Assignment Details

Scenario: You are an investigator for Child Protective Services in your community. One of the most difficult aspects of interviewing is the interview of a suspected victim of child sexual abuse. Often, the first interviewers are detectives or investigators from the police department with little or no training for interviewing child sexual abuse victims. The Commander of the Sex Crimes Unit would like to you to identify errors in interviewing by police investigators when questioning child sex crime victims about the circumstances during the alleged offense(s). The psychopathology of the suspect and the victim are very important, but the victim can be misled unintentionally by police resulting in false or inaccurate complaint information.

The Commander of the Sex Crimes Unit would like you to outline and explain the specific areas to be avoided when questioning a child as a sex crime victim.

Specifically, he is concerned with the following:

• The use of suggestive questions
• The implication of confirmation by other people
• Use of positive and negative consequences
• Repetitious questioning
• Inviting speculation

In a 3–5-page paper, address the specific concerns, and explain why it is preferable to have the child interviewed by a person with the qualifications to potentially testify as an expert witness in subsequent criminal trials

Running head:

CHILD SEX CRIMES

1

2

CHILD SEX CRIMES

Interviews and Child Sex Crimes

Name

American Intercontinental University

Date

Abstract

This needs to be a full paragraph and at least 120 words. Do NOT indent this paragraph. This paragraph will be doublespaced. The rest of your paper will also be doublespaced.

Interviews and Child Sex Crimes

Start text here…Start the introduction paragraph here (at least 4 sentences minimum). You must have a clear thesis statement.

Taking content verbatim is not acceptable in academic writing. As such, as a matter of practice in my class, I want you to refrain from using direct quotes in your papers- Direct quotes are rarely if ever needed (less than 2-5% of your paper should be direct quotes and it’s better to avoid them altogether). Remember that “research” does not equal “using a direct quote”. Focus on paraphrasing and synthesizing content in your own words to advance your writing and scholarship. When you paraphrase and synthesize, in text-citation and referencing is still necessary because you are acknowledging that the information you have included in your paper came from “somewhere” and that information is not “lay” knowledge to you.

The Use of Suggestive Questioning in Child Sex Crimes

Start text here…

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Address the concerns of suggestive questioning of child victims. How does this impact the reliability of statements garnered by suggestive questioning? Explain why it preferable to have the child interviewed by a person with the qualifications to potentially testify as an expert witness in subsequent criminal trials.

Include citation and research support (Each section should be at least 2 paragraphs minimum).

Repetitious Questioning and Inviting Speculation

Start text here…Address the issue of repetitious questioning and inviting speculation as part of the interview strategy; how could this curtail how and what a child victim shares?

Include citation and research support (Each section should be at least 2 paragraphs minimum).

The Implications Surrounding the Involvement of Others in Child Sex Crimes

Start text here… Explain how child sex victims might be influenced by other people. What implications does this cause for the investigation or the reliability of the statements given by the child victim? Include citation and research support (Each section should be at least 2 paragraphs minimum).

Application of Positive and Negative Consequences in Interviewing Strategy

Start text here…Discuss how utilizing both positive and negative consequences during questioning can impact the responses given by a child sex crime victims. Include citation and research support (Each section should be at least 2 paragraphs minimum).

Conclusion

Start text here…

References

Spend time with APA : Review page 193 of the APA 6th edition manual for details. This is a helpful website:

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/

This paper is a minimum of 3-5 body pages (excluding title page, abstract and references)

Paper must be doublespaced and Times New Roman 12 font only with 1” margins on all sides.

You need a minimum of 4 sources

Each reference must have corresponding citations in the text of your document- I have to be able to follow your research. .

Write in a scholarly voice-do not use “I, you, me, my us, we, this author etc.” Avoid writing in the 1st/2nd person. You can state your opinion without using “I”. In other words, your opinion is implied by your very statement. Example-“I think this class is great” versus “This class is great”. You are still saying the exact same thing here without using “I” or “ this author”. The second, “this class is great”, is stronger. You want to keep a scholarly tone in your writing.