COLLABORATIVE PROPOSAL: Legal Questioning of Adolescent Victims

关于儿童记忆力和可辨认性的广泛和极具影响力的研究已就如何从性虐待儿童受害者那里获得准确证词制定了明确的准则，与此相反，人们对如何询问青少年受害者知之甚少，尽管他们在遭受各种性虐待经历的受害者中占很大比例，并受到执法和法律的当局的询问。对于被性贩运的青少年来说，缺乏指导方针的情况更加突出，他们往往被认定为犯罪嫌疑人，由警察而不是受过训练的法医进行审问。如何接触和采访青少年受害者，特别是那些被贩运的青少年受害者，从来没有得到过全面的审查。然而，专业人员，包括采访者和警察，必须以一种迫使受害者明确披露其经历的方式询问这些青少年，以便进行干预，确保他们的保护，并起诉犯下这些令人发指罪行的人。这项研究将系统地评价执法和法律的专业人员与包括被贩运者在内的疑似青少年受害者的实际面谈情况。它将确定使用哪类询问方法，哪些方法在引出虐待和贩运细节方面或多或少有效，以及问题和受害者的答复与针对贩运者的刑事案件的结果有何关系。研究结果将为高度脆弱的受害者群体的披露模式的科学模型提供信息。研究结果还将影响政策和实践，为有效询问青少年性虐待受害者，特别是被贩运的青少年受害者提供重要见解，从而为关于这些方法的培训协议以及实践和政策的长期改进奠定基础。这项研究将具体涉及审查和编码340份青少年受害者的访谈记录，其中一半是贩运受害者，一半是经历过其他形式性虐待的青少年。对于已进入审判阶段的案件，还将收集受害者证词的誊本、案件细节和案件结果数据并进行编码。统计分析将侧重于所提问题的类型和问题的语气（例如，语气是支持性的还是询问性的），以及受害者回答的特点，例如他们是否披露了虐待行为、他们提供的细节数量、他们报告的内容以及他们的回避程度。利用这一广泛的编码系统，将对问题和答复类别之间的联系进行评价，以确定哪类问题在引起受害者作出具体类型的答复方面比较有效，以及问题和答复如何以直接和互动的方式，该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值进行评估，被认为值得支持和更广泛的影响审查标准。

In contrast to the expansive and highly influential body of research on children's memory and suggestibility, which has led to clear guidelines about how to elicit accurate testimony from child victims of sexual abuse, little is known about how to question adolescent victims, even though they represent a large proportion of victims who have suffered a range of sexual abuse experiences and are questioned by law enforcement and legal authorities. The lack of guidelines is even more striking for sexually trafficked adolescents, who are often identified as criminal suspects and questioned by police, not trained forensic specialists. How to approach and interview adolescent victims, particularly those who have been trafficked, has never been comprehensively examined. Yet professionals, including interviewers and police, must question these adolescents in a way that elicits clear disclosures from the victims about their experiences in order to intervene, ensure their protection, and prosecute those who commit these heinous crimes. This study will systematically evaluate actual interviews by law enforcement and legal professionals with suspected adolescent victims, including those who have been trafficked. It will determine what types of questioning approaches are used, what approaches are more or less effective at eliciting abuse and trafficking details, and how the questions and victims' responses relate to the outcomes of criminal cases against traffickers. The results of the research will inform scientific models of disclosure patterns in highly vulnerable populations of victims. The results will also impact policy and practice by providing crucial insight into effective questioning approaches with adolescent sexual abuse victims, especially those who have been trafficked, thereby laying the foundation for training protocols on these approaches and long-lasting improvements in practice and policy. This research will specifically involve reviewing and coding 340 interview transcripts of adolescent victims, half trafficking victims and half adolescents who have experienced other forms of sexual abuse. For cases that went to trial, transcripts of the victims' testimony, case details and case outcome data will also be collected and coded. Statistical analyses will focus on the types of questions asked and the tone of the questions (for instance, whether the tone is supportive or interrogation-like), as well as characteristics of the victims' responses, such as whether they disclose abuse, the amount of detail they provide, the content of what they report, and their levels of evasiveness. With this extensive coding system, linkages between the question and response categories will be evaluated to determine what kinds of questions are more versus less effective at eliciting specific types of responses from victims and how the questions and responses, directly and interactively, relate to case outcomes.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.