In victim interview guidelines, which type of questions should be used to avoid leading the witness?

In victim interview guidelines, which type of questions should be used to avoid leading the witness?

• A. Open-Ended Questions
• B. Yes/No Questions
• C. Leading Questions
• D. Forced Choice Questions

Answer: (A)

Open-ended questions invite the witness to describe events in their own words, letting memory come out freely rather than being guided toward a specific answer. This approach yields richer, more accurate detail—what happened, the sequence, what was seen and heard, and how the witness felt—while minimizing the interviewer’s influence on the report. Yes/No questions can prematurely close off memory and miss information, leading questions push the witness toward a predetermined response, and forced-choice questions force a selection that may not reflect what actually occurred. A useful prompt would be something like, “Tell me everything you remember about the incident, from the beginning,” which encourages full recall without bias.

Open-ended questions invite the witness to describe events in their own words, letting memory come out freely rather than being guided toward a specific answer. This approach yields richer, more accurate detail—what happened, the sequence, what was seen and heard, and how the witness felt—while minimizing the interviewer’s influence on the report. Yes/No questions can prematurely close off memory and miss information, leading questions push the witness toward a predetermined response, and forced-choice questions force a selection that may not reflect what actually occurred. A useful prompt would be something like, “Tell me everything you remember about the incident, from the beginning,” which encourages full recall without bias.