Forensic Clinical Interviewing: An Introduction to the Second Part of the Special Issue

Welcome to this second part of the special issue of the International Journal of Forensic Mental Health on forensic clinical interviewing. If you recall, in the previous issue of this journal (volume 17, issue 4), we commenced a series of papers addressing the nature and application of specialist clinical interviewing skills with clients in forensic settings; that is, “the specialist skills, techniques, and strategies used in common clinical interviewing scenarios by practitioners working in secure hospitals, prisons, and community-based agencies tasked with understanding the behavior of people in their care who have a history of harming others and who use the face-to-face interview as a central means of information gathering” (Logan, 2018, p. 298). The purpose in preparing this special issue is to highlight both the necessity of concerted practice in this area by clinicians of all kinds working forensic settings, and the need for further research on the subject to try to match that in the more evidentially rich investigative and forensic interviewing field.

In that first part of the special issue, following up on an overarching paper that set the scene for the subject and the work to come (Logan), a range of highly expert scholar practitioners presented papers on the following topics: interviewing people with autism spectrum disorder—both men with the condition detained in high secure hospital (Murphy), and imprisoned men and women with the condition who have been convicted of terrorism offenses (al-Attar); interviewing men with personality disorder in secure hospitals (Wilmott and Evershed) and in the community (Ramsden); and finally two technical papers addressing the specific issues of techniques for working with and overcoming resistance in forensic clinical interviews (Place and Meloy) and cross-cultural interviewing (Rosenfeld and Barber-Rioja). The response to this first part of the special issue has been gratifyingly positive and strong.

Therefore, it is with pleasure that we now present to you the second part of the special issue on forensic clinical interviewing. In the papers to follow, the purpose of this complete work is fully realized. First, the preparation of trainee clinicians to work in forensic settings, to learn from investigative interviewing practice and to adapt core clinical interviewing skills and techniques to the demands of the sector, is explored by Davies and Nagi. Daffern, Thomson, Dunne, Papalia, and Day then explore the transition from information gathering interviews with clients in forensic hospitals to encounters in which the focus moves toward therapy and managed change across multiple exchanges and within an evolving therapeutic relationship. They discuss the challenges of “holding” such a client in an engagement of this kind using interview techniques to maintain both the person’s interest and hope.

The two papers that follow address core business matters in the field—interviewing women (Motz) and interviewing young people (McCuish, Haniball and Corrado). The majority of what we know in the forensic mental health field has come from our understanding of adult men, who comprise the majority of the clients that practitioners work with. However, an understanding of men in forensic settings does not equip a practitioner to understand women in these places, or to understand the boys and girls that they formerly were; an adjustment in both expectations and skills is required in order to work with these groups. The papers by Motz and by McCuish and colleagues provide an important opportunity to consider the adjustments required.

The final two papers in the special issue examine core practices in the investigative interviewing field and, in so doing, demonstrate their relevance in the forensic clinical interviewing field. First, Wells and Brandon discuss the importance of interview planning with individuals who may have different expectations and objectives for the encounter from those of the interviewer. They also examine the dynamic engagement process in such a context—managing the “delicate dance” (Shea, 2017) between the individual’s motivation to work with the interviewer and the interviewer’s information-gathering objective. Last, Wells and Brandon consider the task of sense-making, the continual process of monitoring and adjusting the “hold” of the client within the interview dynamic. Second, and in the final paper of the special issue, Shepherd provides a tour de force on the detection of anomalies in investigative interviews – in homage to Sherlock Holmes, what he refers to as “the hunt for non-barking dogs and other curiosities.” This paper is a practical guide to detecting and exploring inconsistencies and incongruities in live interviews in order to maximize precious information-gathering opportunities and the interviewer’s understanding of the client in relation to the purpose of the interview.

This special issue on forensic clinical interviewing has been a pleasure to prepare. It has come in two parts because there has been so much to say on the subject; there are so many important topics to touch upon. We are left feeling that there is so much more still to say—the papers here and in the previous issue of this journal have been a harbinger of what we hope is to come on the subject. We commend this work to you and, in so doing, encourage so much more.