by Lois Gibson
It is sad, but true, that the people who love a victim the most are the ones most likely to make them feel worse! The truth is that a victim’s loved ones wish with all their hearts and souls that this terrible thing had not happened; and in their heads, they rewind time, so to speak. A more common term might be, “Monday-morning quarterbacking.”
A crime victim’s family and friends might say things like, “Well, what were you doing there at that time of night?” or, “Didn’t you fight back or scream for help?” or, “I’ve begged you to quit that night job, but you wouldn’t listen and now look what happened.” I’ve known rape victims whose families refused even to believe they’d been raped, or would say things like, “How could you do this to me?”
Blaming the victim is so common in our culture that it is frequently used in court as a defense.
Husbands and boyfriends feel especially impotent that they couldn’t stop the attack, whether they were present or not. They feel powerless to protect the ones they love the most and the way many—if not most—men react to such stress is to get angry. They commonly make comments like, “I get my hands on that guy, I’ll kill him,” or, “I’ll hunt him down. I’ll find him. He won’t hurt you again.”
They don’t understand that such remarks can be deeply distressing to the victim. The last thing this person needs to be doing right then is worrying about whether a loved one is going to storm out and get himself killed or thrown in jail.
If it is a man who was victimized, he may grapple with feelings of cowardice or weakness and shame. He may feel as if there is no one with whom he can talk.
Victims wind up being re-victimized by such thoughtless remarks. They may come to a sketching session nursing deep feelings of self-blame, inadequacy and hurt feelings or rage at the person who said such things to them.
It’s important to point out to the witness that the criminal is always to blame, in any situation, and that comments made by well-meaning friends and relatives are just plain thoughtless and wrong. This nearly always comes as a welcome relief to the victim, helps calm his or her anger and helps him or her come to a point of forgiveness toward those who have been insensitive.
Point out that the survivor has much to live for. One thing victims of violent crime often realize right away is how inconsequential normal, everyday life can seem after having survived a violent attack. Again, other people may be insensitive to this fact, but you can point out to them that having survived the worst, they are now stronger for it. After that, paying bills or interviewing for a job will be a cinch!
Ease their fears. Many witnesses are consumed with fear of retaliation from the criminal who already hurt them. Almost all these fears are unfounded in reality and you can reassure them on that point. A good tip here is to enlist the aid of a seasoned detective to help put their minds at ease.
Keep in mind that many people think crime victims are dying to hear horror stories about other crime victims. This does not help. Let them know you understand their feelings of pain and frustration. They will find it a great relief to talk to someone who does understand and most will find the whole process to be immensely therapeutic.
Again, it will help them to relax.
Remind them that THEY are in control and that THEY are helping to catch the bad people who hurt them. Most witnesses don’t stop to consider how empowering a forensic sketch session can be or how great it will feel if the perpetrators are caught because of it. Tell them that by working with a sketch artist, they have a one-in-three chance of aiding in the capture of the criminals who hurt them. Helping them to realize this can go a long way in assisting their healing process.
You can tell some victims who have been through a savage attack that the more horrible the crime, the more likely your sketch will be effective. This is because the most traumatized witnesses will have the most indelibly imprinted memory. Plus, the authorities will be more likely to get the sketch out immediately after the crime and law enforcement personnel and the community will be more intense in their efforts to capture the perpetrator.
Praise the detective working the case. Even if you don’t really know the case investigator, if you assure witnesses that the detectives are doing good jobs, it may cause them to work more closely and positively with investigators and increase the chances of solving their cases.
Here are a few miscellaneous technical tips that will help to ensure a successful sketching session:
The witness chair should be as comfortable as possible. If you are working in a detective’s office, have the witness sit in the “power position” in the room. Sit far enough away that, if you reached out your arm, you would not be able to touch him.
If possible, have a separate phone available by the witness’s chair. A phone call or two might be crucial to relieving your witness’s tension.
Have tissues, juice and water handy, or soda and soft toys for children.
If the witness speaks another language, ask what his word for “relax” is and use it. It also helps facilitate relaxation if you ask the words for such things as “nose,” “eyes,” “eyebrows” and so on. Even if you have an interpreter close by and the witness can select those features from the catalogue, this is still a warm and ingratiating gesture that can magically soothe tensions.
When using visual aids… People remember faces by closing their eyes. When a witness is closing his or her eyes, never let her open her eyes and catch you staring at her! This is unnerving in the best of circumstances. You can close your own eyes if you wish, or stare off to the side or out the window, or work on the sketch. Give her time and space to think.
During this particular part of the interview, be silent.
If you don’t have an FBI Facial identification Catalogue… These catalogues are available to anyone who is employed in any capacity with a law enforcement agency, but if you’re just starting out, there are several things you can do to help a witness remember features. In the beginning I would often hand him mug shots to shuffle through and point out features. (Once, the witness sat straight up, held out a mug shot and said, “That’s him!” Consequently, the case was solved.)
Alternatively, you can use old high school or college yearbooks. Make high quality copies of the section that features rows of student faces.
Don’t show them the sketch until it’s roughly finished. For one thing, this helps you, the artist, work without the pressure of someone watching over your shoulder. It also keeps you from influencing what they are trying to remember. Another good reason not to show them the sketch while you’re drawing is that it enables the two of you to talk about pleasant things and thus helps witnesses relax and remember more.
Showing the sketch. Tell the witness that you are going to show him a rough sketch and will change anything they say. (The more practiced you become, the fewer changes they’ll request.)
How do you know you’re finished?
The sketch is finished when the witness says something like, “It’s not perfect, there’s something not just right, but I can’t say what it is.”
That’s fine. Just say, “We’re finished now. We’ve done all we can. Don’t worry, nobody’s ever going to do a perfect likeness. You’ve done a great job! Thanks for your time and trouble.”
Sometimes witnesses will shake your hand, sometimes they’ll hug you, sometimes they’ll be noticeably excited at how much the sketch resembles their attacker and sometimes they’ll be doubtful. If they leave the session feeling better than when they came in, then you’ve done an outstanding job, even if the sketch doesn’t catch the criminals.
Never ask the witness to “rate” the sketch (on a scale of one to ten) and don’t let the detective pressure her into it. For one thing, such a “rating” only opens the artist up to attack in a courtroom later. Not only that, but I’ve found through the years that a witness-rating is not a good gauge at all of how good the sketch is.
Some witnesses I’ve worked with thought my sketch was great, but when the person
was caught, turns out it wasn’t that good a likeness after all. Other witnesses felt disappointed by the sketch and it turned out to be almost portrait-perfect. Some of the worst sessions I’ve had, with the biggest struggles, produced the most successful sketches.
The bottom line is, you just can’t tell. When the detective asks, “How good do you think the sketch is?” just say, “It’s as good as any I’ve done before,” and go on to the next case. You never know; you may have a pleasant surprise.
“Cognitive Interviewing” and the FBI
In the March 1991 FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, Special Agent Margo Bennett, M.Ed. and Special Agent John E. Hess, M.Ed. described a “new” interviewing technique that was a far cry from the old Dragnet days of, “Just the facts, ma’am.”
They discussed ways of retrieving witness memory that were a bit more chatty than what had been commonly used; the old, “How tall was the subject? What color was his hair?” technique.
The new method was called “cognitive interviewing.” Technically, Bennett and Hess broke the technique into three phases: (1) reinstating the context of the event (2) recalling the event in a different sequence and (3) looking at the event from different perspectives.
Basically, what this entailed was letting the witness talk.
When a shocking event occurs in someone’s life, he or she doesn’t go home to his or her spouse or parents and say, “I was robbed today. The subject was a white male, approximately 5′8″ to 5′10″ tall, with brown hair and brown eyes.”
Instead, the victim will say something like, “I was running a little bit late to work, so I took the turnpike instead of I-5, only there was a car wreck there, so it made me later than ever and I was in such a rush when I got out of the car that I dropped my purse and spilled my keys and I didn’t notice this guy hanging around, but when I put my keys in the lock, he shoved me from behind! I didn’t know what to think! I was so scared!” and so on.
The thing is, scientists realized that human memory, frankly, functions better in context. We are a culture of storytellers and when we tell the story of a day in our lives, we want to establish setting, mood and background.
Turns out, all this “embellishment” that may have driven old TV detectives crazy is actually an important brain function to facilitate memory.
In the article, investigators are encouraged, among other things, to give the witnesses plenty of time without feeling rushed, let them include all the details they wish (the more, the better) and give them a chance to vent powerful emotions without judgment. Only after the witness has had a chance to pour out his or her story should you then go back and ask specific, memory-prompting questions.
The authors point out that in spite of all sorts of advances that have been made in the field of forensics, the truth is that most crimes are solved by information and that information is furnished by people—crime witnesses.
Good cops and forensic artists have always known that with sufficient empathy, a so-called “cognitive interview” is automatically done! For instance, if you’re empathetic and you’ve given your witness sufficient time for the interview, you will let him or her ramble on, telling all the insignificant details of what happened to the person because you know it is necessary for the witness or survivor to express his feelings. This helps him relax and stimulates their memory.
In the final analysis? Be compassionate and caring.
The rest will fall into place.
I hope this brief overview of the things you need to know to become a forensic artist will answer many of your questions and encourage you to seek more information and instruction.
As I said, it’s my goal to get as many forensic artists out there doing compositry as possible, so that we can catch more criminals and empower more crime survivors.
I look forward to seeing more of you in the field and I wish you all the best.
Now… let’s go catch some bad guys!
Epilogue
I love my work so much that I don’t tell people the depth of my feelings, because I don’t want to suggest their own work is less fulfilling or meaningful than a forensic artist’s. However, I cannot imagine any occupation where you can get so much fulfillment as mine.
One day recently, I was at the Houston Police Credit Union and a compactly-built, dark-headed cop yelled out to me in front of everybody, “Hey! You’re the artist! You gotta be the most fulfilled person in the world! You only take an hour or two to work a case, so you have probably helped bring in hundreds of bad guys. No detective alive will ever get that many bad guys and you’re years from retiring! You’re great!”
I never got that officer’s name, but he absolutely made my day and he expressed so perfectly the way it feels to do what I do.
If I thought only one sketch of mine had made a difference in some crime victim’s life, it would mean the world to me, but I can rest in the knowledge that my work has been instrumental or at least helpful in bringing in almost a thousand criminals and helping at least that many victims.
When I sat down to write this book, I had a terrible time selecting cases to highlight. All the cases I’ve worked on are precious to me and I hope I’ve shown how much of a difference compositry can make, not just in a victim’s life and her family’s, but in the lives of the dedicated law enforcement officers who labor hours and days and months and years to find justice for victims.
One of the highlights of my year is, occasionally, when I get to attend the International Association for Identification convention. For a few days I can sit in a room with other forensic artists and know that they know how I feel. Of course, I am blessed with a life rich beyond measure outside of work. My husband, Sid, and I have been happily married for more than twenty-two years. To me he’s just as handsome now as he was that day we first met and I thought his blond hair shone like a halo.
Our two children have grown up. Brent is an elevator/escalator engineer and enjoys his work. Tiffany is in college and doing very well.
I like to work—almost obsessively, some would say—in my yard. People who don’t know me well can’t imagine why anyone would choose to labor in the heat and humidity of southern Texas. But the neighbors who are my friends can always tell when I’ve had a particularly harsh case; they know that when I’m down on my knees, digging in the dirt, smelling the earth and the plants, I’m getting therapy.
Every year, we all take a vacation where our family, including my son, Brent’s, delightful girlfriend (whom I adore) and a gaggle of friends rent cabins on the Frio River near Garner State Park. We float for hours in inner tubes in the crystal clear waters of the Frio, with cypress trees towering over us and waterfalls pouring down the rock faces at the edge of the river where the banks are skirted with delicate maiden-hair ferns. The float ends at a beautiful swimming hole. Magical. Heavenly. Then all our sunburnt bodies clamber out of our inner tubes and climb the hundred steps to the cabin, where we take showers and eat a huge barbecue.
Someday, I’d like to take a painting vacation throughout Europe. I’ve even bought a backpack that can hold a compact set of watercolors along with all my clothes and shoes. I can just see myself on some street corner in Florence or Paris, painting. It’s good to dream.
Almost every Sunday, I can be found painting watercolor landscapes, things like the cabin at Frio, places where I have been happy and with each brush stroke, I’m there again.
A few years ago, Sid and I joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day saints and have found it to be a true blessing.
I teach Sunday School to ten-year-olds and it’s a joy, looking out over their sweet, shining little faces… far, far away from the faces of evil.
Update
I am enthused about my work now more than ever. I have picked up a lot of speed over the years, making it so my witnesses find we breeze through a process they thought would be impossible—drawing their attacker’s face. Since I published this book, I have sketched on more than 165 cases. My sketches helped detectives
pull almost 65 criminals off the streets, clearing over 138 cases. I always want those amazing events to keep happening, where my sketch somehow throws the detectives the right lead to trace down their man.
In July 2006, juvenile sex crimes detective Heidi Ruiz was out with her family when she spotted a man at a convenience store who looked like a sketch I had done. She thought he could be the man who had kidnapped and raped a twelve-year-old boy. Heidi called for backup, the man was arrested, and he confessed. Heidi was on TV the next day saying it was a miracle that in an area of 4 million people, she spotted a child rapist who looked like my sketch and solved the case. Heidi went to Austin, Texas, to receive an award from the governor. I am so glad to create these sketches from the minds of our innocent victims to give to our troops on the streets, who are dedicated to stopping evildoers.
The little girl from the chapter “Look Mommy! It’s a Picture of Daddy,” who was stuffed into a closet by a man who then murdered her mommy, is now grown-up. She sent me a photo of herself in a gorgeous prom dress, looking so fresh and beautiful, flanked by the serene Kansas landscape behind her. I continue to stay in touch with her aunt; we both speak at conferences held to help families of crime victims cope with all their unique needs.
Darcus Shorten, the rookie homicide detective on the “Angel Doe” case, moved to the Sex Crimes Unit. She had a baby boy and this assignment allow her to spend more time with him. His pictures posted in her cubicle at work are absolutely adorable. I told her she should go back to homicide when her son gets old enough to drive a car.
Clarence Douglas, Darcus’s seasoned partner, has since retired. Before leaving the force, he gathered a fund to place a large stone marker over the grave of the little murdered girl he knew as “Angel Doe” for seven months, until the case was solved. On that granite stone, he was able to have her real name engraved, Raysate Chain Knight. The local news covered the story, and I saw Clarence hugging Raysate’s grandmother.