Memorandum of Good Practice: Theory Versus Application

• NCJ Number: 205663
• Journal: Child Abuse & Neglect Volume: 25 Issue: 5 Dated: May 2001 Pages: 669-681
• Author(s): Kathleen J. Sternberg; Michael E. Lamb; Graham M. Davies; Helen L. Westcott
• Date Published: May 2001
• Length: 13 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study assessed the quality of investigative interviews of alleged child-abuse victims in England and Wales following the implementation of the Memorandum of Good Practice (MOGP), which specifies how such interviews should be conducted.

Abstract

The MOGP is a comprehensive document intended to help forensic interviewers in conducting forensic interviews of alleged child-abuse victims in accordance with the rules of evidence in England and Wales. It describes in detail what should happen before, during, and after forensic interviews of children and indicates that forensic interviews should include the following five phases in sequence: rapport building, free narrative, open-ended questions, closed questions, and closure. The recommendations of the MOGP have been adopted throughout England and Wales. In assessing the implementation of the MOGP, the current study obtained the transcripts of 119 videotaped interviews of alleged child-abuse victims between the ages of 4 and 13. These transcripts represented interviews conducted by investigators in 13 police forces. Trained raters classified the types of prompts used by the investigators to elicit substantive information from the children. The assessment determined the number of forensically relevant details provided by the children in each response. The forensic interviewers were found to rely primarily on option-posing prompts for the children, while seldom using open-ended prompts to elicit information from the children. Nearly 40 percent of the information obtained from the children was gained by using option-posing and suggestive prompts, which empirical studies have shown to yield less reliable information than open-ended prompts. Thus, the recommendations of the MOGP apparently have not had the intended impact on interview techniques. This suggests the need to train interviewers to implement the model practices recommended by the MOGP and similar professional guidelines. 5 tables and 44 references