The sociological dynamics of interaction between police and alleged victims of sexual abuse

The criminal justice system has been accused of 'failing to protect victims' of sexual violence (NSPCC, 2022), over the last two decades, after convictions fell by 64% between 2016 and 2020. During 2020 the number of victims of sexual violence killed and seriously injured as a result of being not identified in the police interview has risen significantly with 57% of women killed per week in the UK representing an increase of 18% compared to 2019 (Guardian, 2021). Despite these problems, Achieving Best Evidence' (ABE) interviewing has remained the preferred method of obtaining information from victims in cases involving sexual abuse since 1992 (COP, 2018). Within the context of concerns around the criminal justice processes' response to cases of sexual abuse and assault, and to understand the dynamics of the police- victim interaction in real-time, the primary aim of the proposed project is to compare what is recommended in UK national guidelines to achieve 'best evidence' in ABE interviews, and how police adhere to and depart from this in practice.
ABE interviewing is a management strategy utilized by law enforcement agencies with victims and witnesses of sexual violence with the aim of obtaining a truthful account of what happened (APP, 2018). However, claiming to modify Goffman's work (1959) on impression management in 'best practice' guidelines, it is a communicative technique designed to determine deception (Depaulo, 1992). ABE thus can be seen as a police strategy used primarily to deal with the risk of false allegations. However, ABE 'best practice' guidelines are based on experimental evidence from psychological research rather than studying what happens in real-time (Sandberg, 2010). When police test the evidence to root out deception for court rather than elicit narratives through understanding (Antaki et al, 2015), this can facilitate an environment where victims are less accurate in disclosing their account. Consequently, the risk of 'false allegations' could be an interactional outcome to do with the ABE method rather than 'complainants' telling lies. To examine these issues, the study will attend to three research questions:
How are the social categorisations 'victim' vs 'complainant' constructed, deployed, and contested in ABE interviewing?
How are the power dynamics between police and alleged victim of sexual abuse managed in ABE interviews?
How are the social categorisations 'victim' vs 'complainant' used and achieved in ABE interviewing?
In order to answer these research questions, this project will engage with West Midlands police. West Midlands police who have provisionally agreed to accessing a medium selection of anonymised ABE interview transcripts subject to a formal meeting with the proposed supervisor(s) of this PhD project. Using West Midlands police as the case study area, this project will adopt an ethnographic approach and will have three phases. The first phase will involve an examination of ABE formal guidelines to gauge an understanding of the frameworks used to conceptualize what counts as 'best practice' in ABE interviewing. The second phase will conduct semi-structured interviews with police and victims and analyse their ABE interview transcripts. Finally, in adopting a critical approach, ABE interview transcripts will be analysed by combining critical discourse and conversational analysis with a linguistic slant.
The project seeks to make a crucial contribution to policy and practice by offering critical insight into what happens in real-life unfolding interviews between alleged victims of sexual abuse and police officers. In doing so, the project seeks to propose an alternative interview model that is evidence-based. Further, with this novel understanding, the project can improve outcomes for victims and police by providing effective forms of interviewing to gain an accurate account of events.