Witness Interviews

<p>In cases of child maltreatment child witnesses are often the sole sources of information about the suspected events, meaning their contribution to an investigation is critical. However, children may find recounting their experiences in sufficient detail challenging (Poole & Bruck, 2012). Visual aids are the tools (e.g. diagrams, drawings, and dolls) forensic interviewers often use in interviews to help children remember or describe their experiences and overcome children’s social and cognitive limitations. Research evaluating these aids indicates that any gains in information, reported by children, are typically accompanied by significant increases in false details, thus compromising the accuracy of accounts (Brown, 2011). The purpose of this study was to establish the extent to which interviewers in New Zealand use visual aids with children, and their knowledge of relevant research and the national interviewing protocol. Thirty-one New Zealand Specialist Child Witness Interviewers completed a questionnaire that assessed how and why they use aids, and their knowledge of, and adherence to, the literature and protocols guiding interviewer practice with visual aids. Interviewers’ responses indicated they used a range of aids, with both younger and older children, for a range of reasons, many of which have not been extensively researched. Generally, interviewers had poor knowledge of the existing research and protocol guidelines, and knowledge did not predict adherence to the recommendations. The findings identify the need to educate interviewers about the evidence-base surrounding various aids, as well as conducting research that more closely reflects how aids are used with children.</p>

Placing women in Cytogenetics: Lore Zech and the chromosome banding technique

Background Scholars agree that Torbjörn Caspersson’s lab at the Institute of Medical Cell Research and Genetics at the Karolinska Institute, Sweden, played a key role in the first description of the so-called Q-banding technique. It laid the foundation for a new era of cytogenetic diagnostics and had a lasting impact in several areas of biology and medicine. Methods Based on a mixed-method approach, essential aspects of the history of human cytogenetics are considered via primary and secondary analysis of biographical interviews as well as the qualitative evaluation of bibliometrics. Drawing on interviews with colleagues of lab member Lore Zech (1923–2013) and contemporary publications, this paper illuminates the role of and contribution by Zech: To what extent is the discovery attached to her and what does her legacy look like today? Results The analysis of the contemporary witness interviews with colleagues, students and junior researchers shows that Lore Zech was a committed member of Caspersson's research group. In addition, memoirs by contemporary colleagues describe her outstanding skills in microscopy. The different sources paint a multifaceted picture. In addition to the historians' patterns of interpretation, different legacies can also be found within the peer group. Conclusions We argue that Zech represent the type of scientist who, although her research was acknowledged with several prizes, so far has not been part of the canon of pioneers of international cytogenetics.

Using the Minnesota Protocol to Investigate Disappearance Cases

The guidelines on criminal and forensic investigation found in The Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlawful Death (2016) (OHCHR 2017) are a source of practical assistance in disappearance cases, establishing ‘a common standard of performance in investigating potentially unlawful death or suspected enforced disappearance’. The Minnesota Protocol offers a set of legal and practical guidelines for governments, institutions and individuals to carry out effective and transparent investigations in cases of death and/or disappearance. This chapter summarises the legal guidelines on the state’s duty to investigate disappearances, and practical guidelines on witness interviews, crime scene investigations, excavation of graves and autopsy procedures. The chapter explains the Protocol’s best practices for investigating cases in which bodies are missing, as well as considerations for dealing with family members in the cases.

Providing Eyewitness Confidence Judgements During Versus After Eyewitness Interviews Does Not Affect the Confidence-Accuracy Relationship

Recent studies suggest that highly confident eyewitnesses are likely to provide highly accurate identification evidence, at least in some conditions. Yet few studies have investigated the confidence-accuracy relationship in witness interviews or exactly when confidence judgements should be taken. Across three experiments, 831 adults answered questions about a mock crime and rated their confidence in each response. Participants gave their confidence immediately after each response or at the end of the memory test. The timing of the confidence judgement did not affect the confidence-accuracy relationship, and the confidence-accuracy relationship remained strong even when participants encoded the event under poor visibility conditions. When participants were unknowingly exposed to misinformation, however, the confidence-accuracy relationship was substantially weakened—participants became highly over-confident in the accuracy of their memories. These findings help to refine the parameters in which witness confidence serves as a useful indicator of memory accuracy.

Beyond Common Sense and Human Experience: Lay Perceptions of Witness Coercion

Perceptions of the use of coercive tactics in witness interviews were examined. Canadian community members ( N = 293) were asked to read a transcript of a witness interview that included either (a) threats/overt coercion, (b) minimization/covert coercion, or (c) no coercion, and answer questions about the interview. Participants rated the threat transcript as being the most coercive, containing the most pressure, involving the most serious consequences for withholding information, and eliciting the most negative feelings from witnesses. Conversely, the minimization transcript tended to be rated less negatively than the threat transcript and was also rated as being the most effective for gathering information. Results indicate that laypeople recognize the issues with explicitly coercive police tactics, but are less clear on the problems with subtler forms of coercion. The implications for the truth-seeking function of the justice system and the role of expert testimony in the courtroom are discussed.