Antaki et al J of Socioling 2015.pdf (348.68 kB)
Download filePolice interviews with vulnerable people alleging sexual assault: probing inconsistency and questioning conduct
journal contribution
posted on 2015-06-24, 14:09 authored by Charles Antaki, Emma Richardson, Elizabeth Stokoe, Sara WillottReporting sexual assault to the authorities is fraught with difficulties, and these
are compounded when the complainant is hindered by an intellectual disability
(ID). In a study of 19 UK police interviews with complainants with ID alleging
sexual assault and rape, we found that most interviewing officers on occasion
pursued lines of questioning which not only probed inconsistencies (which is
mandated by their guidelines), but implicitly questioned complainants' conduct
(which is not). We detail two main conversational practices which imply
disbelief and disapproval of the complainants' accounts and behaviour, and
whose pragmatic entailments may pose problems for complainants with ID.
Such practices probably emerge from interviewers' foreshadowing of the
challenges likely to be made in court by defence counsel. As a policy
recommendation, we suggest providing early explanation for the motivation for
such questioning, and avoiding certain question formats (especially how come
you did X? and why didn't you do Y?).
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