• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • The Newspaper
  • Our Team
  • PDF Books
  • Archive
  • Gallery
  • Contact Us

Scena Criminis

L'Informazione al servizio della Legalità

  • EnglishEnglish
    • ItalianoItaliano
    • EnglishEnglish
    • EspañolEspañol
  • News & History
    • History of Crime
    • Criminal Words
    • Gender Violence
    • News
    • Organized Crime
  • Quotes, Interviews, Videos
    • Interviews
    • Quotes
    • Videos
  • Crime & Art
    • Recommended Books
    • Criminal Portraits
    • The Eye that Kills: Cinema and Crime
    • Violent Art
  • Criminal Biographies
    • Caserta: Crimes from the Past
    • Criminal Biographies
    • Most Wanted
    • Mysteries and Unsolved Crimes
    • Serial Killer
    • Snapshots from a Crime
  • Forensic Sciences
    • Criminalistics
      • Ballistics: Rifles and Guns
    • Criminology
      • Psychology
      • Sociology
    • Law
    • Nonverbal Communication
You are here: Home / Forensic Sciences / Emotional Children’s testimonies are judged as more Credible

Emotional Children’s testimonies are judged as more Credible

12 December 2014 da admin Leave a Comment

0Shares

A new study from the University of Gothenburg, show that aspiring lawyers assess child complainants as more credible and truthful if they communicate their statement in an emotional manner. Thus, there is a risk that children that behave in a neutral manner may be perceived as less credible in court.

In an experimental legal psychology study, two young actors (one girl and one boy) portrayed victims in a mock-police investigation. They were questioned by the police about how they had been harassed by older schoolmates. The police interviews were videotaped in two versions: In one version the children appeared in a neutral manner, but in the other version the children showed clear signs of distress, as they sobbed and hesitated before answering the police officers’ questions.

The films were later shown and assessed by law students that were familiar with the Supreme Court’s criteria for how to assess the credibility of testimonies. The results show that the children, despite giving the exact same testimonies, were perceived as more credible and truthful when expressing emotions than when behaving in a more neutral manner. The reason for these differences was that the law students had stereotypical believes that child victims should appear emotional. The law students also felt greater compassion for the emotional children.

‘This is problematic since many children don’t display strong negative emotions when questioned by police,’ says Sara Landström, researcher in legal psychology at the Department of Psychology. ‘There is a risk that these children will be considered less credible in court.’ Since witnesses and technical evidence are often lacking in cases involving child abuse, courts are often forced to rely solely on the victim’s own testimony ‘It is therefore very important that courts assess the credibility of a testimony based onwhat children say and not on how they say it,’ says Sara Landström.

Source: ScienceDaily

Story Source: University of Gothenburg

Related posts:

Has the "Criminal Mind" Changed?
Cyberbullying
Interventions show promise in helping Treat and Prevent Domestic Violence among Military Couples
How many Slaves work for You?
0Shares

Filed Under: Forensic Sciences, Psychology

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Make a donation to support our activities

Stay updated in real time

Subscribe to the Newsletter
Loading

Follow us

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Search

Safe and prudent use of Internet

Categorie Articoli

Last Articles

Info

  • Business Contacts
  • Disclaimer

Tags

America american most wanted art artist Chicago crime crimen crime scene criminal Criminalistics criminology disorder Dna fbi fingerprints forensics forensic science homicide killer law most wanted Murder Nonverbal Communication oil on canvas painting paintings police prison psicólogia psychology psychologytoday psychology today research reward scena criminis science sciencedaily serial killer sex offender terrorism terrorist US USA violence violent art

Footer

Privacy Policy
Cookie Policy

Scene Criminis aims to bring together – around a “round table” – experts, students and simple onlookers, who want to confront, update and find new stimuli.

The largest Italian Community on Forensic Sciences that collects news, studies, curiosities and contributions on Criminology, Criminalistics, Crime Report and Law.

Scena Criminis is also a Non-profit Association, active throughout the province of Caserta (Italy), which has 3 fundamental purposes: Defense of Legality, Fight against all forms of Violence, Education to Gender Differences.

Follow us

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Instagram

scenacriminis

Gli è andata male... 👮‍♂️ Gli è andata male... 👮‍♂️
Seguimi ➡️ scenacriminis.com 💪 Seguimi ➡️ scenacriminis.com 💪
➡️ www.scenacriminis.com ⬅️ ➡️ www.scenacriminis.com ⬅️
➡️ www.scenacriminis.com ⬅️ ➡️ www.scenacriminis.com ⬅️
Falso allarme... 🤦‍♂️ ➡️ www.scenacr Falso allarme... 🤦‍♂️

➡️ www.scenacriminis.com ⬅️
Altro che Jackie Chan! 😆 Altro che Jackie Chan! 😆
➡️ www.scenacriminis.com ⬅️ ➡️ www.scenacriminis.com ⬅️
➡️ www.scenacriminis.com ⬅️ ➡️ www.scenacriminis.com ⬅️
➡️ www.scenacriminis.com ⬅️ ➡️ www.scenacriminis.com ⬅️
Carica altro… Segui su Instagram

Copyright Scena Criminis Testata giornalistica registrata presso il Tribunale di Santa Maria Capua Vetere (CE) n. 849 del 26/04/2016 © 2023 ·

Direttore Responsabile: Gianfrancesco Coppo

Created by BDM | Log in