Trauma-informed police interview effectiveness

Interviewing victims of violent crime is a vastly different enterprise than interrogating the suspected perpetrators. Victims of violent crime—as well as witnesses—are likely to have suffered trauma that can impact their recall of the events. Vital elements may be erased from memory, while they may recall things that aren't precisely what happened. Victims of trauma also often recall events not in the order that they actually occurred, potentially causing an inexperienced interviewer to conclude deceptions. Further, traditional interview techniques can cause the victim to feel re-victimized. In this podcast segment, Jim and Doug discuss how Cognitive Interviewing (CI) can help investigators gather detailed and accurate information from victims of trauma that can lead to an increase in guilty pleas.