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Child Witness Statement Quality: Question Type and Errors of Omission

NCJ Number
159203
Journal
Law and Human Behavior Volume: 19 Issue: 6 Dated: (December 1995) Pages: 631-648
Author(s)
G D Hutcheson; J S Baxter; K Telfer; D Warden
Date Published
1995
Length
18 pages
Annotation
The impact of the type of question on the quality of statements by child witnesses was examined in a study in which experienced professionals interviewed children ages 5- 6 and 8-9 as they would normally about real events witnessed by the children.
Abstract
The research took place in Glasgow, United Kingdom. The 11 female and five male interviewers included eight police officers, four social workers, and four reporters. The research analyzed the interviewers' spontaneous use of general and specific questions, as well as the effects of these question types on the child's recall. A main result was that the younger children would often fail to answer general questions but would provide information relevant to these same questions later in the interview. Contrary to some previous findings, the use of specific questions in these relatively naturalistic interviews did not necessarily improve the overall completeness of younger children's recall. However, in line with previous findings, such questioning reduced overall accuracy rates. Results highlighted the scale of the problem of omission errors in young children's recall. Tables, figure, and 39 references (Author abstract modified)