Discuss how evidence can be made more reliable through interviews.

by natalieocean (student)

Tulip Rizk.

Essay 4. Discuss how evidence can be made more reliable.

The three kinds of interview, the standard interview, the basic interview and the enhanced cognitive interview, are all types of interview which incorporate and build on the earlier one's in order to improve the amount, and accuracy of recall.

Firstly, the standard interview. This type of interview was the earliest approach. Witnesses were asked to recall an event. Meanwhile, being asked detailed questions regarding the event. These questions are those police believe to be important.

Secondly, the basic cognitive interview, by Geiselman et al (85) This was developed in order to achieve the maximum accurate recall of event from witnesses. The basic cognitive interview has four main techniques. Report everything, as witnesses may omit details they feel are irrelevant, especially if they do not fit into their existing schemas for that type of event. Encouraging them to report every detail, regardless of how small, may increase witness accuracy. Reinstate the context at the time of the event. Encouraging witnesses to recall how they felt, the scents, time of day, weather, etc. However trivial, could help put the person back in time to the incident and may improve recall accuracy.

Change the order in which the event is recalled. Recalling events in reverse order, may act as a cue. And finally, Change perspective. Encouraging the witness to report the incident from a range of perspectives including the bystander and criminal as this may provide a cue.

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Geiselman et al compared their cognitive interview with a standard interview technique on 51 volunteer participants, who watched two films of violent crimes and 48 hours later were interviewed by trained police officers using either a standard interview or a cognitive interview. The results showed a significant increase in the number of correct items recalled using the cognitive interview, and a small decrease in the number of confabulated items (items of descriptions made up by participants to fit the story). This research was lacking in ecological validity as participants watched filmed incidents.

Thirdly, the study of enhanced cognitive interview performance, conducted by Fisher et al (87). The findings display that it is more effective than the basic cognitive interview . The enhanced cognitive interview, minimising distractions, allowing eyewitness to deliver speech at a slower paste, allowing a pause between response and the following question, tailoring the language to suit the individual eyewitness. Interviewer should attempt to interpret what the witness says, try to reduce eyewitness anxiety, and avoid personal and judgemental comments. And finally, to review eyewitness descriptions of events and people under investigation.

Bekerian & Dennet 1993, reviewed 27 studies into the effectiveness of the cognitive interview schedule and found that the cognitive interview provided more accurate information than other interview techniques. Holliday (2003) showed children aged 5 to 9 a video of a child’s birthday party and interviewed them the next day using both cognitive and standard interview methods. They found that the cognitive interview yielded more correct details about the video than the standard interview, and so displayed that it can also be very useful when interviewing children.