Childrens’ report pattern from witnessing homicidal violence – the effect of repeated experience and repeated interviews

Abstract: The aim of the present study was to examine childrens’ report pattern after witnessing homicidal violence and whether witnessing repeated violence have an effect on the childrens’ report. In addition, the aim was also to study whether repeated interviews with the child leads to a more detailed report. The results revealed that the majority of the children reported a great amount of details about what happened before, during, and after the homicide in the police interviews, where most of the children provided great amount of details concerning sensitive information (i.e., severe and critical information) about the violence. Witnessing repeated violence did not significantly affect the amount of details given. Repeated interviews did not affect the amount of details provided. These findings, which add important information to research on childrens’ memory of violence, are discussed in detail.