Forensic Interviewing

¶ … forensic interviewing of rape victims. It addresses the often asked question to postpone the interview. That request comes from the victims and their families. This study provides evidence that it is important to conduct the interview with the victim within 72 hours of the attack. On television, forensic interviewing is often dramatized to the point of being illegal. Interviewers on the big screen hit the interviewees, intimidate them, lead them and coerce them into providing the information needed to neatly wrap up the crime in the allotted hour.

While this makes for good entertainment and it almost always leads to putting the bad guys away, it is far from realistic. In real life, forensic interviewing can be a tedious process that does not always bear fruit. Forensic interviewing is something that can help uncover valuable information or lead to a dead end. The key elements to how successful a forensic interview turns out to be include the interviewer and the interviewee.

When a victim is interviewed he or she can provide information about the crime and the criminal that can be invaluable to the criminal justice process. They can also provide false information if they are unsure, scared or intimidated by the interview process or the interviewer. One of the most sensitive and potentially volatile interview situations is the rape case. When someone is raped the forensic interview often takes place during or shortly after the examination for physical evidence that the victim has indeed been raped.

Because of the need to examine the victim immediately after the attack many rape victims describe it as being violated all over again. By the time the interview takes place the victim has not only been raped, but also been put through the humiliation of a very private exam before she has even processed what happened to her.

The rape victim is still in shock and traumatized by the violent event that took place and the way the forensic interview is handled can mean the difference between justice being served or a rapist going free. The victim and the victim's family often express a desire to hold off on performing the interview until the victim has had time to heal emotionally and physically.

The forensic team often has to decide whether to push for an immediate interview or let the victim have several days to several weeks to process the attack before being interviewed. This paper examines the process of interviewing rape victims for the purpose of forensic investigation. Using a literature review as the research instrument the study concludes the most effective interviews are those that take place within 72 hours of the assault.

Statement of the Problem Forensic interviews must be handled and conducted in such a way that they are fruitful without destroying the case. Often times, a defense attorney will hinge an entire defense on attacking the forensic interview or the interviewer. It was seen in the O.J. Simpson trials when Mark Furham's entire personal life and past were brought into the mix to prove that anything he uncovered during his interviews should be suspect.

What evidence was gathered during those interviews no longer mattered as the defense attorney successfully turned attention to the interviewer himself. This can happen in any court case in which there were forensic interviews conducted. In the case of rape trials it becomes even more tenuous because in most cases the only actual witnesses were the victim and the defendant.

Rape cases easily turn into he said, she said, arguments with the judge and jury becoming dependent on the strength of the evidence gathered during the forensic interview of the victim. The trials are often many months after the alleged attack and during that time victims have often undergone therapy and begun to put the event behind them as best they can. Evidence that is important to the case for the purpose of proving a rape occurred is often gathered during the initial forensic interview.

The problem is that rape victims have said they feel victimized several times during the first few hours after the attack. First they endured being attacked and sexually assaulted. This carried not only degradation during the act itself, but afterwards during the medical exam the victim goes through private areas being violated all over again. When this is done the forensic team quickly moves in for the interview and by this time the victim has often begun to melt down and want to forget it ever happened.

Victims and their families often request that the forensic interview be postponed until the victim is more "ready" to talk abut the attack. Victims and their loved ones are only concerned at that point with beginning the healing process and they fear that an immediate forensic interview is going to be to emotionally difficult for the victim after the recent assaults both criminally and medically that she has undergone.

Forensic interviewers know from experience how important it is to gather information from the victim as soon as possible, but with the emotionally charged atmosphere involved in a rape case they may be tempted to give in to the pleadings of the victim to postpone the interview. Forensic interviewers are human and they may relate to their mother, daughter, sister or self being victim in such a case. Their emotional side may tempt them to allow the victim to have some time before being interviewed.

This can create a professional turmoil for the forensic team member appointed to conduct the interview. Forensic interviewers are often asked to postpone interviews of rape victims, which then threatens to taint the power and purity of evidence that can be gathered in that interview. Purpose and Objective of the Study The purpose and objective of this study is to provide future forensic interviewers with scientific evidence of the importance of obtaining interviews from rape victims at the earliest opportunity, but no later than 72 hours after the attack.

Because victims and their families often apply pressure to the interviewer to postpone the interview it is important to have foundational proof that it needs to be conducted immediately for the good of the investigation and providing justice to the victim. Rape victims are in a unique situation as they are often the only witness to the crime committed against them. In.