Exam 2: Child Maltreatment Flashcards
Child Maltreatment
Includes emotional, neglect, physical, and sexual abuse
Statements from children
Play a major role in abuse cases
Why are reports of children problematic?
-Memory is not fully developed
-Under the age of 5 children have difficulty distinguishing between real and imagined events
Famous Cases: Kern County Child Abuse
Claims of Satanic Sex ring: 60 children testifying and over 30 convicted (Most overturned)
Famous Cases: McMartin Preschool
Claims of wide ritual abuse stemming from one case. Years of trials and no convictions
Famous Cases: Thurston County
-Paul Ingram accused by daughters
-Idea put in head by church
-False confession and convicted of rape
Famous Cases: Little Rascals
-Seven people charged and most reversed
Famous Cases: Wee care (State v. Michaels)
Convicted of terrible things and won her appeal
Leichtman and Ceci:
Studied how stereotypes and suggestions create false memories in children
4 Conditions:
-Control
-Stereotype
-Suggestion
-Both
Results:
Control: Almost no errors
Stereotype: Small error rate to moderate error rate
Suggestion: Moderate to large error rate
Both: Moderate (5-6) to HUGE (3-4) error rate
Conclusion: Pre-event stereotypes and suggestive question can lead to false reports, especially in younger kids
NICHD Interview Protocol
Three Phases-
Introductory: Ground rules and describe why interviewer is there
Rapport Building: Build a relationship
Substantive: Open ended prompts and no biased questioning
Jury perception of child testimony
Generally, believe children and hearsay is accepted
Explicit memory circuit
Involves reciprocal neural connections and is conscious
Implicit Memory Circuit
One way neural connections: supports skills like riding a bike
Repressed Memories
Lots of evidence to suggest they are not real
Loftus study
Imagine a event and then asked about it later, and they remembered it
Spanos Study
Same idea but memories that are impossible (still “remembered” it)
