Interviewing Children: The Science of Conversation in Forensic Contexts

Because of children’s incomplete language development, their greater risk of retrieving inaccurate information in response to memory cues, and their desire to say what they think the interviewer wants to hear (whether truthful or not), child eyewitness testimony can be unreliable. In this book, Debra Ann Poole presents a flexible, evidence-based approach to interviewing children that reduces the ambiguities and errors in children’s responses. Through her descriptions of best practices, brief summaries of supporting research, and example interview dialogs, Poole provides a roadmap for anyone working in a forensic context. This book is essential reading for those who interview children, supervise interviewers, review interview findings, or craft local policies about interviewing children.