Twenty-five years of achieving best evidence: Investigative interviews with victims and witnesses in England and Wales

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The guidance in Achieving Best Evidence or ABE, as it is more commonly known, has been with us for nearly 25 years. It stems from concerns raised about the quality of interviews with vulnerable witnesses in the 1980s and from the Memorandum of Good Practice that set out to address them. This article will argue that the various editions of ABE that have been published over that time represent both continuity and change in the practice of interviewing victims and witnesses. It represents continuity in the interview structure that it promotes and in the principles that underpin it. It represents change in its responsiveness to new legislation, new research and emerging operational challenges. Over the years, ABE has become influential internationally, alongside other models such as the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Protocol and the cognitive interview, and its capacity to adapt to change is such that its influence is likely to last for years to come.