Judges’, lay judges’ and police officers’ beliefs about factors affecting children’s testimony about sexual abuse

• This study examined Swedish judges’, lay judges’ and police officers’ beliefs about factors that may complicate or facilitate children’s reporting about sexual abuse. A total of 562 participants filled out a questionnaire containing ratings of complicating and facilitating factors. In addition, participants were asked to freely report which criteria they considered important when assessing the reliability of child witnesses. The groups showed rather similar opinions regarding which factors are complicating and facilitating. Furthermore, the groups tended to regard emotional factors as more complicating than cognitive factors. When asked to freely report criteria, judges and police officers mainly reported criteria pertaining to the child, whereas lay judges mainly reported criteria pertaining to the police interview. Results indicate that participants believe that children have the capacity to remember and report about abuse, but are hindered in doing so by emotional factors. Results also suggest that police officers may underestimate their own influence on the reliability of children’s reports.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Psykologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Psychology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Professionals’ beliefs; beliefs about children; children as witnesses

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)