Survey Questionnaire Part 1—Respondent Demographics
Ninety-nine police officers with experience of investigating both child and adult homicide cases from 23 different police forces across England and Wales took part in the present study. As can be seen in Table 1, 90.80% of those included in the present study described their ethnicity as White British, White or White European. The majority of respondents were detectives of differing rank ranging from Detective Constable (DC) to Detective Chief Superintendent (DCS) with a further 11.10% of respondents holding different roles (namely scenes of crime officers). Of the total, 78.8% (n = 78) stated that they were married and 83% had children.
Table 1 Respondent demographic information
A variety of descriptive and inferential statistics was employed using IBM SPSS Statistics 19. Parametric statistics were employed within this dataset despite the use of Likert scales due to the fact that research has evidenced that two-tailed parametric analyses are in fact robust enough to handle non-normally distributed data (Glass et al. 1972). More specifically, recent research has advocated the use of the t test with Likert scales and the majority of the analyses undertaken in this article are t tests (De Winter and Dodou 2010). Furthermore, Cohen’s d (Cohen 1988) was calculated for all applicable analyses to measure effect sizes with a score of 0.2 indicating a small effect, 0.5 a medium effect and 0.8 a large effect.
Survey Questionnaire Part Two—Investigative Experience
Prior to completing the various five-point scale questions regarding the emotional and cognitive effects of homicide investigation, respondents were asked to state their investigative experience in years. Descriptive statistical analysis found that the average amount of experience respondents had of investigating suspicious death cases was 11.86 years (SD, 6.82, n = 99). The average number of cases respondents had investigated where the victim was an adult was found to be 30.66 cases (SD = 31.86, n = 58), more than four times the average number of suspicious deaths where the victim was a child (M = 7.03 cases, SD, 8.83, n = 73). The average number of unsolved investigations which respondents had worked on where the victim was an adult was found to be 2.37 cases (SD, 4.87, n = 86). Where the victim was a child was again much smaller at 0.51 cases (SD, 1.20, n = 88). The ratio of adult to child investigations found in the present study reflects the general patterns for adult and child homicide in England and Wales (Brookman 2005). The average time that had passed since the respondents last investigated an adult homicide was found to be 8.58 months (SD = 16.46, n = 91), whereas for the last child homicide investigation, it was far more distant at 22.79 months (SD = 41.85, n = 94).
Survey Questionnaire Part 3—the Cognitive and Emotional Stressors with Investigating Homicide
Table 2 displays the mean and standard deviations for the respondents’ responses to the five-point scale questions investigating the cognitive and emotional stressors, alongside a group of optional methods and ways with which respondents might deal with these in adult and child homicide investigations. Paired sample t tests were conducted to examine whether respondents reported differences in the stress effects that investigating adult and child homicide had on them.
Table 2 Paired sample t tests for the respondents’ responses to questions investigating the effect of both adult and child homicide investigations
As can be seen in Table 2, statistically significant differences were found regarding the pressure felt by respondents when investigating the two different types of homicide, with respondents stating that they feel more pressure to solve an adult homicide quickly than they do a child homicide. A significant difference was also identified relating to the level of complexity experienced in the two types of homicide investigation, with child homicide cases considered to be the more complex and demanding. Respondents also reported that they found the emotional effects of investigating child homicide significantly harder to deal with than that of adult homicides with the level of intrusive thoughts when not at work reported as being higher for child homicide cases. Finally, respondents reported that they tended to use the investigative guidance manuals more when investigating the death of a child than that of an adult, probably best explained by a combination of the perceived complexity and the relative rareness of child homicide by comparison with adult homicide.
Although the findings so far suggest that discernible differences exist in the investigative stressors involved with investigating child and adult homicide, the influence (possibly confounding) of several other important factors need to be first explored before any conclusions can be drawn. The first is the presence of any potential ‘recency effect’ whereby the most acute investigative effects are felt the more recent the investigation, irrespective of whether it relates to a child or adult homicide. To examine this, respondents were divided into two groups: those that had investigated a homicide within the last 6 months (n = 38) and those who had not (n = 56). First, an independent samples t test was conducted to identify whether the means (averages) for the scores for the homicide investigation effects questions were different for those who had investigated a child homicide case in the past 6 months than those who had not. In the group that had investigated a child homicide in the last 6 months, respondents reported significantly lower average scores for the effects statements than those in the group that had not investigated a child homicide in the last 6 months (M = 2.26, SD = 1.01 and M = 2.89, SD = 1.29, respectively) with the t test found to be statistically significant (t (92) = 2.53, p = .013) and with the difference of 0.63 indicating a medium effect size (d = −0.54). Additional significant differences between the groups were found specifically in relation to the extent to which they had experienced thoughts relating to the cases when not at work, with those who had investigated a child homicide in the last 6 months (M = 2.79, SD = 1.17) scoring significantly lower than the respondents who had not (M = 3.41, SD = 1.19) (t (92) = 2.51, p = .014), with the difference of 0.62 suggesting a medium effect size (d = −0.52), and the extent to which they believed their personal life suffered during child homicide investigations with those investigating a case in the past 6 months (M = 2.50, SD = 1.20) scoring significantly lower than those who had not investigated a case recently (M = 3.09, SD = 1.13) (t (92) = 2.42, p = .018), with the difference of 0.59 indicating a medium effect (d = 0.51). No further significant differences between the groups were found for the remaining questions.
The reader may consider the finding that those who reported that they had experienced the greatest stressors and effects from investigating child homicide, had not been involved with a case for more than 6 months, may seem somewhat counterintuitive, and possible explanations for this are offered in the “Discussion” section to follow.
A second possible influential factor on respondent answers was their length of police service. Pearson correlational analyses were conducted to examine whether experience in the Police Service had had an effect on the participants’ responses to the questions about the effects of investigating both adult and child homicides. Here, two statistically significant correlations were found for adult homicide investigation: feeling that their colleagues relied on them when investigating adult homicides (r = .21, p = .05) and in relation to participants’ feeling that the support of their colleagues was crucial when I was investigating adult homicides (r.22, p = .05). Pearson correlations were conducted to explore the length of service and responses to the questions regarding their most recent child homicide investigation. A significant positive correlation was found between years in the police service and the amount of job satisfaction that they felt on the successful conclusion of their most recent child homicide case (r = .21, p = .05). A significant negative correlation was also found between years of service and whether they had thoughts and fantasies about how they wanted their most recent child homicide case to turn out (r = .27, p = .01).
As a third factor possibly influencing the cognitive and emotional stressors of homicide felt by investigators deemed worthy of exploration concerned their level of investigative experience; the hypothesised direction being the greater the amount of investigative experience, the more likely that any effects and stressors will have to be lessened (or moderated) by that experience (e.g. due to increased de-sensitisation or neutralisation effects). To this end, respondents were asked how many adult and child homicide investigations they had been part of and the results of the correlational analyses are shown in Table 3.
Table 3 Pearson’s correlations for homicide investigation experience and respondents’ responses to questions investigating the effect of both adult and child homicide investigations
As can be seen, the only significant correlation found for adult homicide investigation was for the question ‘the support of my colleagues was crucial when I was investigating these cases’, where a weak but significant positive correlation suggests that the more experienced investigator group found the support of their colleagues more crucial. With regard to child homicide investigation, the only significant correlation found was for ‘I felt a lot of pressure to get a result as quickly as possible when investigating these cases’, where a weak negative correlation was found highlighting that more experienced investigators reported feeling less pressure to get a result as quickly as possible than their more inexperienced colleagues. Overall, the findings suggest that investigative experience in general does not appear to lessen the cognitive and emotional effects experienced by investigators, whether the victim is an adult or a child.
A fourth possibly influential variable was officer rank. For example, did senior officers experience more or less stressors in homicide investigations than those of lower rank and did this hold for both child and adult homicides? To explore this question, respondents were divided into two groups: those of a rank most common for Senior Investigating Officers (e.g. Detective Chief Superintendent, Detective Superintendent and Detective Chief Inspector) (n = 29) and those who were not (n = 59). Those who did not indicate that they were detectives were excluded from these analyses (n = 9). When applied to the investigating child homicide statements, the SIO group of respondents scored significantly higher than those in the non-SIO group for ‘I had trouble sleeping when I was investigating these cases’ (M = 3.07, SD = 1.10 and M = 2.34, SD = 1.14, respectively), which was statistically significant (t (86) = 2.86, p = .005, d = 0.65); ‘I feel that these cases are often the most complex and demanding to investigate’, (M = 4.17, SD = .97) than non-SIO group (M = 3.39, SD = 1.18), which produced a statistically significant difference (t (86) = 3.11, p = .003, d = .72); ‘I became pre-occupied with thoughts relating to these cases even when I was not at work’ (M = 3.55, SD = 1.09 and M = 2.85, SD-1.22, respectively) with a t test reporting a statistically significant difference between the two rank groups (t (86) = 2.64, p = .01, d = 0.61); the extent to which the SIO group felt that their personal life suffered more during child homicide investigations than the non-SIO group ((M = 3.10, SD = 1.01 and M = 2.58, SD = 1.2, respectively) also found to be statistically significant (t (86) = 2.0, p = .048, d = 0.47); feeling that the support of their colleagues is crucial during child homicide investigations (M = 3.90, SD = 0.72 and M = 3.49, SD = 1.12, respectively) (t (79.48) = 2.04, p = .044, d = 0.44) and relying upon the investigative guidance manual in child homicide investigation significantly more (M = 3.38, SD = 1.12 and M = 2.83, SD = 1.15, respectively) (t (57.22) = 2.56, p > .036, d = 0.48); and finally, the SIO group scored significantly higher than did non-SIO group (M = 3.83, SD = 0.89 and M = 3.20, SD = 1.16, respectively) to the extent to which they felt that their colleagues relied upon them in child homicide cases (t (86) = 2.56, p = .012, d = 0.61). In sum, respondents of SIO rank reported higher cognitive and emotional stressors in investigating child homicide than did their counterparts of lower rank.
Similar ‘rank’ analysis was conducted with the SIO and non-SIO groups for respondent answers to the questions relating to adult homicide investigation. The results are presented in Table 4. As can be seen, the findings are very similar to those found for child homicide investigation with the SIO group reporting more cognitive and emotional stress than did those of lower rank, but the larger effect sizes found were for child homicide investigations.
Table 4 Independent samples t test results between SIO ranked officers and non-SIO ranked officers for adult homicide investigation
A fifth demographic variable to be considered was whether having children would increase the effects (and their intensity) and stress experienced by investigators of child homicide. To explore this, respondents were divided in to two groups: those with children (n = 82) and those without (n = 17). Independent sample t tests were conducted with the two groups and their answers to the child homicide investigation questions. A statistically significant difference was found between the two groups with those without children scoring lower (M = 3.94, SD = 0.75) than those with children (M = 4.39, SD = 0.68) in response to the statements asking about the extent to which they can remain focused during investigations (t (97) = 2.44, p = 0.017), with a difference of 0.45 indicating a medium effect size (d = −0.63), and keeping their emotions to themselves during investigations, with those without children (M = 2.82, SD = 1.24) reported keeping their emotions to themselves significantly less than do those with children (M = 3.46, SD = 1.20) (t (97) = −1.99, p = 0.05), with difference of 0.64 suggesting a medium effect size (d = −0.52). No further significant differences in answers were found between those who did and did not have children.
Furthermore, the average age of respondents’ children was calculated and Pearson correlational analyses conducted to explore whether the age of a respondent’s child/children plays a role in the emotional effects generated when investigating child homicide. The age of the respondents’ children was correlated with the questions measuring the effects of child homicide investigation in general. Significant negative correlations were found between the age of respondents’ children and the following two statements: ‘I often found it difficult to think clearly when investigating these cases’ (r = −.22, p = .05) and ‘I felt that the hardest aspect to deal with was the emotional effects generated by investigating these cases’ (r = −.35, p > .01). This suggests that those respondents with younger children reported experiencing a greater level of cognitive and emotional stress when investigating child homicides than adult (albeit a weak correlation was found).
The last variable considered important to understanding the overall findings of this section of the survey questionnaire was whether respondents with undetected homicide cases were more affected by their homicide investigations than are those without unsolved cases. Put another way, would the unsuccessful resolution of a case add to the cognitive and emotional stressors it and others generate? To explore this, respondents were asked to detail how many unsolved adult homicides they had worked on and were then divided into two groups: those without any unsolved homicide cases (n = 35) and those with (n = 52). Independent samples t tests were then conducted using the answers to the statements about experience of investigating adult homicides and only one significant difference between the two groups’ answers was found—those without unsolved cases reported that they rely more on the investigative guidance manuals than those with unsolved cases (M = 3.11, SD = 0.96 and M = 2.44, SD = 0.94, respectively) (t (85) = 3.24, p = .002, d = 0.71).
The same analysis was conducted using the answers to the statements relating to the experience of investigating child homicide and again only significant difference found between the two groups with those in with unresolved cases scoring higher on the statement ‘I tend to find these cases the most complex and demanding to investigate’ (n = 22) (M = 4.14, SD = 0.99 and n = 66, M = 3.5, SD = 1.19, respectively) (t (86) = 2.36, p = .02, d = 0.58).
Survey Questionnaire Part 4—Dealing and Coping with the Effects of the Most Recent Child Homicide Investigation
The fourth and final section of the survey questionnaire asked respondents how they had dealt (or coped) with the effects of their most recent child homicide investigation (some were currently working on them). To explore further our previous finding that respondents reported that with child homicide, the more recent the investigation the less the cognitive and emotional effects experienced, respondents were again divided into two groups: those who had investigated a child homicide in the last 6 months and those who had not. Independent samples t tests were conducted on answers to the statements about dealing and coping with the cognitive and emotional effects generated by child homicide investigations. The results are displayed in Table 5.
Table 5 Respondents’ level of coping during most recent child homicide investigation
As can be seen, there were some differences between the two groups with those that had not investigated a child homicide in the last 6 months scoring higher than those who had not, for the statement, remaining focused on what they had to do next (t (92) = 2.46, p = .016, d = 0.51). A further finding of significance was that the ‘not in the past 6 months group’ agreed more with the statement that they could have coped better to a greater extent (M = 2.07, SD = 0.95 and M = 1.66, SD = 0.91, respectively) than did those who had not (t (92) = 2.11, p = .038, d = 0.44). A final difference found was that the not in the past 6 months group also agreed more with the statement I avoided people more than normal during the investigation than did the within the last 6 months group (t (92) = 1.98, p = .05, d = 0.43). No further significant differences were found between the two groups, suggesting that whether respondents’ most recent child homicide investigation was in the last 6 months or longer did not appear to influence how they dealt with the effects of investigating a child homicide.
Having earlier identified that respondents of SIO rank reported feeling the stress effects of investigating child homicide greater than did their less senior counterparts, it was considered important to explore whether they dealt differently with these. Independent sample t tests were conducted using the SIO and non-SIO grouping and their responses to the statements in the “Results” section (listing coping strategies that might have been adopted in their most recent child homicide investigation). A difference was found in their response to ‘I saw it as my problem and doubled my efforts to solve it’, where those in the SIO group indicated that it had more effect on them than the non-SIO group did (M = 3.17, SD = 1.04 and M = 2.42, SD = 1.15, respectively) (t (86) = 2.97, p = .004, d = 0.68).
Lastly, the question whether of levels of investigative experience had any influence on respondents’ coping strategies when investigating child homicides was explored. Pearson’s correlational analysis was conducted with the number of child homicides each respondent had investigated and the questions listed in Table 5. A significant weak positive correlation r = .24 was found between the number of child homicides investigated and respondents’ responses to the statement ‘I hoped that the investigation would solve itself’ (p = .05), with a further significant weak negative correlation found (r = −.28) for ‘I found someone who was a good listener’ (p = .05). More experienced officers reported being less likely to seek out somebody to talk with during an investigation than did their less experienced counterparts. This is further supported by finding a positive weak correlation (r = .270 found for child homicide investigation experience and ‘I kept my emotions to myself’ (p = .05)). No further significant correlations were found for this section on strategies to deal with the effects of child homicide investigation, according to levels of investigative experience.