DRAWINGS IN FORENSIC

INVESTIGATIONS OF CHILD
SEXUAL ABUSE
Nur Amira bt Hanafi
AD702
2014276284

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First step in most child protecting services (CPS) investigations.

Yield vital information for evidence in court.

More focused and used during assessment portion of investigation.

Involves only the children who are the subject of the investigation.

FORENSIC INVESTIGATION

Fact-finding endeavours that merit meticulous and detail inquiry.

Forensic interviewers adhere to specific standards.

Custodial matters require the skills of forensic evaluators for a

neutral and objective evaluation.

Objective of a court-ordered process assist the court in decision

making (American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry,
1990).

FORENSIC ART THERAPY

Forensic art therapy integrates art therapy practice and theory within
a legal context and standard forensic procedure and protocol.

Non-traditional art therapy-extending its application beyond

evaluation and treatment.

Fact-finding purposes and investigative.

Assist in the resolution of legal matters.

The forensic art therapist retains a neutral, objective stance.

Findings may be presented at court.

FORENSIC VS CLINICAL
Forensic Procedures

Clinical Procedures

Goal to obtain information as Goal to assess and provide treatment

reliable and accurate as possible
of symptoms
Fact-finding focus

Therapeutic focus

Objectivity, neutrality, avoidance of Empathy, therapeutic alliance, support

biases
of client
Court is the client

Child is the client

Recorded

Private

DRAWINGS IN FORENSIC
INVESTIGATION

Drawings have been identified as enhancing and increasing the

productivity of the interview process (Farley, 1987).

A childs experience can be expressed pictorially through a drawing

which can later serve as evidentiary material (Burgess, Hartman,
Wolbert, & Grant, 1987; Cohen-Liebman, 1995; Gussak & CohenLiebman, 2001).

Drawings are considered novel, scientific evidence and are subject to

a special admissibility hearing in some jurisdictions (CohenLiebman, 1994).

Human-figure drawings have been identified as helpful to

interviewers in eliciting information from children (Haralambie, 1999

USE OF DRAWINGS IN FORENSIC

INTERVIEWS
Establishing comfort
Clarification
Enhancing recall of detail
Prodding memory
Reducing intensity
Documentation
Refocusing the child
Evidence

ADVANTAGES OF DRAWINGS IN
FORENSIC INVESTIGATIONS
1.

As interviewing tools

2.

Contribute to the capacity of charge enhancement

3.

Provide evidentiary material as judiciary aids (Cohen-Liebman,

2002; Gussak & Cohen-Liebman, 2001).

DRAWINGS AS INTERVIEWING
TOOLS

Drawings are used as supports in the investigation of a legal matter.

During investigative interviews and courtroom testimony, props are often used
to help children describe events (Myers, 1998).

Help facilitate the development of rapport and establish trust between the child
and the interviewer.

Drawings were demonstrated to supplement and complement the five phases of

the Common Interview Guideline (CIG) identified as Rapport Building,
Developmental Assessment, Anatomy Identification, Fact-finding, and Closure.

Bourg et al. (1999) state that communication with tools cannot effectively
substitute for statements, but they can provide value for clarity when
verbalization is limited.

DRAWINGS AS INTERVIEWING TOOLS

CASE EXAMPLE:

Figure 1: Drawing by 6-year-old boy molested by 19-year-old male.

DRAWINGS AS CHARGE
ENHANCEMENTS

Charge enhancements details or elements of an event that may

contribute to the determination of charges.

Identified as threats, bribes, rewards, coercion, pressure, physical

harm, force, weapon, abduction, pornography, sexual aids, media,
mapping (a diagram of the scene/event), witnesses, additional
participants, and additional victims.

The information obtained from the graphic depiction may influence

the filing of charges.

DRAWINGS AS CHARGE ENHANCEMENTS

CASE EXAMPLE:

Figure 2. Example of charge enhancement: Drawing by a 6-year-old girl of the place (a school bus) where the
abuse happened.

DRAWINGS AS JUDICIARY AIDS

The childs identification of pictorial elements show that a drawing

as a piece of evidence that is legally and clinically convincing that
then admissible in court (Faller, 1993).

Drawings can evoke a profound and intense response by both judge

and jury.

Drawings may contain the effects of the abuse, details of situational

factors contributing to the abuse, the content of the abuse, depicting
who, what, when, where and how, provide details, participants,
observers, and other victims.

INAPPROPRIATE USES OF
DRAWINGS IN FORENSIC
INTERVIEWS

Therapy forensic interview differs in function, purpose and scope

from a therapeutic session.

Independently for evaluation Must integrate the verbal

disclosure.

Fantasy Focus the child in the realm of reality whenever possible.

CONCLUSION

The literature indicates that sole reliance on a childs drawing as

confirmation of sexual abuse is not plausible at this time (CohenLiebman, 1995; Levick, 1986; Malchiodi, 1990, 1998).

Drawings have been used in the evaluation and assesment of sexual

abuse most often in the form of interview aids, props, and
communication tools.

Investigative interview which includes drawing tasks provide insight

into a childs coping skills, level of trauma, emotional reaction to the
abuse, andabuse-specific information (Cohen-Liebman, 1999).

The increased acceptance of drawings in investigative interviews is due

to the recognition of the filed of art therapy and its expansion and
collaboration with other disciplines (Smart, 1986).