Young Witnesses Research Articles

Channels of Memory about the USSR for “Generation X”: from Post-Soviet Media Interpretations to Family Experience

They are called “Generation X”, their childhood and youth fell in the 1980s, they had their own access to the Soviet reality, being, as a rule, in the bosom of the family. Reading the texts of newspapers, analyzing the content of post-Soviet TV projects, the author tries to answer the question, whether these interpretations and broadcasts of images of the Soviet Union correspond to the own impressions of representatives of “Generation X”, for which the ideas of A. Assmann, M. Hirsch, G. Harman, A. Yurchak, as well as interviews of actors of different generations are involved. It is concluded that today, under the influence of the media, at one time, young witnesses of the USSR formed a special — divided — perception of the Soviet past.

How parents can shape what children remember: Implications for the testimony of young witnesses.

How parents can shape what children remember: Implications for the testimony of young witnesses.

Can a communication assessment provide a reliable indication of a child’s communication at interview?

ABSTRACT Criminal justice systems rely heavily upon spoken language. This presents significant barriers for young witnesses who may have difficulty putting their experiences into words. In order to give their best evidence these witnesses may require additional scaffolding during an investigative interview. The current study is the first to examine the efficacy of ‘Unpacking the Box’ – a tool used by police officers and intermediaries to assess children’s communication abilities and determine the nature of scaffolding required. The study involved children, aged four to nine, taking part in a staged event. The children were allocated to one of three experimental conditions (assessment, no assessment, colouring). One week later, the children were interviewed about their experiences. Prior to the interviews, predictions were made regarding the children’s interview performance. The predictions for the children in the assessment condition were based on the findings of an ‘Unpacking the Box’ assessment. As for the children in the other conditions the predictions were based on professional judgement. The analysis looked at how closely the predictions reflected the children’s interview performance. Communication assessments were found to be superior to professional judgement in ascertaining a child’s abilities; thus, enabling interviewers to conduct more effective interviews with children.

The experiences of young witnesses and caregivers in Aotearoa New Zealand’s Sexual Violence Pilot Courts

New Zealand’s Sexual Violence Courts Pilot was established in late 2016, intended in part, to reduce the stress experienced by complainants. Young witnesses who testified in the specialist courts and their caregivers were interviewed about their experiences of court involvement. Interview transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis and the following themes were identified: The period between reporting an alleged offence and the trial is far too long and stressful; moving forward with life is difficult until the trial has concluded; cross-examination is distressing; feeling comfortable and supported when at court is important; safety and distance from the defendant when at court is important; separation of young witnesses from their caregivers at court is difficult; information is lacking throughout the process; and parenting young witnesses through the court process is challenging. Young witnesses typically experienced court involvement as very stressful and distressing, and further innovation within the courts is therefore needed.

Investigation with a young witness in criminal matters

Investigation with a young witness in criminal matters

Facility dogs as a tool for building rapport and credibility with child witnesses

The study examined the perspectives of legal professionals in relation to the use of facility dogs in building rapport and credibility with child witnesses. 70 legal professionals from across North America, who had experience interviewing children, both with and without the use of a facility dog, were recruited to take part. Utilising a holistic mixed-method design, data was collected via an online questionnaire, which asked participants about the impact they felt a facility dog had on rapport and witness credibility during police interviews with children. The results highlighted the positive impact that facility dogs have on child witnesses, not only in helping build rapport and witness credibility, but also for creating a more positive experience for young witnesses going through the criminal justice process. The results therefore provide evidence for the consideration of these dogs in countries beyond North America, as they provide an invaluable service to young witnesses.

Don’t Hit My Mommy! A Manual for Child-Parent Psychotherapy with Young Witnesses of Family Violence by Alicia F. Lieberman and Patricia Van Horn

Don’t Hit My Mommy! A Manual for Child-Parent Psychotherapy with Young Witnesses of Family Violence by Alicia F. Lieberman and Patricia Van Horn

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.

Young witnesses of intimate partner violence: screening and intervention

ABSTRACTIntimate partner violence is a public health problem worldwide. Many children witness intimate partner violence at home and are affected by it. Regardless of the degree of exposure, children growing up in violent homes experience negative effects in the form of externalising behaviour and internalising symptoms which call for targeted interventions for children. The aim of the study is to map i) the available methods of detecting child and adolescent witnesses of intimate partner violence and ii) the interventions to support them. Three databases, PubMed, PsychInfo and Social Services s, were searched for scientific publications spanning over 20 years (1997–2017). This resulted in 2,406 publications of which 15 were finally selected after screening. Analysis of the articles resulted in three categories. The process of detecting children and adolescents who witnessed IPV in their homes varied in the included studies. The children were most commonly identified through their mother or other caregivers. Very few studies were based on children’s own reporting of their experiences, but were rather based on the mothers’ proxy reports. Studies distinguishing between the different forms of violence witnessed by children were few. It was uncommon that children were directly identified or screened for witnessing IPV in the family.

Hogares de madres embarazadas con niños, niñas y adolescentes testigos de violencia doméstica

Se exploró en una población de mujeres embarazadas que acudieron a control pre natal la exposición de sus hijos e hijas menores de 18 años como testigos de violencia doméstica. Investigación retrospectiva, con fuentes secundarias, de 635 mujeres embarazadas en control pre natal de hospitales públicos con muestreo consecutivo. Se aplicó la Escala de Gelles y Straus y estadística descriptiva y analítica. 1222 niños, niñas y adolescentes menores de 18 años fueron testigos de distintos tipos de violencia en tanto 462 no. En el En el 71,8% (456) de los hogares, la población fue testigo de violencia psicológica, siendo el 72,6%, (331 hogares) con bajos ingresos (entre 500.000 y 1.000.000 gs); 10,7% (48 hogares sin ingresos) y un total de 1222 menores de 18 años. En el 26,9% (171 hogares) testigos de violencia física, siendo el 74,3% (127 hogares) con bajos ingresos (entre 500.000 y 1.000.000 gs); 7,6% (13 hogares) sin ingresos y un total de 364 menores de 18 años. Factores de vulnerabilidad socio-económica acompañan a mayoría de hogares con mujeres embarazadas y población infanto juvenil víctima y testigo de violencia doméstica.

Firearm Violence: Silent Victims.

Gun violence has become a topic we cannot escape. School shootings, mass shootings, and 1-on-1 firearm violence are widely reported. Commentaries on the public health crisis of firearm violence headline medical journals. However, beyond the sheer volume of senseless deaths, the agonizing ripple effects of exposure to gun violence on young witnesses and survivors remain largely underrecognized. The door to this topic was opened in the lay press with a recent Washington Post article, “Scarred by School Shootings”; the authors counted students who were exposed to school shootings (in addition to those who died) and focused on victim impact: “Many are never the same.”1 The deep and invisible wounds inflicted by fear, personal loss, and desensitization if violence is repetitive may be hidden from physicians’ eyes and underreported by parents until behavior erupts or sadness strips meaning from everyday life.2,3 Although not every child or adolescent who witnesses or experiences gun violence will develop emotional, behavioral, or academic problems, the increased risk is documented in numerous old and new studies.2–5 Factors that promote resilience include a connection to a caring adult, ready access to mental health and substance abuse services, and friendships with peers who solve problems nonviolently. However, for youth in high-risk communities, the availability … Address correspondence to Lydia Furman, MD, Division of General Academic Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, University Hospitals Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital, Room 784, Mailstop 6019, 11100 Euclid Ave, Cleveland, OH 44016. E-mail: lydia.furman{at}uhhospitals.org

The Experiences of Young Complainant Witnesses in Criminal Court Trials for Sexual Offences

For effective provision of justice it is important that young witnesses are involved in criminal trials, yet participation may be detrimental to their well-being and presents challenges for gaining full and accurate evidence from them. Innovations in court processes intended to support the well-being of young witnesses should, amongst other considerations, be informed by the perspectives and experiences of those whom they are intended to assist. The participants in the current study consisted of young complainant witnesses who were involved in criminal court trials for sexual offences, along with their parents or caregivers. Semi-structured interviews with individual participants were conducted. Audio recordings of interviews were then transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. Nine themes were identified in the data: (1) pre-trial delay makes everything worse, (2) uncertainty is difficult and being prepared is important, (3) cross-examination is stressful, (4) having a voice is a positive aspect of the trial, (5) the possibility of seeing the defendant is stressful, (6) for parents, putting on a brave face and being a supporter is challenging, (7) young witnesses feel exposed by the court process and family members feel exposed to details of the offending, (8) support is critical, and (9) families place importance on the verdict and sentencing. The findings are considered within the New Zealand context as well as other jurisdictions, and recommendations are made.

The Griffiths Question Map: A Forensic Tool For Expert Witnesses’ Assessments of Witnesses and Victims’ Statements

Expert witnesses are sometimes asked to assess the reliability of young witnesses and victims' statements because of their high susceptibility to memory biases. This technical note aims to highlight the relevance of the Griffiths Question Map (GQM) as a professional forensic tool to improve expert witnesses' assessments of young witnesses and victims' testimonies. To do so, this innovative question type assessment grid was used to proceed to an in-depth analysis of the interview of an alleged 13-year-old victim of a sexual assault and two rapes. Overall, the GQM stressed how the interview was mainly conducted in an inappropriate manner. The results are examined with regard to scientific knowledge on young witnesses and victims' memory. Finally, it is argued that expert witnesses in inquisitorial systems might use the GQM while encountering difficulties to fulfill the legal standards for expert evidence in adversarial systems because of the lack of studies regarding its reliability.

“I bled like you, brother, although I was a thousand miles away”: postwar Yiddish sources on the experiences of Polish Jews in Soviet exile during World War II

ABSTRACTAn estimated 230,000 Polish Jews escaped Nazi persecution during World War II by flight or deportation to the interior of the Soviet Union. This article examines early postwar Yiddish and Polish sources on their survival in Soviet exile such as poems, newspaper articles, and witness testimonies. Two sets of sources are analyzed in-depth, testimonies written by young people in Jewish Displaced Persons (DP) camps in occupied Germany and Yiddish poetry from Poland and the DP camps. The author argues that many former exiles were eager to write down their experiences. In doing so, they were aware of the complex nature of deportation and flight that characterized the experiences of Polish Jews in the Soviet Union. In their testimonies many young witnesses express their understanding that they too were “marked by the khurbn.” Whereas Yiddish poetry from the same period helps us understand how writers dealt with their own story of wartime survival outside the realm of German persecution. In their poetry they seek meaning in their own suffering and express their desire to establish a dialogue with other survivors.

The experience of the child witness: Legal and psychological issues

The increasing presence of child witnesses in the courtroom has brought with it a host of challenges and dilemmas. Related concerns include whether children may be deemed incompetent solely because of their age, whether their testimony is reliable and accurate in light of their allegedly suggestible nature, and whether the experience of testifying may re-traumatize witnesses who are also victims. A growing body of multidisciplinary research continues to address the legal and clinical implications of permitting children to testify in open court. Numerous guidelines have been promulgated that contain recommendations for protecting children's best interests as they journey through the criminal justice system. Related courtroom procedures vary greatly among American jurisdictions, and innovations in other countries—for example, the United Kingdom's Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act of 1999, and similar legislation in Israel and in Norway—have introduced a range of alternative measures that can be employed with young witnesses, depending primarily on whether the child witness is ultimately deemed either “vulnerable” or “intimidated.” This article incorporates legal and psychological studies—from geographically diverse perspectives—that focus upon the courtroom experiences of child witnesses in criminal proceedings, including determinations of testimonial capacity and other matters unique to this population.

Aging witnesses

With the population aging, judges will increasingly be faced with elder witnesses in their courtrooms. Despite the importance of elder witness testimony to the investigation and prosecution of crimes, an age-based lens has yet to be cast on this issue in legal scholarship to date. However, in the field of psychology there are a number of studies that detail how old age impacts a witness’s ability to perceive, remember and communicate an event in court. This paper bridges this gap between legal and psychological scholarship by reviewing the psychological studies on elder witnesses and describing, in practical terms, the implications of these studies on the legal treatment of elder witness evidence. Going forward, it is only with increased awareness of these differences between older and younger witnesses that the justice system can begin to understand how it needs to change in order to respond to the unique needs of this growing segment of the population.

Support and reluctance in the pre-substantive phase of alleged child abuse victim investigative interviews: revised versus standard NICHD protocols.

Children's unwillingness to report abuse places them at risk for re-victimization, and interviewers who do not respond sensitively to that unwillingness may increase the likelihood that victims will not disclose abuse. Interviewer support and children's reluctance were examined on a turn-by-turn basis using sequential analyses in 199 forensic interviews of 3- to 13-year-olds who alleged maltreatment. Half of the children were interviewed using the Revised Protocol that emphasized rapport-building (RP), the others using the Standard National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Protocol (SP). When using the RP, interviewers provided proportionally more support than when using the SP, but even when using the RP they did not specifically provide support when children expressed reluctance. The RP promoted immediate cooperation when reluctant utterances were met with support, however, suggesting that supportive statements were valuable. The findings enhance our understanding of children's willingness to participate in investigative interviews and the means through which interviewers can foster the comfort and well-being of young witnesses.

The influence of social instructions on the effectiveness of a cognitive interview used with very young child witnesses

IntroductionThe modified cognitive interview (MCI) is an investigative interview method used to help child eyewitnesses to enhance the quality of their testimonies (Memon et al., 2010). Composed of cognitive (mnemonics) and social instructions, it indeed supports young witnesses to retrieve and to accurately report all their memories. If the benefits of the mnemonics on the MCI efficiency have been now established (e.g., Holliday & Albon, 2004; Verkampt & Ginet, 2010), the contribution of its social components has however not been deeply explored to date. This is notably the case of two main social instructions presented at the right beginning of an interview: the “Child can say ‘I don’t know”’ and the “Interviewer knows nothing about the facts” instructions. ObjectiveThis study aimed at evaluating the influence of these two social instructions on the effectiveness of MCI mnemonics, designed to be used by police officers to gather very young children's testimonies. MethodTo this end, 59 children aged 4 to 5.9 participated in a painting session and were interviewed two days later with a full modified cognitive interview (MCI), a MCI minus the “Child can say I don’t know” instruction, a MCI minus the “Interviewer knows nothing about the event” instruction, or a structured (control) interview that was solely composed of social instructions. ResultsThe results indicated an increase of 42% more correct information recollected with a full MCI relative to a structured interview during the free recall phase. However, the withdrawal of the “Interviewer knows nothing about the event” instruction from the MCI led the children to report 21% less information. This drop reached 3% with the MCI minus the “Child can say I don’t know” instruction. ConclusionChildren testimonies are therefore more informative when the mnemonics of the MCI are presented to the children along with social instructions.

Child Maltreatment: International and Legal Issues

Objectives This systematic review appraises published studies reporting associations between homelessness, perpetration of physically violent behavior and experience of victimization due to others' physically violent behavior, among young people. Methods A comprehensive systematic search of psychology, sociology, and health electronic databases, including PsycInfo and SocIndex was conducted. Search terms examined (a) homeless youth, (b) perpetration of physically violent behavior, and (c) experience of victimization due to others' physically violent behavior. Results Twenty-nine studies met the inclusion criteria. Findings showed homeless youth report engaging in physically violent behavior including assault, physical fights, and robbery, and commonly describe victimization experiences such as being physically assaulted, threatened with weapons, and robbed. Rates of perpetration of physically violent behavior and experiences of victimization were inconsistent across reviewed studies. It is unclear whether homelessness is a predictor of the perpetration of physically violent behavior and/or victimization. Findings suggest that perpetration of, and being victimized by others' physically violent behavior, may vary for sub-groups of homeless youth. Conclusions Further research embedded within theoretical perspectives that consider the influence of situational antecedents is warranted to examine whether homelessness is predictive of engagement in physically violent behavior and the experience of victimization due to others' physically violent behavior. Language: en

Do case outcomes change when investigative interviewing practices change?

To determine whether the introduction of evidence-based practice for interviewing child witnesses was accompanied by changes in the disposition of cases in which sexual abuse was suspected, we compared cases in which the investigative interviews of 3- to 14-year-old alleged victims were conducted either before (n 350) or after (n 410) investigators had been taught to use the NICHD Protocol. Analyses showed that when charges were filed, both pre-Protocol and Protocol interviews were highly (and similarly) likely to yield guilty pleas to one or more counts. However, charges were more likely to be filed when interviewers had been trained to use the Protocol; Protocol interviews were therefore associated with more guilty pleas than non-Protocol interviews. When cases were tried, furthermore, Protocol cases were more likely to yield guilty verdicts. These results point to important implications for policies concerning the investigation of suspected crimes involving young witnesses.