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Child Eyewitnesses

Child Eyewitnesses. Staci R. Devera Eyewitness Seminar University of Northern Iowa. Importance of Child Eyewitnesses. The child may be the only witness The child may be a key witness Consequences of excluded child witness evidence (Thomson, 1989). Problems with Child Witnesses.

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Child Eyewitnesses

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  1. Child Eyewitnesses Staci R. Devera Eyewitness Seminar University of Northern Iowa

  2. Importance of Child Eyewitnesses • The child may be the only witness • The child may be a key witness • Consequences of excluded child witness evidence (Thomson, 1989)

  3. Problems with Child Witnesses • The desire to please authority figures • Lack of complete moral understanding (Ornstein & Davies, 1997) • Embellish the story more Give answers; rather than say “I don’t know” (Krahenbuhl & Blades, 2006; Thomson; Goodman & Schaaf. 1997)

  4. Problems with Child Witnesses • Cognitive/Language limitations • Young Children are more susceptible to suggestion • Lepore and Sesco (1994) Study (Goodman & Schaaf. 1997)

  5. Lepore and Sesco (1994) • 4-6 year olds spent 5 min with a teaching assistant • The children were interviewed without delay • neutrally • Incriminating Interviewer (Goodman & Schaff 1997)

  6. Results Incriminating interview children: • falsely agree with the interviewer • More errors over time • embellished their errors (Goodman & Schaff 1997)

  7. To be a competent witness • Children must understand the obligation to the truth • In order to comprehend the significance of a witness telling the truth, the child must be able to: 1. Distinguishing true from false (Perner,1997)

  8. To be a competent witness 2. Understanding knowledge and how it is formed 3. Understanding the effects of misinformation 4. Understand the moral implication of spreading misinformation (Perner,1997)

  9. To be a competent witness 5. Understand the concept of lying 6. Understand the moral ties of social contracts (Perner,1997)

  10. Interview Repetition Effects of repeated questions: • Less accurate • Prone to suggestibility • Modify responses (Larsson, Granhag, & Spjut, 2003)

  11. Child Credibility Debate • The credibility of child witnesses depends on age • Credibility depends on subject matter and the way the evidence is shown (Thomson, 1989)

  12. Developmental Trends & Person Recognition • 5-11 years of age, identification improves steadily • 12 years old to 17 years old (Thomson)

  13. Cognitive Interview (CI) • Children over 7 years old benefit from CI technique • Improve memory retrieval • Improves communication • Produces more correct responses (Memon et al.,1996)

  14. CI continued • Try not to interrupt the witness • Use open ended questions • Lets the witness set the pace of the interview (Memon et al.,1996)

  15. CI continued • Helps reduce misleading questions • Witnesses are more likely to respond “I don’t know” (Memon et al.,1996)

  16. Larsson, Granhag & Spjut (2003) • Subjects were placed randomly in either the SI group of CI group • Shown a 15 min film • Asked questions about the film either 7 days or 6 months after

  17. Larsson, Granhag & Spjut (2003)Results • CI reported more correct information vs. SI condition. • Shorter delay reported more correct information vs. longer delay period • 6 month interviews reported more confabulations.

  18. Larsson, Granhag & Spjut (2003)Results cont’ CI condition interviewed after 6months • recalled approximately the same amount of correct information as children from the SI condition, interviewed only 7 days after.

  19. Summary/Thoughts • Child witness evidence should be taken seriously • Proper techniques (CI) need to be administered during child interviews in order to get the most accurate information • Record child interview, especially the 1st time • Training interviewers

  20. References • Larsson, Granhag & Spjut (2003). Children’s recall and the cognitive Interview do the positive effects hold over time. Applied Cognitive Psychology 17, 203-214. • Memon et al.,1996. Reducing suggestibility in child witness interviews. Applied Cognitive Psychology 10, 503-518. • Krahenbuhl & Blades, 2006. The effects of question repetition within interviews on young children’s eyewitness recall. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 94(1), 57-67.

  21. References • Perner, 1997. Children's competency in understanding the role of a witness truth lies and moral ties. Applied Cognitive Psychology 11, 21-35. • Goodman & Schaaf, 1997. Over a decade of research on children’s eyewitness testimony what have we learned where do we go from here. Applied cognitive psychology, 11 • Thomson, date unknown. Reliability and Credibility of Children as Witnesses. Monash University.

  22. Questions? Comments?

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