THE RELATION BETWEEN INVESTIGATIVE UTTERANCE TYPES AND THE INFORMATIVENESS OF CHILD WITNESSES

Researchers have previously shown that, at least in Israeli investigat ive interviews, open-ended invitations yield significantly longer and more detailed responses from young witnesses than directive, leading, or suggestive utterances. Detailed psycho-linguistic analyses of 45 in terviews of 4- to 12-year-old children by police investigators in the United States confirmed that, as in Israel, invitations yielded longer and richer responses than more focused interviewer utterances. The su periority of invitations was greater when the children reported experi encing three or more, rather than only one, incidents of abuse. Invita tions were rarely used, however, and the investigators failed to elici t more information from children who reported multiple incidents of ab use than from children who reported only one incident.