Term
| Most common case children testify in |
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Definition
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Term
| Reasons children are needed in SA cases |
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Definition
• Usually need their statement because there is no other evidence. (The accuracy is called into question).
• Sexual abuse claims shot up in the 1980s |
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Term
| True or false: Young children cannot remember events well enough to be reliable witnesses in court. |
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Definition
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Term
| True or false: Young children can distinguish between the truth and a lie. |
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Definition
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Term
| True or false: If a child has been repeatedly and painfully sexually abused as an infant, he/she can remember it. |
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Definition
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Term
| True or false: Young children are more suggestible about events that they do not understand than about events that they understand. |
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Definition
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Term
| Myths about children's memory and ability to testify |
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Definition
• Young children cannot remember events well enough to be reliable witnesses in court.
• Young children cannot distinguish between the truth and a lie.
• If a child has been repeatedly and painfully sexually abused as an infant, he/she can remember it.
• Young children are no more suggestible about events that they do not understand than about events that they do understand. |
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Term
| Beliefs about the child witness |
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Definition
• Children aren't as good as adults as far as observing and reporting events. (Depends on context)
• Children are prone to fantasy about sexual matters. (True)
• Children are highly suggestible, unable to distinguish fact from fantasy, and prone to confabulation
• Children are not liars. |
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Term
| Case study proving children's remembering ability is not as good as adults |
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Definition
| 5 year old Samantha Runnion kidnapping and 6 year old Sarah Ann as witness |
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Term
| Why are children's remembering ability is not as good as adults? |
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Definition
• Mostly not good as witnesses* (accuracy increases with age)
• They omit and add things
• They forget faster
• They have a lack of scripts and schemas |
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Term
| Who has the worst accuracy as a witness? |
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Definition
| • Young kids (2-3 year olds) |
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Term
| General methods in child witness research |
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Definition
• Experience event
• Interview (manipulate variables)
• Evaluate (free recall, recall to specific questions - suggestive or not, or recognition) |
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Term
| Leippe et al. study on children vs. adults |
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Definition
• Event: being touched
• Groups: 5-6 year olds, 9-10 year olds, adults
• Questions: free recall & specific (e.g. "Did he touch you on the cheek?)
• Recognition: 6 pack lineups (target present and absent)
RESULTS
• 5-6 year olds: free recall inaccurate, specific Qs inaccurate but not about touching, recognition only bad in target-absent condition
• 9-10 year olds: free recall better than young but worse than adults, specific Qs better than young but worse than adults, recognition only bad in target-absent condition
• Conclusion: developmental pattern appears in free recall and specific questions |
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Term
| Flin et al. study of children vs. adults memories |
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Definition
• Same encoding as Leippe et al. study
• Found that a 5-month delay led to steeper forgetting in children as compared to adults |
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Term
| Can children's remembering ability be as good as adults? |
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Definition
• Knowing a child's age is not enough in determining accuracy
• Contextual factors play a role in accuracy
• Young children can be very good witnesses |
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Term
| Children can report accurately when... |
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Definition
• The event is familiar to them
• The tasks are simplified / age appropriate
• There's a supportive interview style (warm interviewer)
• Social and emotional content makes them comfortable
• Parents (especially mother) believes child |
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Term
| Goodman and Schwartz-Kenny's study on young children (inoculations) |
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Definition
• Stressful: inoculation (shot/vaccine)
• Groups: 3-4 year olds and 5-7 year olds
• Conditions: 1 vs. 2 interviews; reinforcement vs. no-reinforcement
• Questions: Free recall, specific
RESULTS
• Free recall follow age-related pattern; specific Qs young children reported more; specific-suggestive young children inaccurate more with these
• Repeated interviewing both age groups not affected by suggestion in second interview
• Reinforcement: If none, young kids made more errors of omissions and commissions; if present, no age differences |
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Term
| Conclusion of Goodman and Schwartz-Kenny's study on young children (inoculations) |
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Definition
• Knowing a child's age is not enough in evaluating accuracy
• Contextual factors need to be considered |
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Term
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Definition
• Experimental study with medical exam and genital touch led to high omissions of critical details
• Study of real sexual abuse of 4 girls showed 40% omission errors |
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Term
| Anatomical detailed dolls |
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Definition
• Since the 1980's, these are used in about 90% of the interviews with children suspected of abuse
• Endorsed by APA
• Overcomes language barriers and potential embarrassment
• Studies show children play with the dolls in a sexual way whether or not the child has been abused; however young children will omit critical info without it |
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Term
| The McMartin preschool case |
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Definition
• 1983-1990, several teachers accused
• No convictions
• We don't know what really happened |
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Term
| Garvin et al. analysis of prosecution interviews in the McMartin Case |
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Definition
More than suggestion. The full package powerfully affected the children's reports
• Suggestive questions
• Reinforcement
• Inviting speculation and use of dolls/puppets to question children |
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Term
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Definition
• Psychological research indicates that children lie by age 3
• They become better liars as they get older
• They understand the meaning of a lie |
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Term
| NICHD Investigative Interview Protocol |
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Definition
• Helps guide interviewers away from biased questions and toward a style of questioning that is more likely to elicit true responses from children
• Protocol encourages children to provide as much info as possible in response to open-ended prompts |
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Term
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Definition
• Testifying about what someone else said outside of court
• Remarks cannot be cross-examined and truthfulness cannot be assessed by jury
• 9 states allow an exception to this rule when a child is the alleged victim in a crime |
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Term
| Closed-circuit television (CCTV) |
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Definition
• If a child victim was likely to experience significant emotional trauma by being in the presence of the defendant, the child's testimony could be presented via CCTV
• Large TV in courtroom enables the defendant, judge, and jury to see the testimony, but the child and the defense and prosecuting attorneys are in another room |
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