Book Review: Handbook on Questioning Children

Handbook on Questioning Children 
By Anne Graffam Walker, Ph.D.

The Parental Defense Alliance has added to its library a new book, The Handbook on Questioning Children: A Linguistic Perspective (3rd Edition).  This book is a must-read for anyone who working in child welfare.  There are common misperceptions about how to interview a child.  This book will assist defense attorneys with identifying problems in the interviews conducted and can assist with the daunting task of examining a child in open court.  Above all, it can be used to give guidance in the construction of your questions.

The book focuses mainly on studies conducted with children 10 years of age and younger, but includes tidbits regarding older children’s understanding and use of language.  The Appendix contains a Checklist for Interviewing Children that is a perfect refresher and a good guide for refining your questions prior to trial or interviewing children.

Trial Tip:  How to use in cross examination of case worker.

Q: You have received training in the interviewing of children.
A: Yes.
Q: One of the principles important in eliciting truth from children is to avoid being suggestive in your questions.
A: Yes.
Q: You are trained to avoid the use of phrases like, “I believe you told me,” in attempting to trigger a response in a child.
A: Yes.
Q: Your training also told you that starting a question in this manner may result in an unreliable response.
A: Yes.
Q:  Yet in your interview of the child regarding the abuse, you used the following question “Johnny, I believe you told me about when you daddy mistreated you.”
A: Yes.
Q: [So by your own testimony, the response to your question may be unreliable because of the manner in which you asked the question]
This final question should be used with care.  It is less risky to simply remind the Court of your cross examination and draw the same conclusion without the risk of eliciting an explanation from the worker.

It would be helpful for all parental-defense attorneys to be familiar with child interview techniques and critical statements that can elicit unreliable responses from children.  Parental Defense Attorneys should be able to review a child interview and identify problems with the interview that call into question the reliability of the answers. This book will help you to develop a working knowledge of the guiding principles in interviewing children and missteps that may have been taken in the interviews conducted with the children of your clients.

You can purchase copies HERE.