ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses some of the main points relating to children as witnesses, and in particular focuses on how child victims and witnesses of crime should be interviewed. It discusses some of the central areas of research on child memory and testimony. It also focuses on memory development, executive functions and infantile amnesia as well as the effects of repeated interviews, and describes some of the most promising protocols aimed at standardising and improving child forensic interviews. The chapter reviews the recent evaluations of the Children's House model developed in Iceland for conducting child sexual abuse investigations and compare the different approaches that the different Nordic countries have employed. The Children's House model has also been launched in Norway and Sweden, and in the Åland islands which are part of Finland. Practice varies in the Nordic countries in terms of who conducts the child interviews and what kind of professional background these interviewers have.
