Forensic Child Sex Interviews are very commonly used in the military.
In these types of cases, the defense lawyer is probably looking to get two immediate answers to questions: (1) is my client capable of molesting a child? And (2) If my client is innocent, why would the child lie?
Cases like this frequently hinge on the forensic interview of the child. It provides a foundation upon which the investigation and prosecution are based, and they provide critical evidence at trial.
I’ve had the unfortunate experience of finding that the involved child advocate/interviewer is so biased that they only conducted a cursory interview and prejudiced the entire case from the start. I had one memorable case where the interviewer’s qualifications were that she attended a one-week online course and one weekend in-person class. I’m sorry, but that amount of training does not qualify someone to conduct these types of interviews. It’s presumed that the interviewer has quality training, but don’t rely on it.
The defense lawyer needs to know the experience level of the interviewer and obtain copies of the video interview. It’s too important to overlook.