MILNE & BULL (2006): Crucial to any criminal investigation is information provided by witnesses & victims of crime. * Information is the lifeblood of investigations and it is the ability of investigators to obtain useful & accurate information from witnesses that is most crucial. * Police officers are tasked with the gathering of witness/victim info by way of an interview. * Thus, an officer’s ability to conduct an effective interview is a significant component of any investigation & one which is likely to influence both quality & quantity of info gained. * In attempting to improve eyewitness testimony, researchers have concentrated on improving interview methods.
COGNITVE INTERVIEW * To date the most systematic method of improving eyewitness memory is a technique known as COGNITIVE INTERVIEW, developed by Geiselman & Fisher. * Multidisciplinary forensic interview technique concerned exclusively with retrieval of info from memory. * Memon (2000): described as “ one of the most exciting developments in psychology in the last 10 years” * - In the early 1980s in response to requests by American police Investigators & other legal professionals for a method of improving witness memory Ed. Geiselman & Ron.Fisher developed CI procedure.
GEISELMAN & FISHER: Argued that a successful technique for improving Testimony should have 3 characteristics: 1. Reliably increase accurate recall 2. Technique is used, confidence should be related to accuracy 3. Practical, applied value; possible train police officers to use it & for it to be successful in real-life forensic investigations.
Initially presented in 1984, the CI Procedure evolved over several years with further refinements & enhancements being reported in subsequent papers. The initial procedure is referred to as CI & the latter as Enhanced CI.
ORIGINAL COGNITIVE INTERVIEW * Based on original