The sociological dynamics of interaction between police and alleged victims of sexual abuse

警察与性虐待受害者之间互动的社会学动态

• 批准号: 2749913
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of York
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2749913
• 关键词: sociological; dynamics; interaction; between; police

The criminal justice system has been accused of 'failing to protect victims' of sexual violence (NSPCC, 2022), over the last two decades, after convictions fell by 64% between 2016 and 2020. During 2020 the number of victims of sexual violence killed and seriously injured as a result of being not identified in the police interview has risen significantly with 57% of women killed per week in the UK representing an increase of 18% compared to 2019 (Guardian, 2021). Despite these problems, Achieving Best Evidence' (ABE) interviewing has remained the preferred method of obtaining information from victims in cases involving sexual abuse since 1992 (COP, 2018). Within the context of concerns around the criminal justice processes' response to cases of sexual abuse and assault, and to understand the dynamics of the police- victim interaction in real-time, the primary aim of the proposed project is to compare what is recommended in UK national guidelines to achieve 'best evidence' in ABE interviews, and how police adhere to and depart from this in practice. ABE interviewing is a management strategy utilized by law enforcement agencies with victims and witnesses of sexual violence with the aim of obtaining a truthful account of what happened (APP, 2018). However, claiming to modify Goffman's work (1959) on impression management in 'best practice' guidelines, it is a communicative technique designed to determine deception (Depaulo, 1992). ABE thus can be seen as a police strategy used primarily to deal with the risk of false allegations. However, ABE 'best practice' guidelines are based on experimental evidence from psychological research rather than studying what happens in real-time (Sandberg, 2010). When police test the evidence to root out deception for court rather than elicit narratives through understanding (Antaki et al, 2015), this can facilitate an environment where victims are less accurate in disclosing their account. Consequently, the risk of 'false allegations' could be an interactional outcome to do with the ABE method rather than 'complainants' telling lies. To examine these issues, the study will attend to three research questions: How are the social categorisations 'victim' vs 'complainant' constructed, deployed, and contested in ABE interviewing? How are the power dynamics between police and alleged victim of sexual abuse managed in ABE interviews? How are the social categorisations 'victim' vs 'complainant' used and achieved in ABE interviewing? In order to answer these research questions, this project will engage with West Midlands police. West Midlands police who have provisionally agreed to accessing a medium selection of anonymised ABE interview transcripts subject to a formal meeting with the proposed supervisor(s) of this PhD project. Using West Midlands police as the case study area, this project will adopt an ethnographic approach and will have three phases. The first phase will involve an examination of ABE formal guidelines to gauge an understanding of the frameworks used to conceptualize what counts as 'best practice' in ABE interviewing. The second phase will conduct semi-structured interviews with police and victims and analyse their ABE interview transcripts. Finally, in adopting a critical approach, ABE interview transcripts will be analysed by combining critical discourse and conversational analysis with a linguistic slant. The project seeks to make a crucial contribution to policy and practice by offering critical insight into what happens in real-life unfolding interviews between alleged victims of sexual abuse and police officers. In doing so, the project seeks to propose an alternative interview model that is evidence-based. Further, with this novel understanding, the project can improve outcomes for victims and police by providing effective forms of interviewing to gain an accurate account of events.

在2016年至2020年期间，定罪率下降了64%，在过去的20年里，刑事司法系统被指责“未能保护”性暴力的受害者（NSPCC, 2022）。在2020年期间，因在警方采访中未被确认身份而被杀害或严重受伤的性暴力受害者人数大幅上升，英国每周有57%的女性被杀害，比2019年增加了18%。（卫报，2021年）尽管存在这些问题，自1992年以来，“获得最佳证据”（ABE）访谈仍然是从涉及性虐待案件的受害者那里获取信息的首选方法（COP, 2018）。在关注刑事司法程序对性虐待和性侵犯案件的反应的背景下，为了了解警察-受害者实时互动的动态，拟议项目的主要目的是比较英国国家指南中建议的在ABE访谈中实现“最佳证据”的建议，以及警察在实践中如何坚持和偏离这一点。ABE访谈是执法机构对性暴力受害者和证人使用的一种管理策略，目的是获得所发生事件的真实描述（APP, 2018）。然而，声称在“最佳实践”指导方针中修改了Goffman关于印象管理的工作（1959），这是一种旨在确定欺骗的沟通技术（Depaulo, 1992）。因此，ABE可以被视为一种主要用于处理虚假指控风险的警察策略。然而，ABE的“最佳实践”指南是基于心理学研究的实验证据，而不是研究实时发生的事情（桑德伯格，2010）。当警察测试证据来为法庭根除欺骗，而不是通过理解引出叙述时（Antaki et al, 2015），这可能会导致受害者在披露其陈述时不太准确。因此，“虚假指控”的风险可能是与ABE方法有关的互动结果，而不是“投诉人”说谎。为了研究这些问题，本研究将关注三个研究问题：在ABE访谈中，“受害者”与“投诉人”的社会分类是如何构建、部署和争议的？在ABE的访谈中，警察和性侵受害者之间的权力动态是如何处理的？在ABE访谈中如何使用和实现“受害者”与“投诉人”的社会分类？为了回答这些研究问题，该项目将与西米德兰兹郡警方合作。西米德兰兹郡警方暂时同意访问匿名ABE采访记录的中等选择，前提是与该博士项目的拟议主管进行正式会议。使用西米德兰兹郡警察作为案例研究领域，该项目将采用人种学方法，将有三个阶段。第一阶段将包括对ABE正式指导方针的审查，以衡量对ABE面试中用于概念化“最佳实践”的框架的理解。第二阶段将对警察和受害者进行半结构化访谈，并分析他们的ABE访谈记录。最后，在采用批判的方法，ABE采访记录将通过结合批判性话语和会话分析与语言倾向来分析。该项目旨在为政策和实践做出重要贡献，提供对现实生活中性虐待受害者与警察之间展开的访谈中发生的情况的批判性见解。在此过程中，该项目试图提出一种基于证据的替代访谈模式。此外，有了这种新颖的理解，该项目可以通过提供有效的访谈形式来获得对事件的准确描述，从而改善受害者和警察的结果。