Interviewing Children and Memories of Sexual Abuse Chapter 11 Reported Memories of Young Children Prevalence of abuse 7%-16% boy; 18%-26% girls Memories and cognition Under age of 5, children have difficultly distinguishing imagined from real events Ability to encode, store, and retrieve information not fully developed in children Greater risk for inaccuracy with suggestive or biased questioning Day Care Center Cases Most notorious cases 1985: Wee Care Nursery School, NJ 1987: McMartin Preschool,CA 1989: Little Rascals Day Care Center, NC Day Care Center Cases Reports of children likely contaminated/unreliable if Begin interview with belief that abuse has occurred (Day Care Center Cases) Interviews repeated with biased interview style Delay between alleged abuse and interview Effective Interviewing of Children NICHD Investigative Interview Protocol (NICHD) Guides interviewer away from biased questioning Uses open ended prompts Avoids suggestive questions Uses 3 phases: Introductory, rapport building, substantive Effective Interviewing of Children Other useful techniques Clear, simplified instructions Oath to tell the truth technique Interviewer does not know what happened technique HOT TOPIC Child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome (CSAAS) Proposed and elaborated on by Summit (Summit, 1983; 1998), based on clinical experience, Child victims of sexual abuse experience feelings of helplessness, confusion, and fear Feelings cause child victims to conceal the abuse Delayed abuse disclosure Denial of abuse Recantation of abuse allegations after initial claims HOT TOPIC CSAAS influences how investigative interviews conducted More directive, repetitive, suggestive interviewing forms Research findings Delayed disclosure of sexual abuse is not unusual, denial of abuse and recantation is unusual Recanting children more likely to have suffered parental abuse Testimony by Children Jurors believe children in abuse cases; young children more likely believed than adolescents Hearsay testimony allowed by most states Adult stand ins are acceptable Hearsay and adult testimony viewed favorably by jurors Closed-circuit television (CCTV) is an alternative for presenting child testimony; child emotional distress reduce; conviction rate not lowered Recovered Memories of Sexual Abuse Scientists Skeptical Can be implanted by therapists Trauma response is uncontrolled remembering not forgetting Psychotherapists Memories are credible Memories are repressed Ingram False Memory Case Example of suggestion, vulnerability, hypnosis, biased interviewer Involves recovered memories of being sexual abuse perpetrator Research on Implanting False Memories False memories can be implanted. Loftus and Hyman studies Authentic recovered memories are usually spontaneous. Several explanations for forgetting and remembering abuse, including transience of memory, individual differences. Many therapists have switched to less suggestive approaches. SCIENTIFI.

1. Interviewing Children and Memories of Sexual Abuse
Chapter 11
Reported Memories of
Young Children
Prevalence of abuse
7%-16% boy; 18%-26% girls
Memories and cognition
Under age of 5, children have difficultly distinguishing
imagined from real events
Ability to encode, store, and retrieve information not fully
developed in children
Greater risk for inaccuracy with suggestive or biased
questioning
Day Care Center Cases
Most notorious cases
1985: Wee Care Nursery School, NJ
1987: McMartin Preschool,CA
1989: Little Rascals Day Care Center, NC
Day Care Center Cases
Reports of children likely contaminated/unreliable if
Begin interview with belief that abuse has occurred (Day Care
Center Cases)
Interviews repeated with biased interview style
Delay between alleged abuse and interview

2. Effective Interviewing of Children
NICHD Investigative Interview Protocol (NICHD)
Guides interviewer away from biased questioning
Uses open ended prompts
Avoids suggestive questions
Uses 3 phases: Introductory, rapport building, substantive
Effective Interviewing of Children
Other useful techniques
Clear, simplified instructions
Oath to tell the truth technique
Interviewer does not know what happened technique
HOT TOPIC
Child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome (CSAAS)
Proposed and elaborated on by Summit (Summit, 1983; 1998),
based on clinical experience,
Child victims of sexual abuse experience feelings of
helplessness, confusion, and fear
Feelings cause child victims to conceal the abuse
Delayed abuse disclosure
Denial of abuse
Recantation of abuse allegations after initial claims
HOT TOPIC
CSAAS influences how investigative interviews conducted
More directive, repetitive, suggestive interviewing forms
Research findings
Delayed disclosure of sexual abuse is not unusual, denial of
abuse and recantation is unusual
Recanting children more likely to have suffered parental abuse

3. Testimony by Children
Jurors believe children in abuse cases; young children more
likely believed than adolescents
Hearsay testimony allowed by most states
Adult stand ins are acceptable
Hearsay and adult testimony viewed favorably by jurors
Closed-circuit television (CCTV) is an alternative for
presenting child testimony; child emotional distress reduce;
conviction rate not lowered
Recovered Memories of Sexual Abuse
Scientists
Skeptical
Can be implanted by therapists
Trauma response is uncontrolled remembering not forgetting
Psychotherapists
Memories are credible
Memories are repressed
Ingram False Memory Case
Example of suggestion, vulnerability, hypnosis, biased
interviewer
Involves recovered memories of being sexual abuse perpetrator
Research on Implanting
False Memories
False memories can be implanted.
Loftus and Hyman studies
Authentic recovered memories are usually spontaneous.
Several explanations for forgetting and remembering abuse,
including transience of memory, individual differences.
Many therapists have switched to less suggestive approaches.

4. SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SPOTLIGHT
Traumatic therapies can have long-lasting effects on mental
health
Research suggests traumatic events are rarely repressed or
forgotten
Crime Victims Compensation Program in Washington report
Sample almost exclusively Caucasian (97%) and female (97%)
Recovered memory therapy may have unwanted negative effects
Battered Woman Syndrome, RapE Trauma Syndrome, and PTSD
Chapter 10
Battered Women Syndrome
Ibn-Tamas trial (Ibn-Tamas v. United States, 1979)
First trial
No expert testimony allowed
Second-degree murder conviction
Appeal
Expert testimony on BWS to jury prohibited, but heard by
judge; more lenient sentence
First case in which battered women syndrome (BWS) testimony
offered
Syndromes in Court
Syndrome
Cluster of related symptoms that lead to significant dysfunction
in performance of normal activities
Mental disorder

5. Syndrome characterized by clinically significant disturbance
that reflects dysfunction (APA, 2013)
Syndromes in Court
Two most controversial and prominent legal syndromes
Battered women syndrome (BWS): Behavior of women abused
by partner
Rape trauma syndrome (RTS): How women respond to trauma
of rape
Neither syndrome is in DSM-5, but new change includes
explicit inclusion of sexual violence as constituting a traumatic
event
Battered Women Syndrome
Until 19th century
Women treated as property
Currently
1 in 5 women will be assaulted by partner; 1 in 14 men likely to
suffer abuse
Men more likely to kill female partners
Male-against-female violence most likely to end in court
Women more likely to report abuse
Intimate Partner Violence
Figure 10.1
Note: Estimates based on two-year rolling averages beginning in

6. 1993. Includes rape or sexual assault, robbery, aggravated
assault, and simple assault committed by current or former
spouses, boyfriends, or girlfriends. Due to methodological
changes, use caution when comparing 2006 NCVS criminal
victimization estimates to other years. See Criminal
Victimization, 2007, NCJ224390, BJS website, December 2008,
for more information. (Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics,
National Crime Victimization Survey, 1993–2010*.)
6
Battered Women Syndrome
Dr. Lenore Walker (The Battered Women, 1979)
First to identify term BWS
Proposed a recurring three phase cycle of abuse
Tension building
Acute battering
Contrition
Walker’s Three-stage
Cycle of Abuse
Figure 10.2
8
Characteristics of Battered Women
Intrusive recollections
High anxiety
Avoidance behavior
Disrupted relationships
Body image distortions
Sexual intimacy issues

7. Hypervigilance
Characteristics of Batterers
Diverse group; difficult to categorize
Some basic traits identified
Jealous
Fear of abandonment
Suspicious
Impulsive
Substance abuser
Characteristics of Batterers
Basic types of abusers
Borderline personality disorder
Generally violent antisocial batterer (GVA)
Relationship/family-only (FO) batterer
Limited research on effectiveness of typologies and prevention
or treatment of intimate partner violence.
BWS and the Legal System
Women who kill their partner after repeated abuse can argue
self defense. (SNAPPED!?)
Must show
Imminent bodily harm
Reasonable and proportional force used
No reasonable avenue of escape existed
Research
Jurors negatively inclined toward women who kill their partners

8. More lenient when paired with nullification instructions
Legal Outcomes
Legal outcomes for a sample of battered women. (Based on
research from Browne, 1987, and Ewing, 1987.)
Figure 10.3
13
Scientific Validity of BWS
Criticisms of original research that created syndrome
Sampling flaws, faulty data collection, lack of comparison
groups, lack of standard definition, and lack of explanation
about sudden violence onset
Focus on mind of woman draws attention from batterer
Alternative: Social agency framework (SAF)
Focus on social reality of abusive situation
Lack of alternatives
Lack of police response
Risk/cost of leaving
Defendant mental stability rating
Rape shield laws in 1970s
Prevents lawyers from presenting sexual history of alleged rape
victims

9. Rape Trauma Syndrome (RTS)
How victims respond to trauma of rape
Recovery from rape is two stage process
Acute crisis phase
Reorganization phase
Recovery and characteristics
Greater risk of divorce and unemployment
Fear, anxiety, self blame, loss of sexual desire
Loss of sense of safety
Loss of control over environment
Recovery based on personal/supportive resources of victim
RTS and the Legal System
Expert testimony
Educate jurors about victim reactions
Disabuse common juror misconceptions (rape myths)
Sexual assault trials typical about consent issues
Defense and prosecution experts offer differing opinions
Research is inconclusive
RTS and the Legal System
Judges make decisions on admissibility based on
Scientific validity of testimony
Helpfulness to jury
Prejudicial impact of testimony
Judges must consider
RTS outside common juror knowledge
Only information assessed as beyond the ken of jurors admitted
Some judges refuse to admit RTS testimony
RTS testimony will invade province of jury

10. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
More establish diagnosis than BWS or RTS
Primary diagnosis for people suffering from aftereffects of
extreme trauma (DSM-5/APA, 2013)
Four distinct diagnostic behaviors
Reexperiencing traumatic event
Avoidance of stimuli associated with event
Negative cognitions and moods
Heightened arousal or hypervigilance
See Table 10.2 for more information
18
HOT TOPIC
Controversial syndromes
Increasing number of syndromes to excuse criminal behavior
Chronic late syndrome
Black rage syndrome
Gay Panic
How would you react if presented with one
of these syndrome as a juror?
PTSD versus BWS
Victims of repeated abuse can develop PTSD
Using PTSD rather than BWS has advantages
Established diagnostic category with tests and structured
interviews to assess PTSD (DSM-5/APA, 2013)
Critics
Some specific battering symptoms not captured by more general
category
Door open to exploration of past traumas
Unclear effectiveness if if abuse victim does not meet PTSD
criteria

11. Not clear if the diagnosis of PTSD should replace BWS in the
courtroom
See Table 10.2 for additional information
20
PTSD versus RTS
Problems with RTS testimony indicate need for RTS to be
replaced by PTSD
Symptoms of PTSD developed by rape victims
50% of women who are raped develop clinical symptoms of
PTSD
Critics contend PTSD does not adequately explain RTS
symptoms and propose use of Five Level Model of Expert
Testimony
Table 10.3
21
Five-Level Model of Expert Testimony
Level 1: Testimony on victim behaviors described by the
defense as “unusual” and would describe myths held by jurors
Level 2: Testimony on common victim reactions and general
criteria for PTSD or RTS
Level 3: Testimony that the victim’s behavior or symptoms are
consistent with PTSD or RTS diagnosis
Level 4: Testimony that the victim suffers from PTSD or RTS
Level 5: Testimony that speaks to the “ultimate issue” (i.e., the
victim was sexually assaulted)
Table 10.4
22