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12 Legal & Criminological Psych. 1 (2007)

handle is hein.journals/legadclpy12 and id is 1 raw text is: f The Legal and Criminological Psychology (2007), 12, 1-19 Psycholog ical EfNSociety © 2007 The British Psychological Society www.bpsou rnals.co. u Invited article Child witness research and forensic interviews of young children: A review Gail S. Goodman'* and Annika Melinder2* 'University of California, Davis, USA 2University of Oslo, Norway In this article, we provide an introduction to child eyewitness memory issues that are frequently discussed and debated, both within the research and practice communities. We review several of the central areas of research on child eyewitness memory and some of the most promising protocols aimed at standardizing and improving child forensic interviews. We focus primarily on memory in young children, because they pose particular challenges. Research on the use of props and external cues to prompt young children's memory is discussed. We also review research on professionals' knowledge and attitudes about children as witnesses. It is concluded that we must guard against overly negative or overly optimistic views of children's abilities. Imagine you were in a family dispute with your former spouse who claimed that you mistreated your 4-year-old child. A forensic expert was asked to interview your child to find out more about your contribution to the child's psychological, behavioural and physical condition, and what your current relationship was like. Not only would you feel distressed about the conflict per se, but also you would experience a profound dependency on the forensic expert's knowledge, ethics and expertise. As you know that children are vulnerable, and your child additionally lives under pressure, your concern regarding this expert may be even greater. As the assessment period proceeds, new information emerges that preliminarily indicates that your child has been abused and because of that, the forensic expert has recommended that an investigative interview should be conducted. Your child is taken to a police office and interviewed by another forensic expert about an event you have never heard of before. By this time, you realize that you have lost control over the situation. You are probably afraid of what your child is going to tell the police, not necessarily because you think that you have done something wrong, but because you do not have any faith in the system at the moment * Correspondence should be addressed to Gail S. Goodman, Department of Psychology, University of California, I Shields Avenue, Davis, California 956/6, USA (e-mail: ggoodman@ucdavis.edu) orAnnika Melinder, Institute of Psychology, University of Oslo, Pb. 1094, Blindern, 03/ 7, Oslo, Norway (e-mail: a.m.d.melinder@psykologi.uio.no). DOI:10.1348/ 1 35532506X 156620

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