ISSN:0022-4537    

DOI:10.1111/j.1540-4560.1984.tb01090.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Children have been testifying in courts of law for centuries, but not without raising questions about the value of their statements. Over the years, the legal system has proposed a host of rules to govern children's testimony, but today the value of many of these rules is being questioned. The scientific study of child witnesses by psychologists began around the turn of the century. Early studies tended to support some of the legal profession's stereotypes of children by claiming to show that children are “the most dangerous of all witnesses.” More recent studies challenge this oversimplified view and instead indicate that children are not always more suggestible than adults. In this paper, the laws, past and present, and the development of the relevant psychological literature are reviewed, with special attention placed on the early stud

ISSN:0022-4537    

DOI:10.1111/j.1540-4560.1984.tb01091.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

This paper examines a set of common assumptions about children's memory. Children compared to adults are thought to notice less, omit more, forget faster, be more susceptible to suggestion, and especially to intermingle imagination and perception in remembering. These propositions are interesting from the point of view of theoretical models of memory and memory development. They also have important implications for legal practice. While children's tendency to recall less than adults is well documented, there is surprisingly little evidence for other deficits in children's memory. This paper describes a new line of research, directed at the question of whether children are worse than adults in discriminating real from imagined events in memory(reality monitoring).The results suggest that children may have difficulty with some, but not all, reality‐monitoring situation

ISSN:0022-4537    

DOI:10.1111/j.1540-4560.1984.tb01092.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

One does not have far to go to find expressions of the belief in the extreme suggestibility of children. But are children more suggestible than adults? The memory of adults is readily contaminated; by comparison, children appear to be more easily influenced in only some instances. If an event is not encoded well, or if a delay weakens the child's memory relative to an adult's, then differences in memory may emerge. On the other hand, if an event is understandable and interesting to both children and adults, and if their memory for it is still equally strong, there may be no differences in suggestibility. If a suggestion is accomplished through the subtle use of language, or if well‐developed knowledge structures are required to comprehend the suggestion, then children may actually be less easily influenced. In short, whether children are more or less suggestible than adults probably depends on the interaction of age with other factor

ISSN:0022-4537    

DOI:10.1111/j.1540-4560.1984.tb01093.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

In this paper we review studies pertaining to face‐recognition memory and attempt to derive implications for assessing the dependability of children's performances as eyewitnesses. The small amount of data concerning children's performances in either identification parades or in laboratory face memory studies is reviewed; a somewhat more extensive, but still modest, literature concerning the performance of adults in these same contexts is examined in an attempt to draw useful generalizations about face recognition applicable to children. Throughout, we identify important developmental questions for future researc

ISSN:0022-4537    

DOI:10.1111/j.1540-4560.1984.tb01094.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

This paper describes the experiences of children who have witnessed the homicide of a parent and are then legally compelled “to tell what [they] have seen.” The witnessing of a human killing constitutes psychic trauma, and the child may exhibit symptoms of a posttraumatic stress disorder. There may also be a wide range of grief responses. Our focus is on the interplay of the child's grief and traumatic reactions, and the demands of the legal system. The horrifying loss of impulse control in the assailant, the mutilation of the victim, and the helplessness of the victim and witness continue to haunt the child. We review the issues arising from police questioning, qualification procedures, testimony in open court, and defendant sentencing. The child's efforts at mastering the trauma can be either enhanced or impeded by involvement in judicial proceedings. With more complete mastery of traumatic anxiety, the child can become a more effective witness. We argue for the usefulness of having an expert in psychic trauma to assist these young witnesses and outline legal recommendations to provide adequate mental‐health consult

ISSN:0022-4537    

DOI:10.1111/j.1540-4560.1984.tb01095.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

There have been a number of recent proposals for procedural reforms to protect child victims in their role as witnesses. The Supreme Court's decision inGlobe Newspaper Co. v. Superior Courtsuggests both the constitutional limits of these reforms and some circumstances in which social‐science evidence in unlikely to be given weight by the judiciary.Globeis particularly interesting with respect to the latter issue because its judgment appeared to turn on perceptions of empirical data. The Court's use of these data is analyzed, and suggestions are made for future research about children's involvement as witnesses. It is argued that attention might be better paid to making the present system more responsive to the needs of child witnesses than to attempting major procedural change

ISSN:0022-4537    

DOI:10.1111/j.1540-4560.1984.tb01096.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Sexual abuse of children, though widely condemned, is nevertheless more prevalent than has been previously realized. When the accused offender does not admit guilt, the testimony of the child victim is likely to be the only or the main evidence. Members of the criminal‐justice system often share general societal beliefs that children are not as credible as adults and that children cannot participate in such legal proceedings without serious trauma. In this article, we address some of the social and legal barriers to successful prosecution of child sexual abuse cases, and to the child's effective participation in such cases. Then, we discuss some steps that can be taken to help reduce, eliminate, or overcome these barrier

ISSN:0022-4537    

DOI:10.1111/j.1540-4560.1984.tb01097.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Adults often do not know when to believe children. There are few places where this uncertainty is more consequential than in a court of law where jurors may be forced to base their verdict largely on the testimony of children. Legal and cultural stereotypes undermine children's credibility as witnesses by portraying them as basically honest but highly manipulable, unable to differentiate fantasy from reality, and lacking in cognitive sophistication. In this article, we review juror, witness, and courtroom factors that influence a child's credibility. We also present the results of our own studies on reactions to child witnesses.

ISSN:0022-4537    

DOI:10.1111/j.1540-4560.1984.tb01098.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

The papers in this issue reflect the “state of the art” in research and thinking on children as witnesses, but the possibilities for further studies are numerous. In this article, ideas for future research on child witnesses are discussed in relation to three themes: children's ability to provide accurate testimony, emotional trauma likely to be experienced by child witnesses, and the perceived credibility of children's testimony. Proposals for improvements in legal practices are also offered. It is concluded that members of the psychological and legal communities should join in trying to solve the dilemmas posed by the child witn

ISSN:0022-4537    

DOI:10.1111/j.1540-4560.1984.tb01099.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1984

数据来源: WILEY