The Barnahus Network and The European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control, affiliated with the United Nations (HEUNI), in collaboration with the Implemendez project, invite you to this webinar workshop to review a draft guidance for investigative interviews with child suspects. Child suspects occupy a uniquely vulnerable and legally sensitive position.
They are simultaneously:
Holders of strong fair trial rights, including the right to silence and protection against self-incrimination;
Developmentally vulnerable individuals at heightened risk of coercion, misunderstanding, and false confessions and with developing decision-making capacities, including possibly being coerced into committing the crime they are suspected of;
Potentially in need of protection, welfare intervention, or therapeutic support;
Required to take part in a criminal justice process which often mostly follow adult-oriented procedures.
This webinar will examine best-practice interviewing in the context of child suspects. The fundament for developing recommendations in this context is based on the Mendez principles and recommendations of best practice for interviewing child victims and witnesses. However, applying these recommendations requires careful consideration of the particular vulnerabilities of the group in questions, for instance:
Tensions between rapport-building and social support vs preventing coercion;
How to reconcile “accuracy” ground rules with the right not to self-incriminate;
National practices;
To what extent guidance for child suspects should differ structurally from victim protocols.
The discussions on the above will inform the drafting of a guidance for interviewing child suspects, to ensure it takes into consideration current law and practice, and can be adapted for use throughout Europe.
Date and time: 27 April 2026 at 10:00 CET to 12:00 CET
Survey: please complete this survey by 23 April 2026, which will help us to prepare the topics for discussion.
Provisional agenda:
A rights-based perspective
Presenting the unique position of child suspects in investigative interviews.
Olivia Lind Haldorson, Barnahus Network
A practitioner’s perspective
Presenting current practice in Finland, and also what knowledge and guidance that investigative interviewers currently are lacking.
Saara Asmundela, Finnish Police Board
A draft guidance for interviews with child suspects
Presenting a draft protocol for interviewing child suspects, along with introducing existing guidance and research.
Julia Korkman, HEUNI and Åbo Akademi University, with commentary remarks by assistant professor Miet Vanderhallen, University of Maastricht and Antwerp University
Results from the survey on this topic
Shawnna von Blixen-Finecke, Barnahus Network
Discussion: based on the survey questions plus other questions that come up during the webinar. Additional feedback if not covered during the meeting is welcome via email.
Moderation by Shawnna von Blixen-Finecke
Who should join:
- Investigative interviewers, and professionals involved in the process of interviewing children including child suspects
- Children’s rights experts
- Legal experts
- Researchers with interest into children in the legal system and encountering children who commit / are suspected of committing crimes
- Others who have interest, experience, and expertise in ensuring that child suspects have full access to their rights as a child and as a defendant during the investigative process.
Please feel free to forward this invitation to relevant colleagues. Participants should be prepared to discuss the process and situation for child suspects, to share experience and to discuss existing gaps in knowledge and practice.
Read in advance:
· A draft guidance will be distributed in advance of the meeting
· Hershkowitz I, Lamb ME. Interviewing young offenders about child-on-child sexual abuse. Development and Psychopathology. 2024;36(5):2464-2480.doi:10.1017/S095457942400066X
This webinar is organised as part of the E-ViVi project, which is strengthening access to justice and upholding a standard of respect for all parties — suspects, victims, and witnesses — both adults and children — in the criminal justice process.