IRE 2019 Tip Sheet

ABUSE INVESTIGATIONS | ​Navigating the trauma landscape

Understanding the psychology of victimization - whether it involves sex abuse, police brutality
or war-zone atrocities - deepens your investigative rigor. It opens doors. Broadens your line of
inquiry. Allows you to nail down more facts. Keeps you from stumbling into trap doors.
Study up on PTSD and other anxiety orders​.
Symptoms can grip victims for years, sometimes decades. Knowledge of flashbacks,
hypervigilance and avoidance, for example, helps you explore their experiences in more
meaningful detail and to treat them with greater care.
https://dartcenter.org/topic/ptsd-mental-health
Build trust with survivors using TLC
*Transparency means informed consent: clearly explaining your reporting process and what to
expect. They will choose how they will be identified. They will understand you’ll need to do
multiple interviews. You’ll need to contact their abusers. Set a “safe harbor’’ tone during the
first interview.
*Listening means empathic listening: putting down the notebook at times to connect on a
human level; sharing a common experience if you’re comfortable doing so.
*Compassion means sensitivity to their emotions and boundaries: Trauma often robs victims of
a sense of control. Unlike routine interviews, you’ll give them more control over the process, by
allowing them to choose interview times and locations. To take as many breaks as they need.
Interview tips:
● Think of the first “interview” as a get-to-know you. Consider offering this off-the-record
(you can always go back later and ask for good quotes on the record if you go forward).
Invite them to ask questions. You’re the one being interviewed for the job of telling their
story. Be genuine.
● In the first real interview, ask if the person wants to launch into telling it themselves or
have you ask questions. If they start talking, don’t interrupt.
● If you’re leading them along with questions, go in chronological order. Start further back
then you may need to get comfortable talking before launching into the trauma. Ask
about their family histories, work history. You will understand more about them and
how they respond to experiences.
● When you get to the trauma point:
o Ask something along the lines of: “In as much detail as you’re comfortable, what
happened”
● The tears will come. That’s OK. Offer to take breaks. Respect their choice either way.
Document the experience - and the aftermath.
In many cases there are no witnesses, and years will have passed since the abuse. You’ll
corroborate their accounts by interviewing the people – such as friends, family and therapists –
in whom they confided. You’ll ask for diaries, calendar entries, phone bills, photographs.
Empathy exercises.
After the initial interview, spend some time visualizing parts of their experience. Transport
yourself to that time and place. What would you want to be asked? It will better inform your
questions. It will imbue your writing with authentic detail.
Find sherpas.
​ onsult with experts on the culture or institution you’re exploring. Find the sociological studies,
C
the advocacy research, the veterans or retirees.​ ​(Do your homework, learn as much as you can
about the context and don’t impose your own framework/bias on the situation).
Practice self care.
It’s OK -- and normal -- to feel upset, angry, and exhausted during the course of these
interviews. Find a support group. Reach out to a Dart fellow who’s explored the same territory.
Remind yourself this is important work. Pace yourself – set aside personal time when you won’t
talk to sources.
https://dartcenter.org/topic/self-care-peer-support

Miles Moffeit ​mmoffeit@dallasnews.com

Sarah Smith ​sarah.smith@chron.com
Anjali Kamat ​akamat@wnyc.org
Reading List | ​Moving investigative narratives built on
authentic details of the trauma experience
Subjects: Sex abuse. Solitary confinement. Wrongful convictions. War-zone atrocities.

Hundreds of sex abuse allegations found in fundamental Baptist churches across U.S.

https://www.star-telegram.com/living/religion/article222576310.html

“We are nothing but machines to them.’’ Bangladesh's apparel factories have working conditions so
oppressive they're killing people

https://www.typeinvestigations.org/investigation/2016/12/15/nothing-machines/

The gray box: the inhumanity of solitary confinement

https://www.coloradoindependent.com/2017/09/25/colorado-solitary-confinement-gray-box-isolation/

A Dallas soccer star says her coach abused her. Her teammates have stories, too

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/investigations/2019/05/19/weight-secret-dallas-soccer-star-ursulin
e-dfeeters-coach-abused-decades-ago

Mending Master’s Broken Life

https://www.denverpost.com/2008/12/26/mending-masters-broken-life/

Betrayal in the Ranks: How the military punishes victims of sex assault and domestic violence

https://extras.denverpost.com/justice/tdp_betrayal.pdf

Sexual assault on campus

https://publicintegrity.org/education/sexual-assault-on-campus/reporters-toolkit-investigating-sexual-a
ssault-on-your-campus/