Perceived credibility and eyewitness testimony of children with intellectual disabilities

Lucy A. Henry · Jessica M. Perry · Laura Crane

69 citations0/0 files storedJournal of Intellectual Disability Research

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Jury Decision Making Processes Memory Processes and Influences Deception detection and forensic psychology

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Although children with intellectual disabilities (ID) often provide accurate witness testimony, jurors tend to perceive their witness statements to be inherently unreliable. METHOD: The current study explored the free recall transcripts of child witnesses with ID who had watched a video clip, relative to those of typically developing (TD) age-matched children, and assessed how mock jurors perceived these transcripts in the absence of knowledge of group (ID or TD) membership. A further aim of this research was to determine whether perceptions of credibility were associated with levels of free recall and witness characteristics (anxiety and mental age). RESULTS: Mock jurors rated the testimony of children with ID as less credible than that of a TD age-matched comparison group. This was largely because of the transcripts of the children with ID containing fewer details than those of the TD children. Anxiety and mental age were found to have no effect on perceived levels of credibility. CONCLUSIONS: It appears that even in the absence of knowledge of whether a child does or does not have ID, this factor still affects perceptions of credibility among mock jurors. Our findings suggest that fundamental differences in the quality of the witness transcripts lead to lower perceptions of credibility for children with ID.

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References

2007A structured forensic interview protocol improves the quality and informativeness of investigative interviews with children: A review of research using the NICHD Investigative Interview Protocol 1973State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children 1987When a child takes the stand: Jurors' perceptions of children's eyewitness testimony.1990The child in the eyes of the jury: Assessing mock jurors' perceptions of the child witness.1987The Child in the Eyes of the Jury: Assessing Mock Jurors’ Perceptions of the Child Witness 1993Juror reactions to child victim witnesses: Factors affecting trial outcome.

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