Toward a Better Way to Interview Child Victims of Sexual Abuse

The findings from the study found that the training and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Investigative Interview Protocol elicit more information from possible child victims. Even though the findings cannot definitively confirm details of what happened, it is clear that after the protocol was introduced prosecutors accepted more cases; and more cases that went to trial resulted in conviction than before the protocol was introduced. Several techniques have been developed for improving the way child victims of sexual abuse are interviewed. One technique that showed promise was the NICHD interview protocol. In a study funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice (NIJ), researchers examined the outcomes of cases before and after police detectives were trained on the NICHD Investigative Interview Protocol. The evidence-based nature of the NICHD protocol lends credence to the researchers' assertion that, when employed by well-trained interviewers, the protocol likely improves the detail and accuracy of information elicited from children. 1 table and 5 notes