Exploring interviews with adolescent victims of human trafficking: interviewer questions and adolescent reluctance

Little is known about best practices for forensic interviewing of adolescent victims of exploitation. The current study examined the types of questions asked in interviews with adolescent victims conducted by police interviewers or federal forensic interview specialists, as well as how adolescents responded. Forensic interviews were transcribed (N = 47, M _age = 15.93, SD = 3.26, range = 12-19 at time of victimisation) and coded. Interviewer prompts were coded for question type. Adolescent responses were coded for response format (open, closed, elaborated, don't know), length (word count), uncertainty, and reluctance. Results indicated that federal forensic interviewers tended to use more appropriate methods of questioning, including greater use of open-ended prompts, compared to police interviewers. Adolescents were more likely to elaborate and provide longer responses to federal forensic interviewers compared to police interviewers and were more likely to respond reluctantly to open-ended questions. Implications for forensic interviews with adolescents are discussed.