Inaccuracies in Children's Testimony: Memory, Suggestibility, or Obedience to Authority?

by Pallone; Letitia C

• ISBN13: 9780789001672
• ISBN10: 0789001675
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1997-06-30
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Inaccuracies in Children "s Testimony combines the literature on obedience to authority with that on suggestibility to create a third literature. This book examines children "s testimony from several perspectives and gives you insightful suggestions for increasing children "s abilities to testify accurately about traumatic things that have happened to them. In doing so, you "ll learn how to ensure that those who abuse or sexually exploit children are brought to justice while those falsely accused are adequately protected. How children are questioned to learn what they have witnessed is crucial due to the effects the questioning sessions may have on their testimonies--improper questioning may lead to inaccurate answers. This is just one of the many areas of children "s testimony covered in Inaccuracies in Children "s Testimony. In each of the chapters you "ll discover new ways for increasing the accuracy and dependability of children "s testimony as you read about: factors that affect children "s testimonies suggestibility--definition and research, including sources of suggestibility how obedience to authority can explain children "s behavior as witnesses children "s memory in the courtroom and what they are able to remember how children "s involvement in the courts can be problematic free versus prompted recall--which is more accurate and why the "worst" method is often used with children Milgram "s theory of obedience to authority tied to children as witnesses review of the literature on the effects of stress, prompting, and imagination on children "s recall ideas for future research Experts in the field of legal testimony, legal personnel, child counselors, psychologists, social workers, and faculty and students of related courses will find Inaccuracies in Children "s Testimony an essential resource for understanding the importance of making the child victim/witness more believable and reliable.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix	(2)
Acknowledgments	xi
Chapter 1. Children's Memory in the Courtroom: What Do Children Remember?	1	(16)
Identifying a Social Problem	1	(5)
Questioning of Children	6	(1)
Children's Testimony	7	(2)
Legal History	9	(1)
Testimony and Children's Memory	10	(4)
Early Research on Recall	14	(1)
Summary	15	(2)
Chapter 2. The Effects of Stress, Prompting, and Imagination on Children's Recall	17	(14)
The Effects of Stress on Remembering	17	(5)
Prompting	22	(1)
The Effect of Props	23	(2)
Children and Reality Monitoring	25	(3)
Summary	28	(3)
Chapter 3. Suggestibility: Is the Witness Telling the Truth or Reacting to Suggestion?	31	(18)
Adults and Suggestibility	31	(3)
Children and Suggestibility	34	(1)
Early Research	35	(4)
Current Research (1979 to Present)	39	(9)
Summary	48	(1)
Chapter 4. Realities in the Research on Children's Suggestibility: Criticisms, Increasing Accuracy, and Situational Sources	49	(22)
Criticism #1: The Stimulus Materials	49	(2)
Criticism #2: The Questions Asked	51	(2)
Criticism #3: Ethical Concerns	53	(1)
"Abuse" Studies	54	(2)
Research on "Abused" Children	56	(3)
Changing Children's Interpretations Through Suggestions	59	(3)
Research Showing No Effects of Postevent Information	62	(1)
Increasing Report Accuracy Without Increasing Suggestibility	62	(3)
Situational Sources of Suggestibility	65	(6)
Chapter 5. Research on Authority: Can It Help Explain Children's Testimony?	71	(22)
Milgram's Research	71	(5)
Replications of Milgram's Experiments	76	(2)
Variations on Milgram's Original Experiments	78	(8)
Children's Obedience to Authority: Milgram's Paradigm and Beyond	86	(3)
Children's Obedience to Authority	89	(1)
Other Factors Related to Obedience	90	(2)
Summary	92	(1)
Chapter 6. Why People Obey: Milgram's Theory	93	(22)
Milgram's Application of His Theory to His Experiments	96	(9)
Aggression as a Possible Criticism of Milgram's Theory	105	(1)
An Alternate Explanation: The Work of Lawrence Kohlberg	106	(5)
How Children View Authority	111	(4)
Chapter 7. Conclusions and Future Directions: How Can We Bolster Children's Testimony?	115	(12)
How Can We Improve the Accuracy of Children's Testimony?	116	(7)
Directions for Future Research	123	(4)
Notes	127	(12)
References	139	(12)
Index	151