Lawyers rapport building practices with child witnesses.

BACKGROUND: Existing literature on rapport building in forensic interviews with children has primarily focused on police or social workers (Collins et al., 2002); overlooking the lawyer-child relationship. OBJECTIVE: The present study was a novel exploration of the rapport building process between lawyers and child witnesses during the interview stage of a criminal proceeding. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: A total of 67 Canadian lawyers (Mage = 41.69, SD = 11.19; 51 % female-identifying) with experience questioning child witnesses (i.e., under 18 years old) were surveyed on their rapport building with child witnesses. METHODS: A self-report survey was used to assess how lawyers conceptualize and engage in rapport building with child witnesses. RESULTS: Lawyers were found to perceive rapport building as an important element when working with child witnesses; however, the lawyers' self-reported rapport building techniques overlooked several important elements of rapport building identified in forensic interviewing literature. Overall, the role of the lawyer (i.e., prosecution or defence), but rarely gender, influenced their self-reported rapport building methods. Prosecution lawyers tended to report behaviors that were more aligned with creating an interpersonal connection during the rapport building phase with the child, such as creating an environment where the child feels safe and comfortable. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide insight into how lawyers conceptualize and engage in rapport building with child witnesses. Overall, the lawyers perceived rapport building as an important element with child witnesses, but only some of the techniques mentioned are considered best practices to build rapport with children.

Introduction: COVID-19 Related Professional Challenges, Innovations, and Implications for Child Maltreatment Victims.

The current commentary provides an introduction to the special issue examining COVID-19-related professional challenges, innovations, and implications for child maltreatment victims. The editors of the special issue provide a summary of the research presented as well as the implications for the field of child maltreatment research.

The Role of Wait Time During the Questioning of Children: A Systematic Review.

The benefits of wait time in classroom discourses have been well documented in the field of education since the 1970s. While current forensic interview guidelines recognize the importance of pauses, whether there is sufficient empirical evidence to inform wait time guidelines in the legal context remains unanswered. This systematic review aimed to synthesize and provide a holistic update on the available research on the role of wait time when questioning children and recommended future direction to develop wait time guidelines specific to child forensic interviews. Systematic searches were conducted using four databases (PsycINFO, MedLine, ERIC, and Scopus). A total of 3,953 unique articles were returned, following a title and abstract screening, 68 full texts were reviewed, and 26 (including five additional studies identified through a hand search) were included. Inclusion criteria were the study sample included children under 18, published a measure of wait time in a questioning context, and in English. Overall, most knowledge of wait time remains in the field of education. Natural wait time is short, but with training, extended wait time yields significant benefits for both child and adult talk. Only one study examined the role of wait time in the forensic interviewing setting where a 10-s wait time appears to be more productive than shorter pauses. Extended wait time is a promising and simple interviewing practice with the potential to facilitate children's disclosure. The current review is a call for research in the area as it pertains to forensic interviewing of children and youth.

"Just to Jog My Memory": An Examination of Forensic Interviewers' Note-taking Behaviors and Perceptions of Notes With Child Witnesses.

In the current study, we surveyed forensic interviewers (N = 137) on their note-taking practices, perceptions of note-taking, and note-taking training. Many forensic interviewers surveyed (81%) reported that they take notes during forensic interviews. Of those, the most common reason for note-taking was to assist with remembering what the interviewee reported during the interview (89%) and to guide the formulation of follow-up questions (87%). Note-taking style was also reported upon, with most respondents indicating that they write down keywords that may be used again in the interview (78%), as well as short utterances or sentences related to the presenting narrative (61%). Finally, the majority (50%) of respondents who take notes reported always taking notes, although 29% reported taking notes most of the time. Of those respondents who reported not taking notes during forensic interviews, the majority listed the reasons as being that it distracts the child from the interview (85%) and causes them to break eye contact with the child (46%). Overall, many respondents endorsed the benefits of note-taking to the interviewing process, whereas a small minority reported some perceived risks or concerns with note-taking during interviews. Perhaps most notably, forensic interviewers, both of whom take notes and those who do not, reported low rates of note-taking training and a desire for more information on note-taking practices within the field. These results underscore the need for further research and best practice guidelines regarding note-taking during forensic interviews.

Elementary school-aged children's perceptions of academic dishonesty: Definitions and moral evaluations of cheating behaviors in school.

A total of 76 children (Mage = 9 years 5 months, SD = 2.22 years) participated in a structured interview about their experiences with and knowledge of academic dishonesty. Overall, 27% of the sample reported having cheated in school. Most of these children were 10 to 13 years old, and the most prevalent form of cheating behavior reported was using forbidden materials during a test. Children's age group was a significant positive predictor of their reported cheating history; however, no significant difference was found between children's gender and engagement with cheating. Children's moral evaluations of cheating did not predict their reported cheating history, nor did children's parents' cheating history. Vignette type (cheating vs. non-cheating), age group, and the interaction between vignette type and age group were significant predictors of children's ability to accurately identify behaviors that constitute cheating. Children rated cheating behaviors as significantly less moral than non-cheating behaviors. Overall, the current results provide insight into what forms of cheating behavior children engage in at the elementary school-age level.

An examination of questioning methods and the influence of child maltreatment on paediatric pain assessments: Perspectives of healthcare providers.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: Children with a history of maltreatment have underestimated and undertreated pain; however, it is unknown if healthcare providers consider maltreatment when assessing children's pain. The current study aimed to address this issue by investigating healthcare providers' pain assessment practices, and specifically, their consideration of child maltreatment. METHOD: Healthcare providers (N = 100) completed a survey, asking them to reflect upon their pediatric pain assessment practices (e.g., methods and questions used to assess pain) through self-report and case vignette questions. RESULTS: Participants who received continuing education about child maltreatment were more likely to consider maltreatment in several areas of their pediatric pain assessment practice, whereas participants who received continuing education about pediatric pain, were not. Participants were also more likely to report that they would consider maltreatment in vignette responses than in questions regarding their daily practice. CONCLUSION: Findings indicate healthcare providers use multidimensional methods when assessing children's pain, although it is unclear when or how they use open-ended vs. option posing questions. Healthcare providers also tended to consider the effects of child maltreatment on children's ability to communicate their pain more so when the history of maltreatment was known to them.

"Locked in a Jail Cell in Your Own Home": Child Maltreatment Investigators' Perspectives of COVID-19's Effects on Maltreated Children.

Children were at a greater risk of adverse experiences, including maltreatment, during the COVID-19 pandemic given the increased stress experienced by families and reduced visibility outside the home. Child maltreatment investigators witnessed the effects of the pandemic on maltreated children and offer valuable insight regarding children's experiences during the pandemic. The objective of this study was to examine child maltreatment investigators' perspectives of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on maltreated children and their families in Canada. Sixteen child maltreatment investigators were recruited from agencies across Canada that investigate or offer services to children suspected of having been maltreated. Three focus groups were conducted, which followed a semi-structured interview guide developed by the researchers. Thematic analysis resulted in five primary themes regarding maltreatment investigators' perceptions of the pandemic's effects on children, including child maltreatment during the COVID-19 pandemic, increased exposure to violent and traumatic events, stress and challenges faced by families, reduced access to services, and challenges and delays with maltreatment investigations. Child maltreatment investigators perceived that the pandemic profoundly impacted maltreated children and their families. It is critical to ensure children and parents have access to services during future emergencies.

Child maltreatment and pediatric pain: A survey of healthcare professionals' pain knowledge and pain management techniques.

Children who have been maltreated are at an increased risk of having their pain under-recognized and undertreated by healthcare professionals, and thus, are more susceptible to adverse outcomes associated with undertreated pain. This study's aims were to examine: (1) if healthcare professionals' pediatric pain knowledge is associated with their pain assessment methods, (2) if maltreatment-specific pain knowledge is associated with consideration of child maltreatment when deciding on a pain management strategy, and (3) if pediatric pain knowledge would relate to maltreatment-specific pain knowledge. A sample (N = 108) of healthcare professionals responded to a survey designed to examine their current knowledge and utilization of pediatric pain assessment and management with emphasis on the effects of child maltreatment. Findings revealed healthcare professionals' knowledge of pediatric pain is independent of their pain assessment and management practices. However, general pain knowledge was associated with maltreatment-specific pain knowledge and generally, healthcare professionals were knowledgeable of child maltreatment's impact on pediatric pain. Participants who considered a history of maltreatment were also more likely to employ sensitive questioning strategies when asking children about their pain.

Pseudotemporal Invitations: 6- to 9-year-Old Maltreated Children's Tendency to Misinterpret Invitations Referencing "Time" as Solely Requesting Conventional Temporal Information.

Forensic interviewers ask children broad input-free recall questions about individual episodes in order to elicit complete narratives, often asking about "the first time," "the last time," and "one time." An overlooked problem is that the word "time" is potentially ambiguous, referring both to a particular episode and to conventional temporal information. We examined 191 6-9-year-old maltreated children's responses to questions about recent events varying the wording of the invitations, either asking children to "tell me about" or "tell me what happened" one time/the first time/the last time the child experienced recent recurrent events. Additionally, half of the children were asked a series of "when" questions about recurrent events before the invitations. Children were several times more likely to provide exclusively conventional temporal information to "tell me about" invitations compared to "tell me what happened" invitations, and asking "when" questions before the invitations increased children's tendency to give exclusively conventional temporal information. Children who answered a higher proportion of "when" questions with conventional temporal information were also more likely to do so in response to the invitations. The results suggest that children may often fail to provide narrative information because they misinterpret invitations using the word "time."

The Utility of the Birthday Prompt in Narrative Practice with Maltreated and Non-maltreated 4- to 9-year-old Children.

Forensic interviewers are encouraged to elicit a practice narrative from children in order to train them to answer free recall questions with narrative information. Although asking children about their last birthday has been recommended, concerns have been raised that many children will have nothing to report. This study asked 994 4- to 9-year-old maltreated and non-maltreated children to recall their last birthday. Although a fair number of children initially failed to recall information (9%), virtually all children recalled information with persistent encouragement (99%). Younger children and maltreated children were less responsive and spoke less, but nevertheless, 93% of the youngest children (4-year-olds) and 97% of maltreated children recalled information with persistent encouragement. The results suggest that children's failures to recall information about birthdays are predominantly attributable to a failure to provide additional support.

Diet modification as an adjunct to treatment for lymphatic fistula following inguinal lymphadenectomy: a case report.

INTRODUCTION: Lymphatic leaks following lymphadenectomy, particularly inguinal, remain an ongoing issue in postoperative wound care. Techniques such as ligation of lymphatics, omental flaps, and use of energy devices, as well as extent of surgical dissection, may be used intraoperatively to help minimize lymphedema and lymphatic leaks postoperatively. However, inguinal lymphadenectomy remains a highly morbid procedure and can lead to lymphatic fistula when a lymphatic leak is ongoing. Lymphatic fistulas are a topic of ongoing research to improve outcomes. The current standard for treatment of lymphatic fistulas consists of extremity compression, local wound care, infection prevention and treatment, nutrition optimization, and reoperation. CASE REPORT: An 86-year-old male developed a chronic right inguinal wound secondary to a lymphatic fistula following inguinal lymphadenectomy for malignant melanoma. The patient underwent drainage and local wound care, and was referred to the wound clinic. The patient was also started on a low-fat, high-protein diet. The lymphatic leak resolved spontaneously, followed by secondary closure of the wound without the need for invasive treatments. CONCLUSIONS: Chronic wounds associated with lymphatic fistulas are complex and require a multimodal approach to healing. A high-protein, low-fat diet is low risk and may prove beneficial as an adjunct to treatment of lymphatic fistulas.

Lawyers' experience questioning children in Canadian court.

BACKGROUND: International research has explored lawyer-child interactions in court; however, little focus has been spent examining other aspects of lawyers' interactions with children (e.g., interview preparation; building rapport). OBJECTIVE: The present study investigated lawyer's self-reported interactions with child witnesses. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: Participants included 96 lawyers (Mage = 40.34, SD = 11.07; 52 % female) practicing in Canada with experience questioning child witnesses (under 18 years old). METHODS: A survey was used to gather self-reported data on how lawyers prepare for, question, and respond to children as witnesses in court. We then explored whether these strategies differed depending on the role of the Canadian lawyer (i.e., prosecution or defence), experience, or gender. RESULTS: Results indicate that lawyers report and demonstrate knowledge consistent with current best practices in questioning children. While gender and experience did not appear to play a strong role in lawyer-child interactions, prosecutors reported behavior more consistent with best practices compared to defence lawyers. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide important insight into strengths and weaknesses of lawyer-child interactions in court as well as highlight a strong need for future research to examine the link between self-reported behavior (i.e., perceived behavior) with observable behavior (i.e., actual behavior) in lawyer-child interactions.

Not built for families: Associations between neighborhood disinvestment and reduced parental cognitive stimulation.

Infants learn and develop within an ecological context that includes family, peers, and broader built and social environments. This development relies on proximal processes-reciprocal interactions between infants and the people and environments around them that help them understand their world. Most research examining predictors of proximal processes like parent-child interaction and parenting has focused on elements within the home and family. However, factors like the neighborhood built environment may also exhibit an influence, and may be particularly critical in infancy, as socioeconomic disparities in cognition and language emerge early in life. Moreover, influence from the built environment could independently exacerbate these disparities, as research indicates that neighborhood impacts may be especially relevant for families living in neighborhoods that have experienced disinvestment and therefore have been under-resourced. The current study examines these questions by determining the association of neighborhood vacancy rate and observed physical disorder-indicators of poverty, residential stability, and long-term structural discrimination-with parental cognitive stimulation among predominantly Black/African-American families in Flint, Michigan. Flint is particularly salient for this study because vacancy rates and disinvestment vary widely across the city, driven by its long-time status as a city struggling economically. Regression analyses controlling for caregiver education, mental health, and social support indicated that vacancy rate and physical disorder negatively predicted parental cognitive stimulation. Moreover, there were significant interactions between the built environment and social support, indicating that, particularly for parent-child shared reading, vacancy rate and physical disorder predicted reduced shared reading only when parents had limited social support. These results have important implications for public policy around vacant property demolition and neighborhood reinvestment programs, as they indicate that the neighborhood built environment is associated with parenting behaviors that have important impacts on infants' learning and development.

Do children unintentionally report maltreatment? Comparison of disclosures of neglect versus sexual abuse.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Children's initial reports often play a key role in the identification of maltreatment, and a sizeable amount of scientific research has examined how children disclose sexual and physical abuse. Although neglect constitutes a large proportion of maltreatment experiences, relatively little attention has been directed toward understanding whether and how children disclose neglect. The overarching aim of the present study was to document this process by comparing disclosure patterns in cases of neglect to those in cases of sexual abuse. METHOD: Redacted jurisdiction reports (N = 136) of substantiated dependency cases of neglect (n = 71) and sexual abuse (n = 65) in 4- to 17-year-olds were coded for why maltreatment was suspected, and for children's perceived awareness and disclosure of the maltreatment. RESULTS: Neglect was most often initially suspected via contact with emergency services (e.g., police, emergency medical services), whereas sexual abuse was most often initially suspected as a result of children's statements. Children evidenced greater perceived awareness of sexual abuse than neglect and were more likely to disclose the former in their first investigative interview. Perceived awareness was further associated with a higher likelihood of children's statements initiating discovery of maltreatment and disclosing in the first investigative interview. CONCLUSIONS: Children may benefit from greater knowledge about their needs for safety, supervision, and provision in the home, which could increase the likelihood they would disclose neglect. Such, in turn, could lead to earlier interventions for children and families.

The impact of COVID-19 on Canadian child maltreatment workers.

As cases of child maltreatment become an increasing concern during the COVID-19 pandemic, the perspectives of those charged with protecting and supporting children and families is an important area of inquiry. We sought to examine the experiences of child maltreatment workers during the first wave of the pandemic (i.e., May-July 2020). We specifically aimed to examine child maltreatment experiences related to the following: (1) their work practices during the pandemic, (2) their perceived safety during the pandemic, and (3) their perceptions on the safety of the children and families with whom they work. A total of 106 child maltreatment investigators and forensic interviewers provided responses to a national survey disseminated across Canada. Using a cross-sectional design, data were collected through a survey management program. The survey combined both open-ended and forced choice questions to gather perspectives on respondents' experiences. More than half (67%) reported a reduction in their caseloads during the pandemic (May-July 2020) and continued in-person interviews, with the use of preventative health measures (i.e., PPE, physical distancing, gloves). Most respondents reported elevated stress levels and similarly high stress levels amongst the children and families to whom they provide services. Overall, our findings highlight both how child maltreatment investigators have adapted to preventative measures and the continuing areas of weakness where further supports are required.

Ethical dilemmas in skeletal collection utilization: Implications of the Black Lives Matter movement on the anatomical and anthropological sciences.

The Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement has brought to the public eye longstanding issues of social and racial injustice which have permeated the experiences of individuals of African ancestry in the United States and abroad for centuries. Motivated by a desire to disassemble a framework of systemic racism, the BLM movement has infiltrated numerous social and political arenas including the sciences, demanding change. The impact of the BLM movement is evident in the attention recently garnered by protests of museum skeletal collections' acquisition and handling of African/African American human remains. It is from this vantage point that we explore the ethical issues pervasive within United States skeletal collections and forensically relevant issues surrounding the unclaimed decedents of marginalized populations; colonial/imperial ideological formations, which construct and sustain power differentials in anatomization; and conceive of a path forward that prioritizes personhood.

Imprecision About Body Mechanics When Child Witnesses Are Questioned About Sexual Abuse.

In child sexual abuse cases, a central part of the child's testimony is their description of the abuse episode. However, it is often difficult for children to describe the body mechanics of abuse, and miscommunications are likely to occur. In the present study, we examined questions about the mechanics of abuse in trial transcripts (N = 63) to identify sources of miscommunication (N = 130) between attorneys and children (5-12 years old, M age at trial = 9.44, SD = 1.97). We found that both attorneys and children used imprecise language, which led to miscommunication. Specifically, the imprecise use of sexual terminology and the word "touch," polarity items, broad open-ended questions, anaphora and elliptical questions, and "how" questions led to imprecision in attorneys' questions. Imprecise attorney questions often elicited underinformative answers from children, including misinterpretations of the grain size (i.e., level of detail) requested. In response to these underinformative answers, attorneys at times asked highly focused and leading questions, which led to further miscommunications. Implications and recommendations for future research on how best to elicit details about the mechanics of abuse from children are discussed.

Absent Internal Carotid Artery With Intact Circle of Willis.

The internal carotid arteries are one of the primary suppliers of the Circle of Willis and cerebral blood flow, but the rare case of agenesis of the internal carotid artery can impair the functional redundancies of cerebral blood supply. In this study, routine, medical education-focused cadaveric dissection of an 80-year-old male cadaver (cause of death was ventricular tachycardia) was performed. A case of agenesis of the left internal carotid artery and the carotid canal was identified. Upon investigation, we found that the compensatory pattern of irrigation in the Circle of Willis did not conform to previously described cases in the scientific literature. Further literature review suggested that such agenesis can be associated with a wide range of conditions from stroke, migraine, tinnitus, and Horner's syndrome. Due to the altered blood flow pattern, we caution the reading physician regarding the potential for ischemia and iatrogenic damage, particularly of the pituitary gland and eye. We suggest the use of neuroangiographic imaging in cases of agenesis of an internal carotid artery.

Ancestry Studies in Forensic Anthropology: Back on the Frontier of Racism.

One of the parameters forensic anthropologists have traditionally estimated is ancestry, which is used in the United States as a proxy for social race. Its use is controversial because the biological race concept was debunked by scientists decades ago. However, many forensic anthropologists contend, in part, that because social race categories used by law enforcement can be predicted by cranial variation, ancestry remains a necessary parameter for estimation. Here, we use content analysis of the Journal of Forensic Sciences for the period 2009-2019 to demonstrate the use of various nomenclature and resultant confusion in ancestry estimation studies, and as a mechanism to discuss how forensic anthropologists have eschewed a human variation approach to studying human morphological differences in favor of a simplistic and debunked typological one. Further, we employ modern geometric morphometric and spatial analysis methods on craniofacial coordinate anatomical landmarks from several Latin American samples to test the validity of applying the antiquated tri-continental approach to ancestry (i.e., African, Asian, European). Our results indicate groups are not patterned by the ancestry trifecta. These findings illustrate the benefit and necessity of embracing studies that employ population structure models to better understand human variation and the historical factors that have influenced it.

Don't know responding in young maltreated children: The effects of wh- questions type and enhanced interview instructions.

OBJECTIVE: Two studies examined 4-7-year-old maltreated children's "I don't know" (IDK) responses to wh- questions after receiving various interview instructions. HYPOTHESES: We predicted (H1) children would be less inclined to give IDK responses and more inclined to guess to color/number questions compared to other wh- questions; (H2) IDK instructions would increase children's IDK responding compared to no instructions, with an increase in accuracy; but (H3) instructions would be less effective in reducing guessing for color/number questions than other wh- questions. In Study 1, we predicted that (H4) verbalizing a commitment to answer IDK would be particularly effective. In Study 2, we predicted that (H5) IDK instructions would reduce children's accurate corrective responses, but that (H6) the negative effect of IDK instructions on corrective responses would be alleviated by a "correct the interviewer" instruction. METHOD: Across 2 studies, 301 four- to seven-year-old (M = 5.60, SD = 1.09) maltreated children viewed videos and answered wh- questions about true and false details. Both studies included a within-subjects manipulation of wh- types (color/number & wh- detail) and a between-subjects manipulation of instructions (Study 1: IDK practice, IDK practice/verbalize, control; Study 2: IDK, correct me, IDK + correct me, control). RESULTS: In both studies, (a) color/number questions elicited more guessing than wh- detail questions, (b) IDK instructions decreased inaccurate responses, but they also decreased accurate responses, including accurate corrective responses, and (c) IDK instructions had a larger effect on wh- detail questions, reducing accurate corrective responses. In Study 1, verbalization failed to enhance the effect of instructions. In Study 2, the negative effect of IDK instructions on accurate corrective responses was not alleviated by instructions to correct the interviewer. CONCLUSIONS: Among young maltreated children, color/number questions elicit higher rates of guessing than other wh- questions. IDK instructions reduced inaccurate responses, but also reduced accurate responses. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).