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Oral Presentation: The Witness-Aimed First Account (WAFA): A new technique for interviewing autistic witnesses and victims

23 June, 2022 @ 12:20 pm - 12:40 pm

Title: The Witness-Aimed First Account (WAFA): A new technique for interviewing autistic witnesses and victims

Abstract:

Autistic people may be more likely to be interviewed by police as a victim/witness, yet they experience social communication differences alongside specific memory difficulties that can impact their ability to recall episodic memories. Previous research has shown that traditional police interviewing techniques (e.g., the Cognitive Interview) do not take account of these differences, and so are often ineffective. We developed the ‘Witness-Aimed First Account’ (WAFA) interview with the primary aim of supporting autistic witnesses to recall an event within a legally appropriate, non-leading framework.

The WAFA technique encourages witnesses to first segment the witnessed event into discrete, parameter-bound event topics, which are then displayed on post-it notes, before the witness goes on to freely recall as much information as they can from within each parameter-bound topic in turn.

Thirty-three autistic and 30 non-autistic participants were interviewed about their memory for two videos depicting criminal events. Participants were interviewed with either a control (standard police) interview or WAFA interview by one of three interviewers who were trained in accordance with PEACE and Achieving Best Evidence guidance. WAFA interviews resulted in more detailed and accurate recall from both autistic and non-autistic witnesses, compared to the standard control interview (ps < .05).

Details

Date:
23 June, 2022
Time:
12:20 pm - 12:40 pm
Event Category: