t/f- young children provide as much relevant, detailed info as older ones when they have witnesses homicide/manslaughter
true
t/f- people are typically unable to repress childhood abuse, and the memories from it often follow them throughout the course of their lives
false- people often repress to the point where it affects their recall later on
do more males or females experience childhood physical abuse? sexual?
physical- male
sexual- female
the use of anatomically correct dolls has been shown to…
a. contribute to omission errors
b. commission errors
c. both
d. neither, it is an effective method
both
will children typically tell someone if they have been abused?
no- typically only tell people in adulthood
children are more likely than adults to give false positive/negative (choose) results in a lineup. To mitigate for this, these 2 lineup procedures have been designed for children:
positive
- elimination lineup
- wildcard lineup
early childhood criminal testimony can be traced back to the…
Salem witch trials
research testing the validity of child testimony in the early 20th century Europe suggested that…
children were highly suggestible and had difficulty separating fact from fantasy, thus making them capable of providing inaccurate testimony
4 factors that led to the renewed interest in child witnesses in the 1970s
- expert psychological testimony was becoming more acceptable in the courtroom
- social scientists were interested in research that could be applied to the real world
- studies on adult eyewitness testimony were increasing
- legal community became interested in behavioural science research regarding child witnesses
what stemmed the interest of the legal community in research re child witnesses?
rise of reported abuse cases in Canada/USA, often involving numerous children and including preschools
t/f- in numerous jurisdictions, the police decide whether a child abuse case is referred for possible prosecution
true
the presence of these 2 themes in a child abuse case often indicate that police will move forward with it
- presence of corroborative evidence
2. whether suspect denies the allegations
Martensville Babysitting Case (R v. Sterling)
- Sterlings ran daycare, suspected of abuse
- children described all sorts of horrors occurred there
- people convicted
- many charges did not stick because of highly suggestive interviewing techniques used by police to question children
fabricating
making false claims
the accuracy of child testimony is highly depended on how they are…
asked to report it
compare the accuracy of children vs adults asked to recall all they remember using a free narrative approach
the reporting accuracy is comparable
what is a common problem when using the free recall technique with children?
they often say very little and require direct questions/probing to get more info
Dr. Laura Melnyk Gribble specializes in the area of children’s ____
suggestibility
Dr. Gribble found that repeated suggestible interviewing soon/long (choose) after an event can heighten misinformation effects
soon
are older or younger children more resistant to leading questions?
older
direct questions requiring yes or no answers, or using forced choice format are very problematic for ____
preschoolers
why are yes/no questions so troubling for young children?
they rely on recognition rather than recall, thus increasing the likelihood of error (eg. “tell me everything you saw” may produce a shorter answer, but it is more likely to be accurate than the answer to “was the man wearing a blue scarf?”)
in their study of 5-18 year old testimony in sexual abuse cases, researchers found which type of question to produce the best info?
a. wh- questions
b. opinion posing questions (yes/no, force choice)
c. how questions
d. suggestive questions
how questions (specifically “how did you feel?”)
2 possible reasons children are more suggestible than adults
- social compliance- children want to cooperate with an interviewer, and feel out the gist of the interview then answer the questions with what they think the interviewer wants to hear
- children store and remember things differently, are more likely to misattribute where info came from (eg. having someone suggest something happened vs having it actually happen)
t/f- most research points towards cognitive differences in children as the primary reason they are more suggestible
false- research suggests it is an interaction of social and cognitive factors
which of the following findings have been found in research on anatomically correct dolls?
a. they have no benefit and potentially have a negative effect, if used inappropriately
b. children were more likely to report erroneous info when using one, especially when confronted with leading questions
c. children are more likely to confirm touching (which we know occurred during a genital exam) when using a doll than orally
d. anatomical dolls and drawings yielded the highest rate for confirming sexual abuse info
e. anatomical doll use yields a high false negative rate when children are less than 6 years old
f. all of the above
g. a-e only
g. a-e only
3 issues with using anatomical dolls
- no standardization for what the dolls should look like
- no standard procedures for scoring behaviours of children with dolls
- no research exists to look at how abused vs non-abused children play with the dolls
what does the APA Council Policy Manual recommend for psychologists using anatomical dolls? (2)
- record/document the procedure
2. provide rationale for how the dolls were used and how results were interpreted
why might human figure drawings THEORETICALLY have an advantage over anatomical dolls?
children understand representational nature of a 2D model better than a 3D model
discuss the research findings of HFDs
have been found to elicit more incorrect answers
criterion based content analysis (CBCA)
analysis that uses criteria to distinguish truthful vs false statements made by children
statement validity analysis
comprehensive protocol to distinguish truthful vs false statements made by children containing 3 parts:
- structured interview
- systematic analysis of verbal statements (criterion based content analysis)
- statement validity checklist
which part of the statement validity analysis is considered the most important, and sometimes used as a standalone?
CBCA
underlying assumption of CBCA
descriptions of real events differ from fabricated events
3 general characteristics of CBCA criteria
- logical structure (is statement logically coherent?)
- unstructured production (is the account consistently organized?)
- quality of details
4 specific contents of CBCA criteria
- contextual embedding (connecting action to other routine events)
- interactions (reports of convo between vic and perp)
- unusual details (are there unusual but meaningful details?)
- accurately reported details misunderstood (did child describe something accurately but misinterpret it?)
3 motivation related contents of CBCA criteria
- spontaneous corrections or additions
- admitting lack of memory or knowledge
- pardoning the accused
t/f- older children often get higher (supposedly “truth-indicative”) scores on the CBCA
true
it has been found that CBCA scores are influenced by…(2)
- how familiar and event is
2. age of child
t/f- one strength of CBCA is its objectivity
false- interviewer has to deem a statement true/false based on their interpretation of it- highly subjective
despite criticism, CBCA and SVA are used in ___
a. Europe
b. North America
c. Asia
d. Australia
Europe
3 best CBCA criteria that distinguish between truthful and false statements:
- quantity of details
- interactions
- subjective experience
step-wise interview
interview with series of steps designed to start with the least leading types of questions and proceed to more specific questions as necessary
the step-wise interview, modified structured interview, and Action for Child Protection in West Virginia (using dolls) procedures are similar in terms of rapport building and general questions. The difference is in terms of specific questioning: outline how the 3 methods differ here
stepwise- specific questioning occurs through progressively more focused questions
modified structure- specific questioning occurs through the use of wh- questions
Action for Child Protection- specific questioning occurs through doll play
discuss the efficacy of the the step-wise interview, modified structured interview, and Action for Child Protection in West Virginia (using dolls) procedures in terms of:
- overall effectiveness
- free narrative
- wh- questions
- Action for Child Protection was less effective than the other two
- step-wise and modified structure interviews produced comparable amount of info during free narrative
- modified interview was superior for wh- questions
describe the Rapport building step of the step-wise interview
talk to child about neutral topics and make them feel comfortable
describe the Recall of two non-abuse events step of the step-wise interview
have child describe 2 non-abuse events they are familiar with
describe the Explanation of truth step of the step-wise interview
explain truth and have child agree to tell the truth
describe the Intro of critical topic step of the step-wise interview
start with open ended questions and proceed to more specific if disclosure doesn’t occur
describe the Free narrative step of the step-wise interview
ask child to describe what happened using free narrative approach
describe the General questions step of the step-wise interview
ask questions based on what child said
describe the Specific questions (if necessary) step of the step-wise interview
clarify inconsistencies with specific questions
describe the Interview aid (if necessary) step of the step-wise interview
have child draw if they are not responding. Dolls may only be introduced after disclosure has occurred
describe the Conclude step of the step-wise interview
thank child for helping and explain what happens next
9 steps of step-wise interview in order
- rapport building
- recall of 2 non-abuse events
- explanation of truth
- intro of critical topic
- free narrative
- general questions
- specific questions (if necessary)
- interview aids (if necessary)
- conclusion
narrative elaboration
interview procedure where children learn to organize their story into relevant categories
5 categories in narrative elaboration
- participants
- settings
- actions
- conversation/affective states
- consequences
t/f- narrative elaboration involves the use of visual cue cards
true
discuss evidence for narrative elaboration
has been found to result in reporting of more accurate info and not more inaccurate info- good evidence for it
t/f- narrative elaboration is used quite often
false- only in about 12% of cases
the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)’s interview procedure involves open ended questioning with these 2 types of prompts available to interviewers:
- time prompts (what happened next?)
- cue question prompts (details the child has reported are used in the question and child is asked to elaborate- “you said the teacher took off his belt- tell me more about that”
discuss evidence for the NICHD interviewing technique
good support for it, beats standard interviewing procedures
the revised NICHD protocol aimed to…(2) [compared to the standard]
- improve rapport building
2. provide extra support
discuss evidence for the revised vs standard NICHD protocol
more children reported abuse with the revised
t/f- the use of multipart prompts with children is effective, provided they are not leading
false- multipart prompts/asking multiple questions together is not recommended
discuss evidence for cognitive interview (adapted from the adult version) with children
well supported- got more accurate info
recovered memory
previously suppressed/forgotten memory, remembered only in adulthood through therapy
false memory syndrome
client’s false belief that they were sexually abused as children, despite having no memories of this prior to entering therapy for another psychological issue
dissociative amnesia
memory loss of an event occurring because of its traumatic nature
R. v Kliman
- teacher accused of sexual assault on 2 girls who were in g6 after the girls, in their 20s, “recalled” the abuse
- one girl stated she recovered the repressed memories after being admitted to a psych ward for an eating disorder, while the other claimed she recalled events following police questioning based on the other’s claim
- both girls reported a history of sexual abuse from other people
- Loftus noted that no evidence supports the notion that incidents of traumatic sexual abuse could cause the memory of them to be lost
- Kliman eventually acquitted due to gaps in complainant’s testimony
in a study of 306 participants, the majority of those who had listed sexual abuse as their most traumatic experience stated that they had…
a. consciously forced the memory out of their minds
b. forgotten the memory
c. convinced themselves it didn’t happen
a. consciously forced the memory out of their minds
in an experiment involving groups of women who had reported childhood sexual abuse vs those who hadn’t, comment on the findings regarding details of their childhoods:
- women who reported experiencing a time period when they forgot about the abuse
- women who did not report forgetting the abuse
- women who had not been abused
women who forgot the abuse for a period were less able to remember semantic facts from childhood compared to those who did not forget, or those who had not been abused
in Ghetti’s (2006) study, he found that objective details of childhood sexual abuse did/did not (choose) differ between people who had experienced periods of “subjective forgetting” and those who did not
did not
Ghetti (2006) found that, in people who had reported childhood sexual abuse, periods of subjective forgetting were more common with males/females (choose) and in cases of more ____ abuse
males, severe
t/f- Ghetti (2006) found that, in most cases, abuse had not actually been forgotten, but was just not actively recalled
true
5 criteria to consider when verifying a recovered memory
- age at time of alleged abuse (memory before 2yo is unlikely)
- techniques used to recover memory (hypnosis, guided imagery are very suggestible)
- similarity of reports across interview sessions
- motivation for recall
- time elapsed since alleged abuse (more time = harder to recall)
historic child sexual abuse
allegations of child abuse having occurred many years prior to prosecution
t/f- in most cases of historic child sexual abuse, the complainant’s claims are not continuous (they claim to have forgotten the abuse, which was later recovered in memory)
false- most are continuous, without any reports of forgetting
being male/female (choose) is a reliable predictor of delayed reporting of child sexual abuse
male
Connolly & Read defined “historic abuse” in their Canadian study as abuse that had occurred __+ years prior to the time of trial
2
which of the following countries do not have a time limit during which a vic must report sexual abuse:
a. Canada
b. Australia
c. New Zealand
d. UK
e. none of these countries have a time limit
e. none of these countries have a time limit
t/f- most cases of historic child sexual abuse do not reach a guilty verdict
FALSE- 93% (jury rials) and 69% (judge only rials) DO!
comment on the impact of expert testimony for either side in cases of historic child sexual abuse
fewer guilty verdicts reached when experts provided testimony for only one side, but not with an expert on each side (even if the expert testified for the Crown, less guilty verdicts reached)
in jury trials, which of these variables did NOT play a role in influencing the verdict?
a. expert testimony
b. presence of a threat
c. defendant having a familial vs community connection to complainant
d. age of complainant
e. frequency of abuse
e. frequency of abuse
in judge alone trials, having the defence provide expert testimony resulted in reduced likelihood of guilty verdicts- what were the other 4 variables that influenced the outcome?
- length of delay (shorter delay = more likely to be found guilty)
- claims of repression (claim = more likely to be found guilty)
- intrusiveness of abuse (more intrusive = more likely to be found guilty)
- defendant relationship to complainant (family member = more likely to be found guilty)
have there been more studies examining recall of events, or details of the perp in children?
events
one study found that older children could recall more detailed features about a stranger than younger children, and that ___ was the most frequently mentioned feature by both younger and older children
hair
what are 3 important stranger characteristics, apart from interior facial features, that children have difficulty accurately describing?
- height
- weight
- age
are children more likely to accept positive or negative inaccurate info?
positive
which error type is more misleading for children?
a. commission
b. omission
c. change
change
t/f- children have shown resistance to misleading gestures
false- misleading gestures lead to more misinformation
children over the age of __ produced comparable results to adults in target present lineups, and had what results for target negative lineups?
5, had more false positives in target negative lineups
the sequential lineup decreases false positive responses for adults- how does it work with children?
increases false positives
what are the 2 types of judgements witnesses make when facing a lineup? which judgement do children likely have the most issue with?
relative- comparing all members and deciding who looks most like perp
absolute- comparing the most similar member to their memory of the culprit
children likely struggle with absolute judgement, thus producing higher rates of false positives
elimination lineup
lineup procedure for children asking them to:
- pick out the person who looks most like the perp (relative judgement)
- asking whether the most similar person is in fact the perp (absolute judgement)
discuss support for the elimination lineup
supported- reduces false positives
competency inquiry
inquiry involving children under 14 to determine whether they can communicate evidence, understand the difference between truth and lies, and see if they feel compelled to tell the truth
Bill C-2 came into effect in 2006, amending the Canada Evidence Act and removing the need for…
competency inquiries in children under 14
the new Canada Evidence Act replaces competency inquiries with…
asking children simple questions to determine ability to understand and respond to questions, and requesting they promise to tell the truth
under Bill C-2, which groups of children are allowed to testify from behind a screen or another room?
a. any child (under 18) where the offence is sexual
b. any child where the offender is related to them and the offence is sexual or involves physical abuse
c. any offence for which a child testifies
c. any offence for which a child testifies
6 alternatives to in-court testimony for children available in Canada and USA
- screen to separate them from seeing defendant
- testimony from another room via closed circuit tv
- having a support person (cannot be a witness in the case unless they have already testified)
- video recording of testimony
- previous statements may be admissible (though previous statements are usually hearsay, judges may see fit to allow them in cases with children)
- courtroom may be closed to the public
t/f- under Bill C-2, children cannot be cross examined personally by the accused
true
4 types of child maltreatment
- physical abuse
- sexual abuse
- neglect/failure to provide
- emotional maltreatment
R v Poulin.
- religious leader Poulin looked after kids and used a paddle for discipline
- found guilty of assault and sentenced to jail time
corporal punishment is addressed in section __ of the Criminal Code
43
while the Canadian Supreme Court ruled that corporal punishment was constitutional, they made the following rulings about it: (4)
- cannot be used in schools
- cannot be used below 2yo or above 12yo
- may not use objects to hit children
- may not hit head or face
in need of protection
child’s need to be separated from caregiver due to maltreatment
incidence vs prevalence of child maltreatment
incidence- number of new maltreatment cases in a specific population over a given time period
prevalence- proportion of a population at a specific point in time that was maltreated during childhood
3 primary specific categories of child maltreatment, in order from most to least common
- neglect
- exposure to domestic violence
- physical abuse
sexual abuse accounts for __% of child maltreatment cases
a. 3%
b. 6%
c. 12%
d. 22%
a. 3%
risk factor
factor that increases the likelihood for emotional/behavioural issues
physical abuse risk factors may include…(2)
- parent’s past physical abuse
2. parent’s attitude towards pregnancy
sexual abuse risk factors tend to revolve around …
family composition
t/f- contrary to popular belief, there are only moderate correlations between being physically abused and engaging in physical abuse
false- strong correlations
most psychiatric and physical difficulties associated with child sexual abuse manifest in the first __ years since the abuse, and decrease in frequency of manifestation after this time period
2
3 categories of outcomes in adults with history of childhood sexual abuse
- psychiatric disorders
- dysfunctional behaviours
- neurobiological dysregulation
which psychiatric disorder is strongly related to childhood sexual abuse?
MDD
____ behaviour is one of the most closely related dysfunctional behaviours with those who have a history of childhood sexual abuse
sexualized
which major neurobiological dysregulation finding have been found in people with a history of child sexual abuse?
decreased hippocampal volume (as seen in war vets with PTSD)
t/f- adults who were sexually abused as children have an increased risk of being sexually abused as adults
true
long term risks for sexually abused children include all of the following except:
a. depression
b. self harm
c. anxiety
d. interpersonal distrust
e. all of the above
e. all of the above
both men and women who reported child sexual abuse are __ as likely as those who had not to attempt suicide
twice
_/5 youth are solicited for sex online each year
1/5
Bill C-15A made it a criminal offence to use the internet for…
a. viewing child pornography
b. communicate with a child for the purpose of committing a sexual act
c. distributing child pornography
d. soliciting child pornography
b. communicate with a child for the purpose of committing a sexual act
R v Symes
- Symes- pedophile church pastor who used internet to discuss having relations with 2 “girls”- UC police
- arrested, plead guilty, and sentenced to 12 months which was reduced to 2 for time served
short term effects of childhood physical abuse include all of the following except: a. perceptual-motor deficits b. lower intellectual functioning c. lower academic achievement d. externalizing behaviours such as aggression e. internalizing MH difficulties f. increased suicide attempts g. all of the above h. all except f I. all except a
h. all except f
one well supported long term effect of childhood physical abuse is…
becoming physically abusive yourself