Social Paper

University of Dayton

Abstract

Witness interview plays a crucial role in the process of solving criminal justices. The information provided by the witnesses can assist investigators in validating statements made by the complainant and the subject involved. As a result, it is substantial to encourage employees with information relevant to the incident to come forward and share their knowledge of the events under investigation. However, within the criminal justice system, interviewers cannot obtain the necessary information unless the various components are being utilized throughout the interviewing process. Within the criminal justice system, interviewers do not utilize the appropriate strategies that contribute to the different aspects of the interviewing process, which lead to unsuccessful interview with the witnesses. These different aspects that can be improved are the accurateness of answers provided by witness, the types of answers given by the witness, the amount of memory recall by the witness, the types of language used by the interviewers, and the psychological assistance provided by the interviewers.

Improving Through the Accurateness of Answers Given by Witness

The research done indicated that the accurateness of answers provided by the witness can be improved through conducting the Modified Cognitive Interview (MCI). This specific interviewing approach has components added during the interviewing session that enhances the qualities of the witnesses’ testimonies. Incorporate cognitive mnemonic instructions and social instructions are being incorporated into the procedures of the interview. Both elements added assists in memory recalling of individuals. The experiment was done by applying this interviewing approach to 59 children at the ages from four to nine. These interviewers applied both cognitive instructions and social instructions during the interviewing process. Another interview was done with another group of children in the same age ranges. The results indicated that “increase of 42% more correct information recollected with a MCI relative to a structured interview during the free recall phase” (Verkapmpt, 2014). This indicates the important roles which cognitive instructions and social instructions can play during the witness interviewing session. Cognitive instructions and social instructions help the witnesses to pick up various occurrences that may have been forgotten prior to the interview. Thisese valuable information may contribute to the process in solving various issues within the criminal justice system. Comment by Owner: When referring to research cite the author explicitly. Ex: Smith (YEAR) examined…..

Improving Through the Types of Answers Given by Witness

Another research done indicated that the types of answers given by witness can be improved through the ways which the interviewers formatted the questions proposed. An interview experiment was done to kids from ages seven to eleven. A varietyies of questions were asked to see the possible types of answers provided by the witness. However, researchers noticed a similar pattern among all the witnesses’ answers. “The witnesses often responded using the same style of language (episodic or generic) as the interviewer; and open questions yielded narrative information” (Brubacher, 2014, p. XXX). This demonstrates the crucial impact which the types of questions may have on the answers provided by the interviewed witnesses. It is important to note that the difference of only one word may result in a very big difference within the answers provided by the interviewed witnesses. The types of questions, such as open or closed, can determine the amount of valuable information that would be received by the interviewers. After the interview had ended, the amount of information lost simply through the ways of how the questions are being formatted by the interviewer can be avoided by carefully analyzing the formatting of the questions being asked. Comment by Owner: Direct quotes from the literature needs the page number as well.

Improving Through the Amount of Memory Recall of Witness

The third research indicated that the amount of memory recalled by the witness is determined by whether the interviewer applied the Eye-Closure approach into the interviewing session. Police interviewers from the Facial Identification Unit were randomly assigned to receive Eye-Closure Interview training or no training. We analyzed 95 interviews with witnesses of serious crimes. A portion of those witnesses was instructed to close their eyes during parts of the interview. Witnesses in the control condition rarely spontaneously closed their eyes, but witnesses in the Eye-Closure Interview condition kept their eyes closed during 97% of their descriptions. The result indicated that the witnesses stated that the Eye-Closure Interview was easier to implement in a field setting. The research eventually shown “the implementation of the Eye-Closure interview in witness interviews would help police interviews to elicit more valuable information from witnesses” (Vredeveldt, 2015). This indicates the positive effect which the Eye-Closing approach may have if implemented into any types of witness interviews. By having the witnesses to close their eyes during the interview session, their memory retrieval process would improve both the amount and the degree of the factual accuracy of the witnessed events. These implemented approaches may help the criminal system by allowing the witnesses to provide more accurate and valuable information throughout the interview sessions. Comment by Owner: Cite the authors

Improving Through the Types of Language Used by Interviewers

The fourth research done indicated that the types of language used by interviewers can influence the amount of memory recalled by the witness. English and Spanish differ greatly in terms of their expression and casual intentionality. The research was done by having a group of English speakers and a group of Spanish speakers to experience an intentional event and an unintentional event. Then the interviewing session focused on asking the two groups what they had observed throughout the two encounters. “English speakers used the same language constructions as the ones for intentional events and always expressed the agent explicitly, unlike Spanish speakers who made an explicit distinction between the two event types and did not express agents in non-agentive constructions used for non-intentional events” (Luna, 2013, p. XXX). This indicates that the effect which languages of different nationalities may have on the answers provided by the interviewing witnesses. It is crucial to note that the witnesses may provide answers that can be misleading in terms of the credibility of the provided content. Though the misleading answers may be unintentional, it is still important for the interviewers to pay attention to the ways of how they phrase their questions based on what language is being used to communicate throughout the interview.

Improving by Psychologically Assisting the Witnesses

The fifth research done indicated that the interviewees often ignore the psychological assistance that should be granted to the witnesses who have experienced through the crime scenes. Police officers often neglect the fact that witnesses often need assistances to overcome the psychological problems of the witnesses which may have arisen from the crime scenes. During the interviewing experiments designed in the United States, England, Germany, and Australia, the volunteer witnesses were those who have observed either a live event or a videotaped crime. Then, half of the total witnesses were interviewed by officers who did not provide any psychological assistances throughout the interview process. The other half of the witnesses interviewed did receive some kinds of psychological comfort and regards from the officers during the interview process. The result shown witnesses who did receive some forms of psychological assistances were able to have 25 percent to 40 percent more accuracy within their responding statements made during the interview. “Across these studies, the CI typically elicited between 25% and 40% more correct statements than did the control interview” (Fisher, 2010, p. XXX). This mirrors that the interviewee’s role in comforting the psychological perspective of the witness is very crucial throughout the interviewing session. Due to the various traumas that the witness has gone through, he or she may not be able to provide a very clear or appropriate response to the questions demanded by the interviewers. However, it is very possible for the witness to provide a more improved response if they are being provided with psychological assistances by the interviewer during the interview session. By providing various psychological assistances, the witnesses are capable of adjusting to the environment and become conscious of the occurrence that have taken place. Therefore, the psychological assistance should be regarded by the interviewer towards the witness to receive more valuable and efficient answers to the questions asked during the interview.

Policy Recommendations and Their impacts on the Criminal Justice System

Various policies should be implemented into the witness interview process to maximize the potentiality of the interviewing sessions. These policies that should be implemented can be replacing the normal witness interview with the Modified Cognitive Interview, changing the format of the questions proposed, applying the Eye-Closure approach, being aware of the types of languages used for communications, and considering the psychological assistance appropriate for the interviewed witnesses. While the implementation of these different genres of approaches can make great contributions to the criminal justice system, there is an obstacle that stands in the way of these implementations. The obstacle is the amount of procedures and the time consuming legal processes these recommendations must go through in order to be approved by the supreme court. Due to that a lot of these interviewing approaches are not being considered or implemented within the current justice system, the implementation of these recommendations can be a long process for them to be approved by the supreme court. The implementation is not about making one little change to the interviewing process within the legal system. Applying these changes is about going through various approvals from several levels of political hierarchies. The amount of improvements once these interviewing approaches have been implemented can truly bring a degree of positivity within the criminal justice system of the United States. Comment by Owner: Be specific, what policies are you recommending? Comment by Owner: Would this be the only way for it to be approved? Comment by Owner: End it with a specific reference to the method(s) you are proposing.

References

Brubacher, S. P., & La Rooy, D. (2014). Witness recall across repeated interviews in a case of repeated abuse. Child Abuse & Neglect, 38, 202-211. doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2013.06.010

Filipović, L. (2013). Constructing causation in language and memory: Iimplications for access to justice in multilingual interactions. International Journal oOf Speech, Language & tThe Law, 20(1), 1-19. doi:10.1558/ijsll.v20i1.1

Fisher, R. P., & Geiselman, R. E. (2010). The Cognitive Interview method of conducting police interviews: Eliciting extensive information and promoting Therapeutic Jurisprudence. International Journal oOf Law aAnd Psychiatry, 33(Therapeutic Jurisprudence Symposium), 321-328. doi:10.1016/j.ijlp.2010.09.004

Verkampt, F., Ginet, M., & Colomb, C. (2014). Original article: The influence of social instructions on the effectiveness of a cognitive interview used with very young child witnesses. Revue Europeenne dDe Psychologie Appliquee, 64, 323-333. doi:10.1016/j.erap.2014.09.003

Vredeveldt, A., Tredoux, C. G., Nortje, A., Kempen, K., Puljević, C., & Labuschagne, G. N. (2015). A field evaluation of the Eye-Closure Interview with witnesses of serious crimes. Law aAnd Human Behavior, 39(2), 189-197. doi:10.1037/lhb0000113