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Cooperative or Representative Interviews in Japan: Multi-agency investigative interviews of alleged victims of child abuse

22 June, 2022 @ 9:40 am - 10:30 am

Title: Cooperative or Representative Interviews in Japan: Multi-agency investigative interviews of alleged victims of child abuse

Abstract:

In Japan, it used to be the case that an alleged victim of child abuse was referred to the Child Guidance Center, where a social worker interviewed the child. If the case was serious, the child was sent to police, where a police officer conducted several interviews, followed by a few more interviews by a prosecutor at the prosecutor’s office before prosecution. Through the repeated interviews, the child’s memory deteriorated and the psychological burden accumulated. In 2015, in order to reduce the number of interviews, three agencies issued a document to recommend a multi-agency team approach toward interviews. Such interviews are called cooperative or representative interviews. I will talk about the rationale of the multi-agency team approach of investigative interviews and how they are conducted, as well as how the interviewers, back-staff and supporters in the team are trained. Finally, I will describe the current situation: Although the number of cooperative/representative interviews has increased, only one percent of them are used as evidence in court due to the hear-say rule. The possibility of using video-recorded interviews as evidence is now discussed in the Legislative Council on sexual crime, but an issue is the legal definition of “investigative interviews”, i.e., the components or conditions of interviews that make the interviews be used as evidence.

Details

Date:
22 June, 2022
Time:
9:40 am - 10:30 am
Event Category:

Organizer

Makiko Naka