Effect of Uniform and Prior Knowledge on Children's Event Reports and Disclosure of Secrets

• NCJ Number: 186858
• Journal: Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology Volume: 15 Issue: 1 Dated: Spring 2000 Pages: 27-40
• Author(s): Martine B. Powell; J. Clare Wilson; Catherine M. Croft
• Editor(s): William U. Weiss Dr.
• Date Published: 2000
• Length: 14 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

The authors examined the effects of police uniform on the accuracy of children's reports about an event and explored roles that interviewer prior knowledge and social status played in mediating any effects of police uniform.

Abstract

Two studies were conducted that involved children between 6 and 8 years of age who witnessed a magic show in a class format that was conducted by magicians and included a secret. In the first study, the interviewers were the magicians. In the second study, interviews were conducted by police officers who wore either uniforms or civilian clothes. Children reported more information, accurate as well as inaccurate, to a police interviewer in civilian clothes than to a police interviewer in uniform. This finding was observed only in the police uniform context. Interviewer's prior knowledge had no effect on children's reports in either context. The authors conclude that police uniform decreases the amount but not the accuracy of information children report and that possible mechanisms for this finding need to be explored. 19 references, 1 table, and 1 figure