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Witness Statement (witness + statement)
Selected AbstractsMock-suspects' decisions to confess: the accuracy of eyewitness evidence is criticalAPPLIED COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 4 2006Mark R. Kebbell Forty participants were asked to commit a mock-crime that involved them stealing a cell-phone. Later the mock-offenders were questioned and evidence was presented to them from a witness who was said to have seen the offence. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions in which they were presented with a witness statement that either contained detailed information concerning their description and their actions, or not-detailed information. For half the participants in each condition the information was correct, while for the other half some of the information was incorrect. The results show that participants were more likely to confess if the evidence against them was accurate, but the level of detail of the evidence made no difference. Participants who had accurate evidence presented against them felt more guilty than those who had less accurate evidence against them. The results are discussed in relation to police interviewing techniques. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] The perceived credibility of older adults as witnesses and its relation to ageism,BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES & THE LAW, Issue 3 2007Katrin Mueller-Johnson Ph.D. In experiment 1, 267 undergraduates read a case summary and witness statement. Sex and age of the witness (49, 69, 79 or 89 years) were varied. Participants rated the witness's perceived convincingness, confidence, quality of observation, accuracy, honesty, competence, memory, suggestibility, and cognitive functioning. As well as an age effect for honesty, age by sex interactions were observed for several characteristics, particularly for comparisons of the 79-year-olds versus the 49-year-olds, and 89-year-olds versus the 49-year-olds. In experiment 2, 94 undergraduates read the same testimony given by a 79-year-old male or female witness, and completed the Fraboni Scale of Ageism and the Aging Semantic Differential. Participants who evidenced stronger aging stereotypes on these measures rated the witness less favorably than did participants who were less prejudiced. This experiment is the first to show a link between perceived credibility of older adults and ageist attitudes. Practical applications regarding how older witnesses are viewed by jurors, and the criminal justice system more generally, are discussed. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] The influence of prior offender/victim relationship on offender stalking behaviorJOURNAL OF INVESTIGATIVE PSYCHOLOGY AND OFFENDER PROFILING, Issue 2 2004Renee M. Groves The present study examined the influence of prior offender/victim relationship on offender stalking behavior. The actions that were present within the stalking offences were recorded using content analysis of victim and witness statements, and all other relevant material within the police files of 50 stalking cases. The sample was analyzed using a non-metric multidimensional scaling procedure known as Smallest Space Analysis. The results suggested that when a prior sexual relationship existed between the offender and the victim the offender was more likely to engage in a majority of controlling style actions. However, an offender who did not have a prior sexual relationship with the victim was more likely to engage in a majority of infatuation style actions. Therefore, the study lends support to the influence of prior relationship on the actions that offenders engage in over the stalking period. Implications of the study and future research ideas are discussed. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Language crimes and the cognitive interview: testing its efficacy in retrieving a conversational eventAPPLIED COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 9 2008Laura Campos Frequently, the only available evidence in ,language crimes' (e.g. verbal sexual harassment) is witness statements about criminal conversations. However, previous research has showed that recall for sentences in conversation is very poor. The main aim of this research was to find out how to solve this problem. The cognitive interview (CI) is an interview technique which has shown to be more effective in recalling criminal episodes than a comparison interview. In addition, our experience in research on the CI had been highly satisfactory; therefore, we decided to use the CI as a tool in the research on memory for conversation, so far ignored. Thus, this study tested, for the first time, whether the CI would be also successful in obtaining complete and accurate accounts for a criminal conversation. Different forms of correct recall (verbatim/gist) of the verbal information as well as different types of errors (distortions/fabrications) were also examined. It was predicted that the CI would elicit more correct information without an increase in errors than a comparison interview (i.e. a free-recall protocol). Results confirmed these hypotheses. Interpretations of the overall findings are offered within the context of theoretical principles concerning the retrieval of information from memory. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] | ||||||||||