Child maltreatment and forensic interview room in Turkey

Abstract

Child maltreatment is a very common social problem in today’s world. There are four common types of child maltreatment such as physical abuse, sexual abuse including sex trafficking, emotional abuse, and threatened abuse or neglect. One of the most common forms of child treatment is exposing a child to sexual abuse. In cases of sexual abuse, there are mostly no eyewitness other than the child and the perpetrator, which increases the importance of the child’s testimony. It is an important issue to have a healthy forensic interview with the child in a suitable environment and by a professional staff who has been trained in this subject. In recent years in Turkey, child-friendly forensic interview rooms have been established in courthouses by the Ministry of Justice in order to conduct forensic interview with children who are victims of sexual abuse and other vulnerable groups. The forensic assessment, interview, and related aspects were explained by giving Turkey model as an example.