Child sexual abuse forensic interviews: Literature review and quantitative analysis

The first part of this Senior Thesis Project Summary is devoted to a review of literature in the field of forensic psychology related to interviewing techniques and procedures used in cases of child sexual abuse. The credibility of the child witness is discussed from the perspective of the court system and in view of developmental psychology. Methods for gaining testimony from child witnesses are also discussed, with particular emphasis on the merits of Statement Validity Assessment (SVA). The second part of this paper involves a quantitative analysis of statements made in alleged cases of child sexual abuse. This analysis revealed differences between the number of words that interviewers used before and after SVA Interview Training and differences in the number of words that child witnesses used as a function of age. Differences were also found between valid and doubtful statements made by child witnesses.