Article published in:
Translation and Interpreting Studies
Vol. 13:2 (2018) ► pp. 208–229

Interpreter-mediated investigative interviews with minors

Setting the ground rules

| Heriot-Watt University
| University of London

When information is elicited from children in a criminal context, both their ability and willingness to disclose is at stake. In law, the communicative vulnerability of children is manifest in forensic protocols for interviewing children. These are designed to retrieve information in a child-aware fashion, as well as to produce evidence with sufficient integrity to stand up under the scrutiny of the criminal process. This article will consider some of the added challenges of interpreter-mediated interviews for minors. Drawing on research into monolingual child interviewing, the article proposes how some of the interpreting related aspects of this challenge may be addressed through the adaptation of elements of reflexive coordination in the widely used NICHD child interviewing protocol. The authors call for the data-based testing of these adaptations and suggests that modifications of institutional speech genres for bilingual use may be a component of mainstreaming public service interpreting.

Keywords: child interviewing, interpreting, interview formats, reflexive coordination, vulnerable interlocutors
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Forensic child interviews
  • Interpreting in investigative settings with minors
  • The pre-substantive phase of the NICHD protocol
  • Reflexive coordination in interpreted interaction
  • Modifying the NICHD protocol for bilingual interaction
  • Conclusion
  • Note
  • References
Published online: 12 October 2018
https://doi.org/10.1075/tis.00012.bos
References
Amato, Amalie, and Gabriele Mack
2015 “Briefing, Debriefing and Support.” In Children and Justice: Overcoming Language Barriers, ed. by Katalin Balogh, and Heidi Salaets, 247–280. Cambridge: Intersentia.Google Scholar
Angelelli, Claudia V.
2004 Revisiting the Interpreter’s Role: A Study of Conference, Court, and Medical Interpreters. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Australian Institute of Interpreters and Translators (AUSIT)
2012 AUSIT Code of Ethics and Code of Conduct. Melbourne. Available at: ausit​.org​/AUSIT​/Documents​/Code​_Of​_Ethics​_Full​.pdf. Last accessed 13 May 2018.
Balogh, Katalin, and Heidi Salaets
(eds) 2015 Children and Justice: Overcoming Language Barriers. Cambridge: Intersentia.Google Scholar
Baraldi, Claudio, and Laura Gavioli
(eds) 2012 Co-ordinating Participation in Dialogue Interpreting. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Berk-Seligson, Susan
2000 “Interpreting for the Police: Issues in Pre-trail Phases of the Judicial Process.” Forensic Linguistics. The Journal of Speech, Language and the Law 7(2): 1350–1771.Google Scholar
2009 Coerced Confessions: The Discourse of Bilingual Police Interrogations. New York: Mouton de Gruyter. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Blakemore, Diane
2010 “Communication and the Representation of Thought: The Use of Audience-directed Expressions in Free Direct Thought Representations.” Journal of Linguistics 46(3): 575–599. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Blakemore, Diane, and Fabrizio Gallai
2014 “Discourse Markers in Free Indirect Style and Interpreting.” Journal of Pragmatics 601: 106–120. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Böser, Ursula
2013 “ ‘So Tell me What Happened!’ Interpreting the Free Recall Segment of the Investigative Interview.” Translation and Interpreting Studies 8(1): 112–136. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Bot, Hanneke
2005 Dialogue Interpreting in Mental Health. Amsterdam: Rodopi.Google Scholar
Carter, Cathleen A., Bette L. Bottoms, and Murray Levine
1996 “Linguistic and Socioemotional Influences in the Accuracy of Children’s Reports.” Law and Human Behaviour 20(3): 335–358. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Ceci, Stephen J., and Maggie Bruck
1995 Jeopardy in the Courtroom: A Scientific Analysis of Children’s Testimony. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Colin, Joan, and Ruth Morris
1996 Interpreters and the Legal Process. Winchester: Waterside Press.Google Scholar
Davitti, Elena
2013 “Dialogue Interpreting as Intercultural Mediation. Interpreters. Use of Upgrading Moves in Parent–teacher Meetings.” Interpreting 15(2): 168–199. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Davidson, Brad
2000 “The Interpreter as Institutional Gatekeeper: The Social-linguistic Role of Interpreters in Spanish-English Medical Discourse.” Journal of Sociolinguistics 4(3): 379–405. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Dimitrova Englund, Birgitta
1993 “Turntaking in Interpreted Discourse: Interplay of Implicit and Explicit Rules.” In Problemi na sociolinvistikata. Ezikovata situacija v mikro-i makrosocialnite obstnosti, ed. by Kiril Cankov, 15–21. Veliko Tarnovo: Universitetsko izdatelstvo.Google Scholar
European Commission
2014 Europa Press-release. Available at: europa​.eu​/rapid​/press​-release​_IP​-14​-636​_en​.htm. 6 June 2014. Last accessed 13 May 2018.
Fontes, Lisa A., and Amy C. Tishelman
2016 “Language Competence in Forensic Interviews for Suspected Child Sexual Abuse.” Child Abuse & Neglect 581: 51–62. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Gallai, Fabrizio
2013a Discourse Markers in Interpreter-mediated Police Interviews: An Interdisciplinary Approach. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. University of Salford.Google Scholar
Gallai, Fabrizzio
2013b “I’ll Just Intervene When he Finds it a Bit Difficult to Answer.” Exploding the Myth of Literalism in Interpreter-mediated Interviews. ” Investigative Interviewing: Research and Practice 5(1): 57–78.Google Scholar
Gallai, Fabrizio
2016 “Point of View in Free Indirect Thought and in Community Interpreting.” Lingua 175–1761: 97–12. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Hale, Sandra
2004 The Discourse of Court Interpreting. Discourse Practices of the Law, the Witness and the Interpreter. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2007 Community Interpreting. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Heydon, Georgina, and Miranda Lai
2013 “Police Interviews Mediated by Interpreters: An Exercise in Dimishment?” Investigative Interview: Research and Practice 5(2): 82–98.Google Scholar
Holliday, Robin. E., Douglas M. Karen, and Brett Hayes
1999 “Children’s Eye-witness Suggestibility: Memory Trace Strength Revisited.” Cognitive Development 14(3): 443–462. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Inghilleri, Moira
2003 “Habitus, Field and Corpus: Interpreting as a Socially Situated Activity.” Target 15(2): 243–268. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Jacobsen, Bente
2012 “The Significance of Interpreting Modes for Question-answer Dialogues in Court Interpreting.” Interpreting 14(2): 217–241. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Kassin, Saul M., Steven A. Drizin, Thomas Grisso, Gisli H. Gudjonsson, Richard A. Leo, and Alison D. Redlich
2010 “Police-induced Confessions: Risk Factors and Recommendations.” Law and Human Behaviour (34): 3–38. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Keselman, Olga, Ann-Christin Cederborg, Michael E. Lamb, and Örjan Dahlström
2008 “Mediated Communication with Minors in Asylum-Seeking Hearings.” Journal of Refugee Studies 21(1): 103–116. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Keselman, Olga
2009 Restricting Participation. Unaccompanied Children in Interpreter-mediated Asylum Hearings in Sweden. Linköping Studies in Arts and Science: Linköping.Google Scholar
Keselman, Olga, Ann-Christin Cederborg, and Per Linell
2010 “ ‘That is not Necessary for you to Know!’ Negotiation of Participation Status of Unaccompanied Children in Interpreter-mediated Asylum Hearings.” Interpreting (12)11: 84–104.Google Scholar
Keselman, Olga, Ann-Christin Cederborg, Michael E. Lamb, and Örjam Dahlström
2010 “Asylum Seeking Minors in Interpreter-mediated Interviews: What Do They Say and What Happens to Their Responses?” Journal of Child and Family Social Work 21(1): 103–116.Google Scholar
King, Catherine
2015 “Highly Vulnerable Child Suspects. Signed Language Interpreter.” In Children and Justice: Overcoming Language Barriers, ed. by Katalin Balogh and Heidi Salaets. 158–165. Cambridge: Intersentia.Google Scholar
Komter, Martha
2005 “Understanding Problems in an Interpreter-mediated Police Interrogation.” In Ethnographies of Law and Social Control, ed. by Stacy Lee Burns, 203–224. Bingley: Emerald. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Krouglov, Alex
1999 “Politeness and Sociocultural Context.” The Translator 5(2): 285–302. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Lamb, Michael E., Kathleen J. Sternberg, Yael Orbach et al.
2003 “Age Differences in Young Children’s Responses to Open-ended Invitations in the Course of Forensic Interviews.” Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 71(5): 926–934. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Lamb, Michael E., and Deirdre A. Brown
2006 “Conversational Apprentices: Helping Children Become Competent Informants about their Own Experiences.” British Journal of Developmental Psychology 24(1): 215–234. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Lamb, Michael E. et al.
2007 “A Structured Forensic Interview Protocol Improves the Quality and Informativeness of Investigative Interviews with Children: A Review of Research Using the NICHD Investigative Interview Protocol.” Child Abuse & Neglect 31(11–12): 1201–1231. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Lamb, Michael E., Irit Hershkowitz, Yael Orbach et al.
2008 Tell me What Happened: Structured Investigative Interviews of Child Victims and Witnesses. Chichester: Wiley. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Lamb, Michael E., David J. LaRooy, Lindsay C. Malloy et al.
(eds) 2011 Children’s Testimony: A Handbook of Psychological Research and Forensic Practice. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Linell, Per, Linda Jönsson and Cecilia Wadensjö
1992 “Establishing Communicative Contact through a Dialogue Interpreter.” In LSP Communication/Fachsprachliche Kommunikation, ed. by Anette Grindsted and Johannes Wagner. Tübingen: Narr Verlag: 125–42.Google Scholar
LaRooy, David J., Elizabeth C. Ahern, Samantha J. Andrews
2015 “Developmentally Appropriate Interviewing of Highly Vulnerable Children: A Developmental Psychology Perspective.” In Children and Justice: Overcoming Language Barriers, ed. by Katalin Balogh, and Heidi Salaets, 113–131. Cambridge: Intersentia.Google Scholar
Lai, Miranda, and Sedat Mulayim
2014 “Interpreter Linguistic Intervention in the Strategies Employed by Police in Investigative Interviews.” Police Practice and Research 14(4):307–321. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Marschark, Marc, Patricia Sapere, Carol Convertino et al.
2005 “Educational Interpreting: Access and Outcomes.” In Sign Language Interpreting and Interpreter Education: Directions for Research and Practice, ed. by Marc Marschark, Rico Peterson, Elizabeth A. Winston, 57–83. New York: Oxford University Press. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Maryns, Katrijn
2006 The Asylum Speaker: Language in the Belgian Asylum Procedure. Manchester: St. Jerome.Google Scholar
Mason, Ian
2000 “Models and Methods in Dialogue Interpreting Research.” In Intercultural Faultlines. Research Models in Translation Studies I. Textual and Cognitive Aspects, ed. by Maeve Olohan, 215–232. Manchester: St. Jerome.Google Scholar
2012 “Gaze, Positioning and Identity in Interpreter-mediated Dialogues.” In Co-ordinating Participation in Dialogue Interpreting, ed. by Claudio Baraldi and Laura Gavioli. 177–200. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Mason, Ian, Wen Ren
2012 “Power in Face-to-face Interpreting Events.” The Sociological Turn in Translation and Interpreting Studies 7(2): 234–253. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Metzger, Melanie
2002 Sign Language Interpreting. Deconstructing the Myth of Neutrality. Washington: Gallaudet University Press.Google Scholar
Mikkelson, Holly
2010 “Consecutive or Simultaneous? An Analysis of their Use in the Judicial Setting.” Accross the Board 5(1): 4–7.Google Scholar
Ministry of Justice
2011 Achieving Best Evidence in Criminal Proceedings. Guidance on Interviewing Victims and Witnesses, and Guidance on Using Special Measures. Available at: https://​www​.cps​.gov​.uk​/publications​/docs​/best​_evidence​_in​_criminal​_proceedings​.pdf. Last accessed 13 May 2018.
Nakane, Ikuko
2007 “Problems in Communicating the Suspect’s Rights in Interpreted Police Interviews.” Applied Linguistics 28(1) 87–112. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2009 ’The Myth of an Invisible Mediator: An Australian Case Study of English Japanese Police Interpreting.” Portal 6(1) 1–16.Google Scholar
2011 “The Role of Silence in Interpreted Police Interviews.” Journal of Pragmatics 43(9) 2317–2330. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
2014 Interpreter Mediated Police Interviews. A Discourse-Pragmatic Approach. London, New York: Palgrave MacMillan.Google Scholar
National Institute for Child Health and Development
2014 NICHD Protocol. Available at: nichdprotocol​.com​/the​-nichd​-protocol/ Last accessed 13 May 2018.
Nilsen, Anne-Birgitta
2013 “Exploring Interpreting for Young Children.” The International Journal of Translation and Interpreting Research 5(2): 14–29. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Pavlenko, Aneta
2008 “ ‘I’m Very not about the Law Part.’ Non-native Speakers of English and the Miranda Warnings.” TESOL Quarterly 42(1): 1–30. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Pöllabauer, Sonja
2004 “Interpreting in Asylum Hearings: Issues of Role, Responsibility and Power.” Interpreting 6(2): 143–180. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Poole, Debra A., Bruck, Maggie, Pipe, Margaret Ellen
2011 “Forensic Interviewing Aids: Do Props Help Children Answer Questions About Touching?” Current Directions in Psychological Science 201: 11–15. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Russell, S.
2004 “Three’s a Crowd: Shifting Dynamics in the Interpreted Interview.” In Language in the Legal Process, ed. by Janet Cotterill, 111–126, Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Russell, Sonia
2000 “ ‘Let Me Put it Simply…’: the Case for a Standard Translation of the Police Caution and its Explanation.” International Journal of Speech, Language and the Law 7(1): 26–48. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Scottish Government
2011 Guidance on Joint Investigative Interviewing of Child Witnesses in Scotland. Available at : www​.gov​.scot​/Publications​/2011​/12​/16102728​/0 Last accessed 13 May 2018.
Sternberg, Kathleen. J., Michael E. Lamb, Yael Orbach, et al.
2001 “Use of a Structured Investigative Protocol Enhances Young Children’s Free-recall Prompts in the Course of Forensic Interviews.” Journal of Applied Psychology 86(5): 997–1005. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Sternberg, Kathleen J., Philip W. Esplin, Yael Orbach, and Irit Herschkowitz
2002 “Using a Structured Protocol to Improve the Quality of Investigative Interviews.” In Memory and Suggestibility in the Forensic Interview, ed. by Mitchell L. Eisen, Jodie A. Quas, Gail. S. Goodman, 409–436. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Solm, Lucy
2015 “Interpreting Techniques.” In: Children and Justice: Overcoming Language Barriers, ed. by Katalin Balogh, and Heidi Salaets. Cambridge: Intersentia.Google Scholar
Tebble, Helen
2012 “Interpreting or Interfering?” In Co-ordinating Participation in Dialogue Interpreting, ed. by Claudio Baraldi, and Laura Gavioli. 177–200. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Teoh, Yee-San, Michael E. Lamb
2010 “Preparing Children for Investigative Interviews: Rapport Building. Instruction and Evaluation.” Applied Developmental Science 14(3): 154–163. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
Tipton, Rebecca
2010 “On Trust: Relationships of Trust in Interpreter-mediated Social Work Encounters.” In Text and Context: Essays on Translation and Interpreting in Honour of Ian Mason, ed. by Mona Baker, Maeve Olohan, and María Calzada Perez. 188–208. Manchester: St Jerome.Google Scholar
Tribe, Rachel, and Marsha Sanders
2003 “Training Issues for Interpreters Working in Mental Health.” In Undertaking Mental Health Work Using Interpreters, ed. by Rachel Tribe, Marsha Sanders, and Hitesh Raval, 54–68. New York: Brunner-Routledge.Google Scholar
The Ministry of Justice
2011 The Ministry of Justice’s Guidelines on Achieving Best Evidence (ABE). Available at www​.cps​.gov​.uk​/publications​/docs​/best​_evidence​_in_​criminal​_proceedings​.pdf. Last accessed 13 May 2018.
Virág, György
2015 “Interpreted Interviews with Highly Vulnerable Children.” In Children and Justice: Overcoming Language Barriers, ed. by Katalin Balogh and Heidi Salaets, 77–112. Cambridge: Intersentia. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
United Nations
2000 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Available at www​.ohchr​.org​/en​/professionalinterest​/pages​/crc​.aspx. Last accessed 13 May 2018.
Wadensjö, Cecilia
1997 “English Recycled Information as Questioning Strategy: Pitfalls in Interpreter-mediated Talk.” In The Critical Link: Interpreters in the Community, ed. by Silvana. A. Carr, Roda P. Roberts, and Aideen Dufour, 35–52. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. CrossrefGoogle Scholar
1998 Interpreting as Interaction: On Dialogue Interpreting in Immigration Hearings and Medical Encounters. Linköping: University of Linköping.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 1 other publications

Monteoliva-García, Eloísa
2020. The collaborative and selective nature of interpreting in police interviews with stand-by interpreting. Interpreting. International Journal of Research and Practice in Interpreting 22:2 ► pp. 262 ff. Crossref logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 11 november 2021. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.