NCJ Number
152933
Journal
Child Abuse Review Volume: 3 Issue: 2 Dated: (June 1994) Pages: 93-106
Date Published
1994
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This paper describes an approach to evaluating what a child says during a joint investigative interview regarding allegations of child sexual abuse; this approach has been widely used in Europe to aid the decisionmaking process of teams and courts in the United Kingdom in handling allegations of child sexual abuse.
Abstract
The decision to prosecute a case of child sexual abuse rests largely on what the child says during the investigative interview, the interview's adequacy with respect to meeting the necessary legal requirements, whether other evidence is available, and the weight given to the interview. The interview technique is known as statement validity analysis. Despite a number of methodological problems with the technique, joint investigating teams and the Crown Prosecution Service in the United Kingdom are likely to find it of assistance in clarifying their decisionmaking, particularly regarding whether the evidence is likely to be strong enough to succeed within the current legal framework in Great Britain. The paper is followed by comments from two mental health professionals who urge caution and further empirical research before relying solely on this approach. Reference lists