Involving Child Witnesses Research Articles

Beliefs About Young Children as Witnesses: a Survey of Experienced Defense Lawyers and Psychological Expert Witnesses in Norway

Defense lawyers (n = 51) and psychologists (n = 49) with experience in court cases involving child witnesses were surveyed on their beliefs about young child witnesses, defined as children in the age range of 3–6 years. The survey included 13 questions probing the reliability of testimony of young child witnesses and eight questions regarding factors influencing professional judgments of young child witnesses’ credibility. Results indicated that both professional groups had fairly balanced opinions of child witnesses, with their opinions in general agreement with current research literature, although defense lawyers were somewhat more skeptical than psychologists were. However, considerable intra-sample variation existed on most items, with a minority of participants expressing opinions that were somewhat at odds with current child witness research. Results are discussed in the context of child maltreatment, the rule of law, and children’s rights to safety and security.

Facility Dogs in the Courtroom: Comfort Without Prejudice?

Courthouse facility dogs are expertly trained canines that assist individuals with psychological, emotional, or physical difficulties in a myriad of courtroom situations. While these animals are increasingly used to assist young witnesses in court, it is not yet known whether they are prejudicial to defendants or the witnesses they accompany during trial. Across two studies utilizing mock trial paradigms involving child witnesses, we explored the impact of courtroom accommodations (facility dog vs. teddy bear vs. no accommodation) on mock jurors’ judgments about the defendant and child witness. In Experiment 1, teddy bears, but not facility dogs, were prejudicial to defendants, while in Experiment 2, neither facility dogs nor teddy bears were prejudicial. Further, mock jurors’ perceptions of the child witness were not influenced by courtroom accommodations. Evidence from both studies suggests that, contrary to various legal arguments concerning due process, facility dogs may not influence verdict, verdict confidence, or sentencing.

Fuzzy-Trace Theory, False Memory, and the Law

Fuzzy-trace theory (FTT) provides well-researched scientific principles that explain worrisome forms of false memory in the law. False memories are of great legal concern because memory reports are frequently the evidence that determines guilt/innocence and are sometimes the only evidence that crimes have been committed. FTT’s principles reveal errors in commonsense theories that jurors use to judge the credibility of witnesses’ memory reports. This science versus commonsense disconnect is salient in cases involving child witnesses, eyewitness identifications, and confessions. The consequences of this disconnect for justice could be ameliorated by a simple change in federal rules of evidence.

Relations between Attorney Temporal Structure and Children's Response Productivity in Cases of Alleged Child Sexual Abuse.

Previous research has demonstrated that attorney question format relates to child witness' response productivity. However, little work has examined the relations between the extent to which attorneys provide temporal structure in their questions, and the effects of this structure on children's responding. The purpose of the present study was to address this gap in the literature in order to identify methods by which attorneys increase children's response productivity on the stand without risking objections from opposing counsel for "calling for narrative answers". In the present study we coded criminal court transcripts involving child witnesses (5-18 years) for narrative structure in attorney questions and productivity in children's responses. Half of the transcripts resulted in convictions, half in acquittals, balanced across key variables: child age, allegation severity, the child's relationship to the perpetrator, and the number of allegations. Prosecutors and defense attorneys varied substantially in their questioning tactics. Prosecutors used more temporal structure in their questions and varied their questioning by the age of the child. These variations had implications for children's response productivity. Results indicate that temporal structure is a novel and viable method for enhancing children's production of case-relevant details on the witness stand.

The Diagnostic Value of Children's Responses to Cross-Examination Questioning.

In response to a widespread belief within the legal system that cross-examination is instrumental in uncovering the truth, we examined the effect of cross-examination questioning on the reports of children who had-and had not-been coached to lie. A group of children, aged 6-11years (N=65), played three computer games with one of their parents. For half of the pairs, the parents-who acted as confederates-coached their children to make lies of commission concerning the occurrence of two target activities. For the remaining pairs, these two target activities actually occurred, and there was no coaching. Immediately afterwards, children were interviewed about the two activities. Those who-correctly or incorrectly-reported that both activities occurred were retained for the final sample (n=56); these children were then interviewed again with both neutral questions and cross-examination-style challenges. Neither style of questioning elicited responses that discriminated between liars and truth-tellers: although the accuracy of children who were lying increased in response to cross-examination questions, the accuracy of truth-telling children saw a corresponding decrease. When asked neutral questions, children's responses tended to be consistent with their earlier responses, whether or not those responses were lies. These findings raise important questions about the function that cross-examination might serve in trials involving child witnesses. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Developmental reversals in false memory: A review of data and theory.

Can susceptibility to false memory and suggestion increase dramatically with age? The authors review the theoretical and empirical literatures on this counterintuitive possibility. Until recently, the well-documented pattern was that susceptibility to memory distortion had been found to decline between early childhood and young adulthood. That pattern is the centerpiece of much expert testimony in legal cases involving child witnesses and victims. During the past 5 years, however, several experiments have been published that test fuzzy-trace theory's prediction that some of the most powerful forms of false memory in adults will be greatly attenuated in children. Those experiments show that in some common domains of experience, in which false memories are rooted in meaning connections among events, age increases in false memory are the rule and are sometimes accompanied by net declines in the accuracy of memory. As these experiments are strongly theory-driven, they have established that developmental improvements in the formation of meaning connections are necessary and sufficient to produce age increases in false memory.

THE IMPACT OF CONTINUING EDUCATION TRAINING ON LAW GUARDIAN KNOWLEDGE, EFFICACY, AND PRACTICE BEHAVIORS

There is an increased demand for law guardians in domestic violence cases, especially those involving child witnesses. Training is required for law guardians to meet child clients’ needs. While workshops and conferences are typical venues for continuing education training, their effectiveness is unknown. This pilot study compared law guardians who attended a conference on community violence and children to nonattendees on several training outcomes. Results showed a positive impact on attendees’ feelings of efficacy and intentions to carry out new practice behaviors post‐conference; differences were maintained at follow‐up. Limitations and implications of this pilot study are discussed.

Foreword: Hearsay testimony in trials involving child witnesses.

Foreword: Hearsay testimony in trials involving child witnesses.

Foreword: Hearsay testimony in trials involving child witnesses.

Foreword: Hearsay testimony in trials involving child witnesses.

An Evaluation of the Use of Videotaped Evidence for Juvenile Witnesses in Criminal Courts in England and Wales

For the first time, the UK Criminal Justice Act (1991) allowed the videotaped evidence of a child to be substituted for the child's evidence-in-chief in a criminal court. The present study is an evaluation of that legislation. One hundred and fifty children were observed testifying in a criminal court in the UK. The use of the videotaped evidence and subsequent cross-examination of the child witness (usually via the closed circuit television system) was also observed. The data base from the Lord Chancellor's Department of all trials involving child witnesses in England and Wales was also analysed. The results showed that the introduction of the video technology into the criminal courts reduced the levels of stress of child witnesses but did not increase the conviction rates.

The child as a witness.

The increasing participation of children in judicial proceedings raises two central issues: the competency of the child as a witness and the effects on the child of testifying about a traumatic experience. After discussing these issues, the authors present the recommendations of forensic child psychiatrists on how to improve the judicial process to elicit more accurate testimony from child witnesses--for example, by videotaping a child's testimony to avoid repeated interrogations, using anatomically correct dolls and pictures to allow the child to recount events through displacement, and using one skilled interviewer throughout the proceeding to allow rapport to develop between interviewer and child. They then discuss the role of the child psychiatrist in court proceedings involving child witnesses.