Chapter 6: Child witnesses

Question 1

What are the common forms of victimization for children?

Answer 1

Domestic violence, sexual abuse, and neglect

Question 2

How many children a year are victims of some kind of physical or sexual assault?

Answer 2

55,000 children a year

Question 3

What percentage are victimized by family members?

Answer 3

30%

Question 4

What percentage are victimized by acquaintance or friend of the family?

Answer 4

54%

Question 5

What percentage are victimized by strangers?

Answer 5

15%

Question 6

What percentage of calls are about child abuse cases are involving more then one type of abuse or maltreatment

Answer 6

19%

Question 7

What in the early 1900s, did Whipple’s research find?

Answer 7

That children were highly suggestible and capable of recalling inaccurate testimony

Question 8

What does the most recent research indicate?

Answer 8

That children can recall events accurately when using proper questioning techniques.

Question 9

What are the factors influencing children’s recall? (S,S,C)

Answer 9

Suggestibility- Younger children are more suggestible than older children.
Social Compliance - Children trust and want to cooperate with adult interviewers.
Cognitive Processes - Children differ in how they encode, store & retrieve information. Children more easily misattribute from where information comes.

Question 10

What type of questions should you avoid with Children?

Answer 10

Yes or No questions (use open ended questions)

Question 11

What are the common suspect descriptions by children (using recall memory)?

Answer 11

• Older Children provide a greater number of details than younger children
• Exterior facial features (hair) are more likely to be reported than interior facial features. (nose)
• Height, weight, and age are frequently reported; however, accuracy is problematic for children, youth. and adults.
• More susceptible to accept and report inaccurate positive details of culprits, then inaccurate negative

Question 12

How well do children lineup identification (uses recognition memory)?

Answer 12

• children and adults produce comparable correct identification rates in sequential (one at a time) target-present lineups.
• But, children produce lower correct rejection rates than adults in sequential target-absent lineups.

Question 13

How do lineups work with children?

Answer 13

Higher false alarm rate in the standard line ups id in children
sequential is increased because they feel like it is something they need to do.

Question 14

What are the steps for children to do elimination lineup?

Answer 14

Step 1: all lineup photos are presented to child, child is asked to pick out the person who looks most like the culprit
Step 2: Child is asked to compare his/her memory of the culprit with the photo in step 1 to decide if it is in fact the culprit

Elimination procedure significantly reduces false responding

Question 15

What happens when target is absent and a relative judgment is asked?

Answer 15

Leads to false alarm. Feel like they have to pick someone.

Question 16

What helps eliminate false alarms with children?

Answer 16

ask them to look at the person and if it is the person that they have in their memory

Question 17

What was the child witness project research? (Canada)

Answer 17

• ability to answer abstract questions about “oaths”, “Truths” and “Lies” is not related to whether child will actually lie.
• being asked to promise to tell the truth has greater impact on truthfulness than asking these abstract questions: When transgressions involve a parent, promising to tell the truth is predictive of the child’s disclosure of the parent’s behavior.
• Adults were able to detect deception in children more easily in the promise to tell the truth condition than in the abstract inquiry questioning condition.

Question 18

What are the techniques to interview children? (a,c,s,n,n,c)

Answer 18

• Anatomically detailed dolls
• Criterion-based content analysis (CBCA)
• Stepwise interview
• Narrative elaboration
• National Institute of Child and Human Development interview protocol
• Cognitive interview

Question 19

What are the problems with the doll interviews?

Answer 19

No standardized way to ask or use the dolls.
interpretation of the use of the dolls and it was interpreted by the interviewer could influence the child with how they acted with the dolls, so bias can be easily introduced. not a good way to interview.

Question 20

How reliable is the CBCA interview?

Answer 20

Is generally more reliable, looking for those core quality of details.
interview about experience they had
18 characteristics that are asked to waive the information gives
content of the memory
greater likelihood to understand and not get false alarms.

Question 21

How reliable is the Stepwise interview?

Answer 21

• uses all the knowledge about how to ask questions to children
• to not contaminate information
• pre narrative account and only asked for additional info after they have said everything they remember.

Question 22

What steps are in the Narrative elaboration interview?

Answer 22

• start off with a pre narrative account
• cards are used that represent people, places, and things.
• What did you see, hear or talk about?
• Prompts the narrative about what is familiar for them
• does get more info than other interviews
• use what happened next, then what happened?
• only talk about things they have introduced

Question 23

What steps are in a Cognitive Interview?

Answer 23

• How were you feeling, seeing and hearing. All that was active during the event.
• Children with this type of interview is effective in producing better accurate information.
• memory retrieval is possible
• open ended questions only

Question 24

What is the competency inquiry of children testifying in court?

Answer 24

Questions posed to witnesses under 14 years of age to determine:
- Whether they are able to communicate the evidence and understand the difference between the truth and a lie.
- if they feel compelled to tell the truth when testifying.

Question 25

What are the 5 things judges are looking for when deciding if a child is competent enough to testify?

Answer 25

1. Judge is supposed to take in the intelligence of the child and how does it relate to the compacity to be truthful.
2. Does the child have the mental compacity at the time of the event to understand what it is that they saw or heard.
3. Where the child’s memory likely to have their own memory on the event or it is events that were told to them or overheard. To rely only on their own memory.
4. Does the child have the ability to translate this memory into a way that can be understood. Can they explain it?
5. The ability of the child to comprehend and respond to the event. Can the child respond to the lawyer/judge in the courtroom.

Question 26

What are the courtroom accommodations for children?

Answer 26

• Familiarity with courtroom
• Screen/shield
• Closed - circuit television
• Support person/support animal
• pre-recorded video testimony
• hearsay
• close courtroom to public/media