TY - JOUR PY - 2023// TI - The effect of specialist training on sexual assault investigators' questioning and use of relationship evidence JO - Journal of police and criminal psychology A1 - Tidmarsh, Patrick A1 - Sharman, Stefanie A1 - Hamilton, Gemma SP - 318 EP - 327 VL - 38 IS - 2 N2 - Two studies examined the immediate and longer-term impact of specialist training on sexual assault investigators' use of best-practice questions and relationship evidence. Investigators completed mock suspect interviews immediately and 9-12 months following a 4-week specialist course that concentrated on the Whole Story approach to sexual offence investigations. The training had an immediate positive impact on investigators' use of non-sexual grooming details, and a long-term positive impact on investigators' use of relationship details. It also increased the use of open questions and decreased the use of specific questions, with performance sustained for open-depth questions and specific yes/no questions. Specialist training can improve investigators' ability to adopt a narrative interviewing approach and ask about relationship details, yet skill erosion remains an issue that future training programs need to address. Incorporating relationship evidence into investigative interviews in an open-ended manner may be a key strategy for improving understandings about victim-offender dynamics in sexual offence cases, which could have implications for attrition and conviction rates.
Language: en
LA - en SN - 0882-0783 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11896-021-09446-x ID - ref1 ER -