Senior Project Proposal

Chloe Lamb, 3A

A. Abstract
 The title of my paper will be Im Too Scared To Tell The Truth and I Dont Know Why:

How Interrogation Techniques Can Make A Victim Lie. The title of my senior project will be

Horses and Healing: How We Need To Communicate With Victims. The overarching topic is the

interrogation techniques law enforcement use on victim witnesses and how that can affect the

outcome of the investigation. Through personal experiences, and experiences of people close to

myself, I have started to take notice of how big a component body language is in communication.

After I started working with horses, I started to notice the similarity of body language gestures in

law enforcement and that of predatory animals. In exact parallel to this, the same similarity of

body language gestures happened in that of victims of trauma and that of prey animals. I learned

that someone who has suffered through a traumatic event for an extended period of time will

revert from predatory body language, the natural state for an adult, to that of a prey animal. After

working with horses for three years, I found that the same need for a horse to trust and feel safe

with a herd leader is the same need a victim needs to discuss the traumatic event to the best of

their ability.

My driving questions are as follows:

What is the Victim Witness Program and how does it help?

Do Victim Witness Coordinators have required training in dealing

with Victims before they start their job?

What are the main interrogation techniques used in Virginia and

how are law enforcement currently trained?

What is the initial procedure when investigation of domestic

problems ensue?
 How is an interrogation setup, in regards to the room set up, the

language of the questions, and the relation between the victim and the accused

during the investigation?

In the springtime of 2017 I plan to be hosting an informative seminar in which the staff of

various high schools in Virginia Beach will be invited in order to learn the difference body

language makes in communication with the assistance of a horse. The exact location of this event

cannot be accounted for due to the complications of finding an area that will accept horses.

During this event, those who attend will see the difference in the body language of a predatory

animal, and that of a prey animal. The attendees will also see the effect body language has on

communication with a prey animal, the same reaction one would receive with a victim of trauma.

In order to measure the success of the seminar, I will have attendees with signed release forms on

hand come into the round pen and work with the horse to see how well they are able to

communicate with the horse after learning the difference in body language. I have been working

with horses for nearly three years at Mill Swamp Indian Horses in Smithfield, Virginia, and in

2014 I won a National Essay Contest that provided me with my own horse from Texas.

My senior project consultant will be Aaron Pratt, a World History High School teacher,

and the debate coach at First Colonial High School. It is due to his experience as the debate

coach, he has knowledge about interrogation techniques of law enforcement.

In order to promote attendance to the event, I will make invitations for staff and guidance

counselors throughout the Virginia Beach Public School system, and flyers for a general

audience. The materials that would be required for this event will be a horse trailer for

transportation of the horse, a makeshift round pen to hold the horse and to use in the
presentation, lawn chairs and benches to provide seating for people to sit, flyers and invitations

to promote attendance, and release of liability forms so people may interact with the horse.

B. Learning Skills

This project will enhance several skills that I have come to possess over my years in the

Legal Studies Academy, and my years working with horses. The public speaking aspect which I

learned through the Academy's Oratory/Debate class will be enhanced through the seminar

presentation. The seminar will reinforce my understanding of horses, as well as my experience

with natural horsemanship as I will need to explain the difference in the communication of a

horse in human language. In order to promote attendance, I will need to create advertisements as

well as invitations to staff of the Virginia Beach Public School system, all skills that while I have

completed in the past will need to be improved upon.

The execution of this project will also create new skills that will be useful throughout life.

For example, while I have done speeches for the Oratory class I have never done a entire seminar

specifically on horses, nor have I ever hosted an event. The seminar will be my first time

teaching people who have no experience with horses about the animal and the difference in the

prey aspect of its life versus our predatory instincts. I have no prior experience organizing an

event in which transportation of horses is involved. The organization of a venue, advertisement

of the event, and gathering of all proper materials for a proper event will be unfamiliar to me. In

my years of working with horses, I have never moved my horse to another place specifically for

the purpose of instruction of people who have had no previous experience with horses.
C. Marketing Plan/Facilities/Audience

In order make a significant change in the community, my project would benefit most if

guidance counselors and staff of the Public School system were to attend the event. This is

because guidance counselors are the ones who work most closely with victims of a traumatic

event, and the staff of the Public School system would benefit from the body language cues in

the classroom to make everyone in the classroom a better person. This is through subtle body

language cues, and through learning and adapting the skill to manipulate one's own body

language to suit those one interacts with, there will be a more interactive and productive learning

environment. Although, most anyone can benefit from the seminar due to the fact that it will

improve general communication skills as well as those when communicating with a victim. In

order to promote attendance to such an audience, I will create invitations for these professionals.

I will also create invitations for Law Enforcement professionals in the community since they will

directly benefit from the seminar. However, it is not guaranteed that they will be able to attend.

D. Project Steps

Step 1 Researching places that will accept 2 hours

horses in an appropriately sized venue.

Step 2 Go through connections of Horse people 4 hours

and get access to portable round pen, a
trailer, and volunteers to help move the
horse from Smithfield to Virginia and
help run the event. (learning skill)

Step 3 Start creating advertisements and 1 hour 30 minutes

invitations. (skill enhancement)
Step 4 Meet with project consultant, Pratt, in 30 minutes
order to go over advertisement progress.

Step 5 Confirm venue that accepts horses. 30 minutes

(learning skill)

Step 6 Create release of liability forms. 30 minutes

(learning skill)

Step 7 Draft ideas for the speaking portion of 2 hours

the seminar, and organization of event
itself. (enhance skill)

Step 8 Gather materials needed for seminar and 1 hr 30 minutes

create an inventory for all items.
(learning skill)

Step 9 Meet with consultant to go over the 30 minutes

schedule for the event, and ideas for
speaking portion and inclusion portion.

Step 10 Finalize speaking portion of the event, 1 hour

and agenda for the overall program.
(learning skill)

Step 11 Check weather forecast for intended date 30 minutes

and finalize date set on invitations and
advertisements. (skill enhancement)

Step 12 Rehearsal of speaking portion. (skill 30 minutes

enhancement)

Step 13 Loading Horse into trailer, travel of 2 hours

horse to venue, and setting up all
necessary materials for event. (learning
skill)

Step 14 Gathering of all release of liability forms 10 minutes

for participants who wish to work with
the horse. (skill enhancement)

Step 15 Clean up of all materials used in 3 hours

presentations, check against inventory
for the event, loading of the horse back
into the trailer, and transfer of all
borrowed materials back to original
owner. (learning skill)
 Total 20 hours and 10 minutes

E. Project Documentation

To document the process of creativity my project will surely have, there will be multiple

sources of production coming from the creation of the event. These sources include copies of the

invitations and advertisements, a list of all materials borrowed from whom, a copy of the

inventory of materials, copies of the draft and finished version of the agenda and speaking

portion, notes from all consultant meetings, copy of all liability release forms filed, copy of

weather forecast, and pictures of rehearsal including loading the trailer and of the event itself.

F. Project Justification

This project relates to making a difference in not only every individual that attends the

event, but also the system built on the principles of innocent until proven guilty. Our Justice

system is built with the defendant in mind, our society valuing having a guilty man free, than

having an innocent man locked up wrongly. However, due to this system, those who are wronged

and victimized by the event are often swept under the rug, and their rights hardly ever

mentioned. In order to help make a difference where victims can easily go without justice is

changing our views on the small difference each one of us can make. This difference can be

found especially in communication; often victims of crimes find themselves in a situation where

they have a hard time talking about the crime or bringing it up because they have not built up a

trust in the person they are talking to, for example, an investigator. In order to promote a natural
flow of trust and communication that improves the chances of a true disclosure in another, one

must improve communication through body language cues. This project is a stretch because its

themed in such a way that it has to be approached and treated with maturity and respect of every

situation. Teaching professionals in the community the difference body language can make while

incorporating something I am very passionate about, Horses, is something I have never done

before. By teaching the attendees this difference will make a dent in our communities views of

victimization.

G. Project-Paper Connection

The paper will focus on the aspect of how our law enforcement currently questions the

victim of crimes, and every technique of interrogation that is currently used; this will include the

placement of chairs in the room, introduction of interrogators to the questionee, and how the

question themselves are formed. The project focuses on the communication of body language,

and the difference in predatory and prey body language, using horses as a puppet for prey body

language in comparison to that of a victim, and the human interacting with the horse as a puppet

for the body language of the interrogator in comparison with what reactions these body language

cues elicit from the horse. These two are interconnected through many ways, the most important

being how body language can keep a victim from being completely honest. Due to the fact that

the adult human's natural body language resembles that of a predator, many dont understand the

reversion to prey body language a traumatic event can inflict. Those who have reverted to prey

body language are susceptible to predatory cues such as shaking hands, looking each other in the

eye, sitting directly in front of the victim, walking in straight lines, and a straightened spine.
When a victim is clued into these cues, they can immediately feel unsafe, which will make them

less likely to talk fully and honestly. Thusly, by teaching how to effectively communicate with

victims, professionals in the community will benefit from the project by maximizing

communication efficiency in their profession as well as daily life.

H. Academic honesty

I understand that any academic dishonesty by me on any part of the project will result in failure

of the Senior Project and forfeiture of the Legal Studies Seal on my High School diploma.