NCJ Number
165749
Journal
Law and Human Behavior Volume: 20 Issue: 6 Dated: (December 1996) Pages: 581-606
Date Published
1996
Length
26 pages
Annotation
Two studies investigated the effects of child witness age (5, 10, or 15 years), communication style (powerful versus powerless), and prosecuting attorney questioning methods (leading versus nonleading) on perceptions of child testimony in a videotaped mock trial involving a simulated sexual abuse case.
Abstract
Participant jurors in the first study included 215 male and 265 female undergraduates enrolled in an introductory psychology course. In the videotaped trial presentation, the alleged victim accused an adult male neighbor of fondling her several months earlier while they were in the woods behind the child's home. Predeliberation and postdeliberation questionnaires were administered. Experimental results indicated that child witness age, communication style, and prosecuting attorney use of leading questions affected observer perceptions of the child. Ratings of child witness credibility were most extreme when the child's communication style contrasted with age-related expectations of adults. Participant jurors in the second study included 66 males and 141 females who were shown 1 of the 12 trial vignettes used in the first study. These subjects did not deliberate as jurors; instead, immediately after viewing the vignette, they responded individually to a 31-item questionnaire concerning the appearance, personality, and behavior of the child witness. Experimental results showed that the child's communication style and the use of leading questions affected perceptions of the defendant's attractiveness and believability. Participant juror gender also strongly affected perceptions of the defendant, with females seeing him as less believable and less attractive. 37 references, 2 tables, and 6 figures