Child Development L7

Question 1

Why are sexual abuse cases involving children difficult to navigate?

Answer 1

. Children are unwilling/unknowing (aren’t aware that its wrong) to disclose abuse
. Medical/physical evidence is often absent
. Absence of eye witnesses
. Child witness controversy (how much weight should we place on the word of a child)

Question 2

What governs a child’s ability to act as a reliable witness?

Answer 2

. Memory

. Verbal report

Question 3

What are the limiting factors for a child’s memory

Answer 3

• Short duration
• Context dependence
• Language competence
• Knowledge base

Question 4

When do children have the ability to provide forensically relevant information about past events?

Answer 4

By age 4 or 5

Question 5

Free recalls are…

Answer 5

Highly accurate, but very brief.

Question 6

As questions become more specific, children give more details, but…

Answer 6

also make more mistakes

Question 7

What is suggestibility?

Answer 7

The degree to which one’s memory and/or recounting of an event is influenced by suggested information or misinformation

Question 8

What are the two types of suggestion?

Answer 8

. Cognitively-driven suggestibility= actually changes what the child thinks occured
. Socially-driven suggestibility (ie power dynamics)= just saying what the adult wants to hear despite still knowing what actually occurred

Question 9

In the courtroom what are some potential problems for using child witnesses?

Answer 9

1. Lack of legal knowledge (vocab +procedure= often think they will be in trouble if don’t provide info)
2. Having to confront the accused (unwilling to accuse someone who’s sitting right there especially if threatened by abuser)
3. Court formality and environment = intimidating (isolated as a witness, judge up high, people dressed up etc. )
4. Cross-examination style is very problematic for interviewing children (ie leading questions, accusatory statements)

Question 10

How are the issues surrounding child witnesses combated in the nz legal system

Answer 10

When children give evidence…

1. In courtroom, they have a screen which shields them from the accused
2. From another room via CCTV footage
3. Via pre-recorded videotapes (often police interview)

Question 11

Why is cross examining particularly problematic? What is shown in studies?

Answer 11

• Lawyers deliberately go against everything we know about interviewing children accurately
• Focus on accusation and has lots of leading statements
• Results in 75% of children making a major change to previous claims and sometimes a complete retraction
• This style repeated in the lab and found that accuracy goes down to less than chance
• Still occurs live to this day

Question 12

In the new Zealand legal system is there a lower age limit?

Answer 12

No but judge needs to be satisfied that the child is competent enough to be a witness

Question 13

Are there corroboration laws in New Zealand?

Answer 13

No, these are when a case is thrown out due to there being no other witness aside from the child

Question 14

What can variation is suggestibility be explained by?

Answer 14

• Lack of assertiveness + low self-esteem makes children more impressionable.
• However, interviewers also have a huge part to play
• Interestingly when it is children who are interviewing other children are less likely to be intimidated and change their mind

Question 15

What are some cases where using children as witnesses has gone wrong?

Answer 15

• The Kelly Michael’s case

- The McMartin preschool case