INTERVIEWING CHILD VICTIMS OF CRIME

Wezet Botes19 June 2013

VICTIM, VICTIMOLOGY, VICTIMIZATION 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

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

WHAT VIEWPOINT IS MOST USEFUL? Subjective ApproachIssues are approached from standpoint of morality, ethics, philosophy, personalized reactions, and emotions- victimism

Objective ApproachRequires observer to be fair, open-minded, even-handed, dispassionate, neutral, and unbiased-victimology

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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?

SPHERES OF THE CHILD’S LIFE

Impact of crime/trau

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Impact of crime/trau

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Impact of crime/trau

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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 interpret, but act in the best interest of the child

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?

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

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

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)

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 John

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

1 DISCLOSURE ? Which process did John follow to disclose

Tentative Active

Child test the watersMay be accidental

Full disclosure/ may be accidental spontaneous/graduation

Partial disclosure “once” Specific incident is described with emotion

Vague- child may not remember all the detail

Child is empowered to give disclosure- maternal support

Minimise incident to make it more acceptable

Sensory information given

May not seem convincing May disclose perpetrator as well

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?

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?

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

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)

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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