Lecture 6 Flashcards
Interviewing Vulnerable suspects (50 cards)
give an example of when false memories in children has lead to a criminal court case
mcmartin pre school
1983- California
ray buckley
- Several hundreds children were interviewed by psychotherapist- highly suggestive interviews
- Most expensive case in American criminal history at that time
- Outcome= no charge, media frenzy
- False memories of children
when are children used in the legal process
when they are involved as victims/ witnesses/ suspects
describe child maltreatment
psychological abuse, sexual abuse, physical abuse, neglect
what is the most common form of child maltreatment
o Neglect = most common, around 40% of children
why are child sexual health cases hard to get convictions from
- Child cases (sexual) = harder to get physical evidence- eg semen in genitalia- with children vaginas very smooth so harder to keep dna inside, so rare that body fluids from perpetrator still inside them
- Also perppatraror in sexual abuse cases usually known to child- unlikely that will report very soon after the case so no dna
o Why testimony of children necessary as lack of DNA
according to the NSPCC how many child sexual offences were reported in 2017
64,667 recorded child sexual offences
what did Bentley, O’Hagan, Raff & Bhatti, 2016 report
- 38,575 reported case in 2014-2015, 30,698 excluding cases over 16years old
- 3 in every 1000 children under 16 years old. experienced some kind of abuse in their life
what are the issues with interviewing and dealing with 10 year olds as if they are adults
Age to be judged the same as an adult in the UK = 10
- But large gap between 10-20 years
o Very different neurobiological
o Cannot reason
o Cannot solicit help or legal associations like ‘adults’ can
what are the differences between children and adults which have to be considered when interviewing
- Physical differences
o Height/weight/voice
o See world from different angle
o If you are very close to them and a lot taller feel intimidated
o Better if sit at same height as them - Psychological
o Separation anxiety from primary caregiver
o Attachment theory use in interview room
Interviewer be introduced by a caregiver that the child trusts to transfer trust
When in interview room, caregiver can sit with the child for a bit and then leave to get familiar with area - Attention
o Need breaks from interview regularly
o Attend to things differently look at world from different world of view
o Notice/ remember different things to adults - Language expression
o 3yr-500-3000
o 5-6yr 14,000
o 10-11yr like adults (Walker, 1994)
o May be unable to express what they are wanting to say
o Still unable to master completely abstract language- such as time - Language comprehension
o Way understand and use language may be very different to adults - Example
o Ｗe cannot assume that the question that the child “heard” was the one that the adult asked…. Poole & Lamb (1998)
o Also cannot assume what we said to the child is correctly heard by the child - Socio-cultural factors (e.g. Huang & Lamb, 2014)
o Adult child interaction dynamic differs between countries
EU children + adults interact egalitarian (equal)
China- (one child policy)- child authoritarian
Taiwan- children assumed to be innocent + parents = authoritarian in interaction, so unequal interaction dynamic
Cultural difference in willingness to apply to adults request
• Taiwan, will still do it even though don’t want to do it as think adult is right situational compliance
• Don’t see it in immigrant Chinese of EU people
• Implication in false confessions - Attentional bias
o Ignoring other info as cant pay attention to everything
o Simon and chabris 1999
o Inattentional bias- Children less capable of suppressing irellevant things – pay attention to a lot of different things at one time - Suggestibility
o children younger than preschool age are more prone to suggestion(Poole & Lindsay, 1995).
o If the child is the active participant in an event, his/her recollection of the event is less subjected to suggestion (Roediger et al., 1991).
Better at resisting suggestibility
Non active= more prone to suggesticbility
o Repeated interview experiment- 4-6yrs kids repeatedly interviewed for several weeks, by 11th week, 56% kids reported at least one false event.
o Giving your prior knowledge to children
what happened in Ceci & Bruck (1995
- 40 children (aged 3) in pediatric examination
50% were given a general pediatric examination
50% were given a general and genitalia examination
what questions were asked in - Ceci & Bruck (1995
. Did the doctor touch you here?
o 2. Show me on the doll where the doctor touched you.
o 3. Show me on your body where the doctor touched you.
o 4. The experimenter gave the child a spoon and ask “did the doctor do anything with the spoon?”
what were the findings in Ceci & Bruck (1995
o Children who experienced genital examination could not correctly demonstrate with the doll.
o Children who did not experience genital examination said that they were touched.
o More than 50% of the children gave incorrect report.
o Spoon question: 17.5% children put the spoon into the doll’s private area.
o 12.5% children exhibit aggressive behavior towards the doll.
what was concluded in Ceci & Bruck (1995)
o children were inaccurate in reporting genital touching regardless of how they were asked and whether they were touched.
o The use of anatomically correct dolls increased the inaccuracy of children’s report.
o Tells us that: children incorrect at reporting what happened,
o Children’s abstract reasoning using another object to represent what they are in environment, (doll)- children don’t have abstract reasoning / thinking to know that the doll represents them
when are children more prone to suggestibility
- Cannot remember accurately.
o Feel pressure to say something - Being stressed/anxious about the event in question.
- They think that they were asked again because they gave the wrong answer before; or they think the interviewer want a different answer.
o When repeat question- think they were wrong initially - They don’t understand the question but they don’t dare to say they don’t know.
- When they don’t understand the experience being asked (e.g. sexual intercourse).
- The influence of the interviewer.
- Why important to establish ground rules (in seminar)
what is a study which is an example of how adults are suggestible
loftus and palmer 1974
what question s were asked in loftus and palmer 1974
- Group 1: How fast were the cars going when they HIT each other?
- Group 2: How fast were the cars going when they SMASHED into each other?
- Group1: Did you see broken glass when the cars HIT each other?
- Group2: Did you see broken glass when the cars SMASHED into each other?
what were the experimental conditions in loftus and palmer 1974
hit
smashed - verb changed when asked questions
what are the results from loftus and palmer when pps were asked to estimate speed
o Hit group – estimated 34mph
o Smashed= 41 mph
what are the results from loftus and palmer when pps were asked to estimate whether they saw broken glass
o Hit 14%
o Smashed 32%
describe the best types of questions to ask children interviewees
Open-ended questions
o Example: What happened? And then? Tell me more about…? What else? Tell me everything
o This encourages free-recall- mor likely to get better memories recalled (more accurate)
o Use of facilitators, e.g. nodding
o Cued-invitations: e.g. “You mentioned XXX, tell me more about that”.
what are the second best questions to ask child interviwees
Focused/ Directive questions
o Example: Wh- questions and How
o You are focusing the interviewee’s attention to specific information
o Make sure the child really understand the question
o Children may have more difficulty about time-related question.
what are the second worst questions to ask child interviewees
: Option posing questions
o Example: Which one…. Yes/No questions
o You are limiting the interviewee’s answers to your question
o Be cautious of “Acquiescence bias”
o If you ask yes/no question continuously, this may lead the interviewee to start doubting their answers.
o Too many yes no questions in a row- more likely to confirmation bias and say yes just to get out of the situation
what are the worst questions to ask child interviewees
Suggestive/leading questions
o Example: question containing information not mentioned by the interviewee
o Very dangerous practice!
o Because you may suggest something that is completely not true
what are the factors which affect autobiographical memories
o Age (memon et al 2003)
Younger child= worse ltm (especially younger than school age)
o Stress trauma (valantine + mesout 2009)
In shock after trauma- don’t want to/ do want to remember it
Wait until ready for them to talk about event?–> then affected by time delay
o Frequency of event (Roberts 2004)
o Source monitoring (poole an dlindsay 2001)
Ability to distinguish where the info comes from
Did you actually see it happening/ experience it, or hear about it (told about it/ on news)
Childrens ability to monitor source = poor
o Time delay
