Main Auditorium

Title: Effects of Socio-Emotionally Supporting Questioning Techniques in Alleged Cases of Physical Maltreatment of Adolescents Abstract: When interviewing minors in cases of alleged sexual or physical abuse, it is of utmost importance that interviewers adapt a supportive and non-suggestive style in order to reduce interviewees’ anxiety while increasing their accuracy. The R‑NICHD was developed to […]

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 […]

Title: Assessing professional rapport: Systematically mapping evidence to inform the  development and validation of a new measure. Abstract:  Professional use of rapport building skills are considered central to good investigative interview  practice, with practitioners and scholars in agreement that efforts to build rapport can facilitate cooperation and disclosure of information. However, there is little consensus […]

Title: Developing a Time-Critical Questioning framework in a naturalistic environment Abstract: There are numerous situations where eliciting accurate and detailed information is crucial to assess and neutralise immediate threats, but time is limited (e.g., escaped/released hostage, search following IED attack). Current approaches rely on asking a series of focused/closed questions, which does not align with […]

Title: Police Interviewing and Eyewitness Memory in the Multicultural Context of South Africa  Abstract: Research on investigative interviewing and eyewitness memory has predominantly focused on Western populations, even though we know that memory is shaped by culture. The purpose of this study was to create a theoretical overview of cultural differences and intercultural communication in […]

Title: Information disclosure in sceptical witnesses: Examining the effects of relational and procedural rapport-building Abstract The beneficial effects of rapport in investigative interviewing are well-documented. However, it is unclear which rapport-building approaches are most effective. In this research, the effects of relationship-based rapport and procedure-based rapport on information disclosure by sceptical mock witnesses were examined. […]

Title: The Dual Purpose of Video-Recorded Interviews within the Broad Framework of a Victim-Centred Approach and Trauma Informed Practice

Title: False memories… but real investigation Abstract: False allegations of sexual assault represent between 2 and 10% of sexual crimes reported to the police (see St-Yves & Beauregard, 2015). These actions – which constitute real crimes – often entail significant costs in police resources and may harm the real victims. Often psychological, the motivations are […]

Title: Forensic psychology myths and misconceptions acceptance among police students and university students in Finland Abstract: The presentation aims to introduce results from a study exploring the prevalence of misconceptions related to forensic psychology among Finnish police students and university students and whether the prevalence was associated with the stage of studies and/or taking courses […]

Title: When the going gets TUV: the development of a training in urgent safety interviews Abstract: Where the interviewing of suspects arguably is a complex task, conducting an urgent safety interview can be considered its superlative. Instead of collecting evidence with regard to a criminal event that happened in the past – which is the […]

Title: Sensemaking and cooperation in investigative interviews: The role of matching Abstract: Theories of interpersonal sensemaking predict that cooperation emerges in interactions where speakers are matched on motivational frame and when they are cooperative rather than competitive in orientation (Taylor, 2002). The current study tested this prediction in an investigative interviewing context. Across two experiments […]