Theory and practice in interviewing young children: A study of Norwegian police interviews 1985–2002

Abstract

Has the increased public and professional awareness of the challenges of interviewing children in forensic contexts led to changes and improvements in police interviewing practices? A representative sample (n=91) of police interviews conducted during the period of 1985–2002 from a large Norwegian police district was analysed. The results indicated that interviewer strategies have improved; there was a decrease in the use of suggestive, yes/no and option-posing questions and this decrease was accompanied by a comparable increase in the use of cued recall questions. The frequency of open-ended invitations was low and did not change much over time. Factors that might have led to the observed changes are briefly discussed.

Keywords:

• Forensic interview
• child witness
• interview style

The study was supported by a grant from the Norwegian Research Council (MH) to S.M., and NRC student research fellowships to K.L. and C.T. We thank the Norwegian Ministry of Justice and the Police, and the Director General of Public Prosecution for backing the project, and the administration of the unidentified police district for support and assistance.

Notes

1. The sample did not include interviews from the large CSA case (the Bjugn case).

2. Except that there were only three children under the age of 7 in time period 2.