NCJ Number
146295
Journal
Law and Human Behavior Volume: 17 Issue: 6 Dated: (December 1993) Pages: 679-694
Date Published
1993
Length
16 pages
Annotation
Two experiments examined trial variables that might affect juror decisions based on information provided by child witnesses.
Abstract
The first experiment explored the impact of corroboration, type of case (civil versus criminal), and victim age (6, 9, or 12 years). Participants included 379 undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory psychology course who read a trial summary describing a wrongful injury or sexual abuse case and were asked to make decisions regarding the case. Results revealed significant interaction between corroboration and age. Corroboration increased the number of guilty verdicts for 6- and 12-year-olds but had little impact in the 9-year-old case. Contrary to expectations, case type did not interact with child age in affecting juror decisions. The second experiment investigated the role of a child's age more systematically using 218 undergraduate psychology students. The trial summary described the corroborated sexual abuse case used in the first experiment and varied victim age from 6 to 14 years. Analysis demonstrated that number of guilty verdicts and child witness credibility decreased with age, whereas amount of blame attributed to the victim increased with age. Reasons for the negative age bias are discussed. 10 references and 3 tables