Improving the delivery of justice for vicitims, witnesses and society: Field Trials of the Self Administered Interview Recall Tool

In response to the problem of obtaining high quality witness evidence quickly, efficiently, and with minimal police resources available, Gabbert, Hope and Fisher have developed a recall tool, called the Self-Administered Interview (SAI), that can be used to elicit a comprehensive initial statement from witnesses at the scene of a crime.

The SAI is a protocol of instructions and questions that support eyewitnesses when recollecting and recording their memories of an incident. Across an extensive research programme the SAI has consistently been found to strengthen episodic memory such that forgetting is reduced, and individuals are inoculated against misleading post-event information. Such benefits are likely to transfer to real-world witnessing situations.

The primary aim of the project is to conduct field trials with witnesses to actual crime incidents. The research project will explore the real-world benefits of the SAI as an evidence-based, practical and effective tool in the field. A second objective is to deliver effective and appropriate knowledge transfer so that end-users are aware of the SAI product, the key supporting research, and ultimately, the advantages of the SAI as a tool for the early elicitation of high quality information from witnesses.