Investigative interviewing: Assessing questioning strategies employed to children in conflict with the law

AbstractAs majority of criminal cases in the Philippines are often challenged by the plight to obtain voluntary narratives from Children who are in Conflict with the Law (CICL) (National Police Commission, Department of the Interior and Local Government, Republic of the Philippines 2009.Adoption of the police manual on the management of cases of children in conflict with the law (CICL) and the simplified rules in the apprehension and investigation of CICL, Resolution No. 415.), and Forensic Linguistics being a relatively new field in the local setting, it is timely to assess the questioning strategies heavily relied upon by law enforcement officers in the investigative process. However, questioning strategies geared to address purely the investigations of children in conflict with the law has so far been hardly formally investigated. This study was aimed at examining the questioning strategies used in by the authorities in investigating adolescents accused ofcrime against property. Fifteen transcripts of audio-recorded investigative interviews from selected law enforcement authorities in Manila and Quezon City were analyzed vis-à-vis (Shepherd, Eric. 2007.Investigative interviewing: The conversation management approach. Oxford: Oxford University Press). Forms of Questions and (Gibbons, John. 2003.Forensic Linguistics: An introduction to language in the justice system. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing) Cognitive Interview (CI) frameworks. Based on (Shepherd, Eric. 2007.Investigative interviewing: The conversation management approach. Oxford: Oxford University Press) Shepherd’s framework, results yielded reveal that most officers employed counter-productive questions, i.e. abusive, intimidating, and aggressive techniques to prompt controlled confession from alleged youth offenders. The study also found that the investigative officers did not follow a specific interviewing structure in handling cases of alleged youth offenders. As the use of appropriate questioning techniques have been presented in the study, it is recommended that a pivotal redraft be made in police CICL interviewing manuals.