In Subproject 1, we explore the role of culture in South African police interviews. We first organised a focus group with 12 international academic experts and South African cultural informants to identify cultural factors for eyewitness interviews. The insights from this focus group and a critical literature review informed a framework of culture-dependent and intercultural communication factors in cross-cultural interviews. This framework was published in Open Research Europe and served as a basis for the qualitative coding of 100 video-recorded eyewitness interviews conducted by the South African Police Services. The thematic content analysis focused on two research questions explored in two scientific articles, one relating to cultural differences in eyewitness testimony and one relating to cross-cultural communication issues.
In Subproject 2, we examine witness statements at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). We first organised an interdisciplinary expert panel, bringing together experts in the field of international law, legal psychology, anthropology, and clinical psychology, to discuss common cultural challenges that arise during trials in international criminal tribunals. Their insightful discussions resulted in a list of possible culture-dependent variables that may influence different parts of trial proceedings. In addition, we conducted a scoping review of the relevant literature to identify how culture influences testimony, which was published in a scientific journal. Using the outcomes from the expert panel and the scoping review, a coding scheme of culture-dependent variables and their relevant definitions was created. This coding scheme formed the basis for a thematic analysis of 64 transcripts from the ICTR. This analysis is presented in three scientific articles: one on cross-cultural communication in the courtroom, one on coded language and euphemisms, and one on temporal and spatial aspects of testimony.
In Subproject 3, we focus on cultural factors in asylum seeker statements. We first conducted a literature review on the role of culture in asylum credibility assessments, which was published in a scientific journal. We then conducted an eyewitness experiment comparing the performance of 64 participants from sub-Saharan Africa and Western Europe. The findings from this experiment are presented in two scientific articles, one on event recall and one on the identification of persons and objects. To make the findings more applicable to asylum contexts, we conducted a second experiment comparing how 162 participants from urban and rural samples from sub-Saharan Africa and Western Europe report about their home town and about an emotional event they have experienced, with questions comparable to those posed in asylum interviews. The findings are presented in two scientific articles, one on reporting of home town information and one on reporting of emotional events.
Subproject 4 brought together the insights gained in the other subprojects and from the broader literature. We organised an academic-practitioner workshop to provide input on a cross-cultural training programme for investigative interviewers. Combining the input from the workshop, our own research findings, and insights from other disciplines, we developed a two-day training programme on cross-cultural interviewing, which we tested in three sessions with 30 investigators. The findings from this integrative subproject are presented in two scientific articles, one on the qualitative experiences and feedback from the training and one on the outcomes of mock witness interviews pre- and post-training.
