Obtaining detailed and reliable information from victims and eyewitnesses is essential for criminal investigations. At the outset, witness evidence often directs the entire investigatory process, while in the latter stages of an investigation it plays a central role in legal decision-making and criminal justice. Poor interviewing practice leads to incomplete witness evidence at best and unreliable or biased evidence at worst. This can produce a spectrum of injustice ranging from miscarriages of justice through to the failure to dispense appropriate justice to the guilty.
In countries with well-developed investigative procedures, such as the UK, the cognitive interview (CI) is generally recognised as the ‘gold-standard’ interview technique in terms of its effectiveness in eliciting ‘best evidence’ from adult witnesses. The CI technique (Fisher and Geiselman 1992) emerged from psychological literature on the nature of episodic memory and memory retrieval processes. Over the past 30 years it has been fundamental in changing the manner in which witness information is elicited by police investigators.
Your organisation does not have access to this article.
Sign up today to give your students the edge they need to achieve their best grades with subject expertise
Subscribe
