When will a child be believed? The impact of the victim's age and juror's gender on children's credibility and verdict in a sexual-abuse case

OBJECTIVE

To provide insight into the central dimensions jurors may use when deciding a child victim's credibility and verdict.

METHOD

Participants (N = 573) read a simulated trial (robbery or a sexual-assault case in which the defendant was either a stranger or an acquaintance) in which the alleged victim was either a 6- or 13-year-old girl. The trials were constructed to be as similar as possible with only minimal differences in the child's testimony. The supporting evidence was held constant across cases to allow for experimental assessment of the hypotheses.

RESULTS

The defendant was more likely to be found guilty in the sexual-assault cases than in the robbery case. The child was perceived to be more credible, honest, and to have a better memory in the sexual-assault cases compared to the robbery case. Perceptions of memory and honesty predicted verdict and punishment. The child's age did not impact credibility or verdict. Finally, women, compared to men, perceived the child as more credible.

CONCLUSIONS

Type of case was a potent factor in jurors' determination of guilt and the child's credibility. Contrary to expectations, neither the victim's age nor the interaction between this and type of case impacted verdict or credibility measures.

Adapting the cognitive interview to enhance long-term (35 years) recall of physical activities

The cognitive interview (CI) was modified for use in an epidemiological study in which respondents were asked to recall their daily physical activities from the distant past (35 years ago). In comparison to a traditional epidemiological interview, the CI elicited many more responses and also more precise responses. Several practical costs, however, were incurred by the CI: additional time to train interviewers and to conduct interviews and difficulties in coding the responses. The costs and benefits of conducting the CI are addressed, along with conceptual and methodological challenges. The article ends with an existential question: Is the CI a singular technique if it can be modified so radically for different settings?

Facilitating children's eyewitness recall with the revised cognitive interview

Eighty-six 2nd-grade children participated in a Simon says game with an unfamiliar adult. The children were subsequently interviewed twice with either a standard interview or the revised cognitive interview (CI), once within 3 hr of the event and then 2 weeks later. On both the initial interview and the 2-week delayed interview, children receiving the revised CI recalled significantly more correct information than did children receiving a standard interview. In addition, children who were interviewed twice with the revised CI recalled more unique accurate facts (M = 25.44) than children who received 2 standard interviews (M = 16.75). The CI also elicited more inaccurate facts; however, the accuracy rate (proportion of reported facts that were accurate) for the 2 groups was equivalent. The research has implications for police and others who interview real child victims and witnesses.