WOULD a child open up to a robot? A team at Mississippi State University is suggesting using robots to question children in investigations of child abuse. But not everyone is convinced.
Children鈥檚 accounts are often vital evidence in cases of abuse. But even specially trained police interviewers can find it tough to stay neutral when talking to children. This can result in leading questions and bad evidence, because children can be .
The stakes are high: poorly conducted interviews can lead to someone being convicted of a crime they didn鈥檛 commit, or a child being returned to an abusive environment.
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and Zachary Henkel at Mississippi State University say robots could reduce bias and lead to more reliable outcomes.
Best-practice guidelines for police interviewers in child abuse cases include asking open-ended questions and maintaining neutral body language, facial expressions and vocal tone. Such procedures , but can be hard to follow. A into child sexual abuse cases in the UK described police compliance with guidelines as 鈥減oor鈥�.
鈥淭he techniques are not perfect, because humans are not perfect,鈥� says Bethel. She and Henkel suggest that an interviewer could remotely control a robot that asks questions. That way, the interviewer can focus on asking the right questions, without worrying about their delivery. More advanced future robots might be able to conduct the whole conversation. 鈥淩obots will always follow the procedure, no matter the situation,鈥� says Bethel.
鈥淚nterviewers find it difficult to talk to children who have been abused. Robots don鈥檛鈥�
Robots could also monitor a child in ways an interviewer can鈥檛, using sensors to record body movement to help see if they are upset or uncomfortable.
And there is evidence that children will open up to a robot. In , children were as willing to share a secret with a robot as they were with a human interviewer. , children were more willing to share details about bullying with a robot.
This may not always be a good thing. 鈥淭here is a risk of children being tricked into disclosing information that they do not wish to disclose,鈥� says Henkel. Testimonies acquired through deception would be inadmissible as evidence, so it would be important for children to understand that their conversations with a robot will be shared with authorities.
One of the biggest hurdles could be if robots inadvertently encourage creative storytelling. 鈥淚nterview rooms are normally very plain, because when they are not, people embellish their stories more often,鈥� says Henkel. We don鈥檛 know if a robot could have the same effect. 鈥淐hildren might really want to continue talking with the robot, so could say things that aren鈥檛 true to continue doing so.鈥�
Bethel and Henkel presented their work at the in Vienna, Austria, this month.
at the University of Cambridge isn鈥檛 convinced that robots would be better than adults at interviewing children. His research focuses on getting high-quality information from children by creating a caring but non-suggestive relationship during interviews. 鈥淚 am doubtful that this will be easily achieved [with robots],鈥� he says.
But at Coventry University, UK, who trains police interviewers in Cyprus, says robots could bring huge benefits, with more research. 鈥淚nterviewers say that it鈥檚 difficult to talk face to face with children who have been abused. Robots won鈥檛 have that problem,鈥� she says.
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淩obots could help police interview children鈥�
