Interviewing
Juveniles
Course
Number:
CR-506
Course Length: 1 Day (7.5 Hours)
Classes
are available on a limited basis.
Law enforcement
officers are coming into contact with more juveniles each year
- professionally. These young persons are offenders, victims,
witnesses and suspects. The approach officers use when interviewing
young persons affects the outcome of criminal cases, as well as
the police-citizen relations with the community at large. This
interactive workshop looks at juveniles within the subgroups of
pre-school, school age, and adolescence. Each of these age groups
have unique abilities and limitations as interviewees due to innate
abilities and development. The mental and emotional composition
of young persons requires different approaches to the interview
process, whether it is as victim, witness, or suspect.
The workshop discusses cognitive development, metacognition, emotional
development, adolescent egocentrism, and sense of identity issues
that greatly affect the juvenile interview. Another major factor
in adult-juvenile interactions involves the impact of social media,
differences in their views of privacy, and attention difficulties.
The interview process presented factors in all these considerations
and stresses rapport-building, empathy, developmental assessment,
and interview strategy.
Topics include detecting deception, impact of substance abuse,
mental health issues, handing anger, and dealing with denials
of suspects. The process encompasses environment staging, rapport
development, interview preparation, obtaining the narrative, active
listening, and interpretation of juvenile words, terms, and meanings.
Participants identify their strengths and weaknesses in juvenile
interviewing by formulating, posing, and discussing appropriate
interview questions.