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

在2016年至2020年间，的定罪下降了2%，在过去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年)。2020年间，因未在警方面谈中被确认身份而被杀害和受重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，与2019年相比增加了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)面谈仍然是从性虐待案件受害者那里获取信息的首选方法(缔约方会议，2018年)。在人们对刑事司法程序对性虐待和性侵犯案件的反应感到担忧的背景下，并实时了解警察与受害者互动的动态，拟议中的项目的主要目的是比较英国国家指南中建议的在安倍面谈中获得“最佳证据”的内容，以及警方在实践中如何坚持和背离这一点。安倍面谈是执法机构对性暴力受害者和证人采取的一种管理策略，目的是真实地描述所发生的事情(APP，2018年)。然而，它声称修改了Goffman(1959)关于最佳实践指南中关于印象管理的工作，这是一种旨在确定欺骗的交际技术(DePaulo，1992)。因此，安倍可以被视为一种主要用于应对虚假指控风险的警方策略。然而，安倍的“最佳实践”指导方针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(Sandberg，2010)。当警方测试证据以根除法庭上的欺骗行为，而不是通过理解来诱导叙述时(Antaki等人，2015年)，这可以促进一种受害者在披露其陈述时不那么准确的环境。因此，“虚假指控”的风险可能是与安倍方法有关的互动结果，而不是“投诉人”撒谎。为了考察这些问题，这项研究将关注三个研究问题：在安倍访谈中，‘受害者’和‘申诉人’的社会分类是如何构建、部署和争辩的？在安倍的采访中，警方和所谓的性虐待受害者之间的权力动态是如何管理的？在安倍的采访中，“受害者”和“原告”这两个社会范畴是如何使用和实现的？为了回答这些研究问题，该项目将与西米德兰兹郡警方接触。西米德兰兹郡警方暂时同意访问中选的匿名安倍面试记录，但须与该博士项目的拟议主管(S)进行正式会议。以西米德兰兹郡警察为案例研究区域，该项目将采用人种学方法，分三个阶段。第一阶段将包括审查安倍的正式指导方针，以衡量对框架的理解，这些框架被用来概念化什么是安倍采访中的“最佳实践”。第二阶段将对警察和受害者进行半结构化采访，并分析他们的安倍采访记录。最后，在采用批判性方法时，安倍的采访记录将通过将批判性语篇和会话分析与语言倾斜相结合的方式进行分析。该项目寻求对政策和实践做出关键贡献，通过提供对指控性虐待受害者和警察之间现实生活中发生的事情的批判性洞察。通过这样做，该项目寻求提出一种以证据为基础的替代面试模式。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改善受害者和警察的结果，以获得对事件的准确描述。

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.