Exploring Forensic Interview Techniques for Juvenile Victims of Human Trafficking
Faculty Mentor Name
Edwin Cochran
Format Preference
Poster
Abstract
Human trafficking has previously been an underappreciated issue, and prior to 2015 there was no real foundation for child forensic interviewing. Upon the publication of the Child Forensic Interviewing Guide and the Forensic Interviewer’s Toolkit, there were more recommended guidelines in practice. However, these mainly relate to child abuse, assault, and neglect, and most of the literature surrounding child forensic interviewing deals with the sexual abuse of children as the crime. There are little to no articles that relate to child forensic interviews with human trafficking as the crime perpetrated. Children do not make up the majority of victims of trafficking, but of nearly 12,000 tips reported to the National Human Trafficking Hotline in 2024, around 2,600 involved minors. However, there are challenges to interviewing children, and in particular teenagers, who often want to be viewed as adults. Teenagers are less likely to ask for clarification and are more likely to exhibit reluctance when something is perceived as condescending. There is limited literature regarding forensic interviewing techniques for children and teenagers, making this a subject worth exploring.
Our hope for this project is to contribute to the existing literature surrounding forensic interviewing techniques for juvenile victims of human trafficking. The goal is to identify reliable techniques, understand practices that are currently being used, and present our findings to spread understanding of juvenile forensic interviewing techniques grounded in real-life practice and supported empirically. We want to emphasize the importance of avoiding the retraumatization of minor victims of human trafficking while effectively gathering the information that law enforcement needs to support investigations and that courts may require during trials. We expect to have three deliverables at the completion of this project: a complete literature review, a research paper that compares the existing literature to real-life application in local agencies, and a presentation for those agencies to expand their knowledge and understanding of this topic.
Exploring Forensic Interview Techniques for Juvenile Victims of Human Trafficking
Human trafficking has previously been an underappreciated issue, and prior to 2015 there was no real foundation for child forensic interviewing. Upon the publication of the Child Forensic Interviewing Guide and the Forensic Interviewer’s Toolkit, there were more recommended guidelines in practice. However, these mainly relate to child abuse, assault, and neglect, and most of the literature surrounding child forensic interviewing deals with the sexual abuse of children as the crime. There are little to no articles that relate to child forensic interviews with human trafficking as the crime perpetrated. Children do not make up the majority of victims of trafficking, but of nearly 12,000 tips reported to the National Human Trafficking Hotline in 2024, around 2,600 involved minors. However, there are challenges to interviewing children, and in particular teenagers, who often want to be viewed as adults. Teenagers are less likely to ask for clarification and are more likely to exhibit reluctance when something is perceived as condescending. There is limited literature regarding forensic interviewing techniques for children and teenagers, making this a subject worth exploring.
Our hope for this project is to contribute to the existing literature surrounding forensic interviewing techniques for juvenile victims of human trafficking. The goal is to identify reliable techniques, understand practices that are currently being used, and present our findings to spread understanding of juvenile forensic interviewing techniques grounded in real-life practice and supported empirically. We want to emphasize the importance of avoiding the retraumatization of minor victims of human trafficking while effectively gathering the information that law enforcement needs to support investigations and that courts may require during trials. We expect to have three deliverables at the completion of this project: a complete literature review, a research paper that compares the existing literature to real-life application in local agencies, and a presentation for those agencies to expand their knowledge and understanding of this topic.