| 1. |
- Magnusson, Mikaela, et al.
(författare)
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Swedish police officers strategies when interviewing suspects who decline to answer questions
- 2023
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Ingår i: Legal and Criminological Psychology. - : Wiley. - 1355-3259 .- 2044-8333. ; 28:1, s. 45-59
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose Research-based interviewing techniques typically rely upon suspects being, at least partially, responsive and engaged in the conversation. To date, the scientific literature is more limited regarding situations where suspects exercise their legal right to silence. The present study aimed to examine Swedish police officers self-reported strategies when interviewing suspects who decline to answer questions. Methods A total of 289 police officers responded to a national survey that included questions about handling silence. The participants worked with a wide range of criminal cases, including financial crimes, fraud, violent offences, domestic abuse, volume crime and traffic violations. We used content analysis to examine their written responses to the open-ended question: What, if any, strategies do you use when interviewing suspects who speak very little or not at all? Results Four main categories were identified relating to (1) question strategies (e.g. asking the questions anyway, using silence), (2) information strategies (e.g. emphasizing the benefits of cooperating and informing about their legal right to silence), (3) supportive strategies (e.g. being friendly and asking about reasons for silence) and (4) procedural strategies (e.g. changing interviewers and conducting multiple interviews). Practitioners working with violent crimes reported meeting silent suspects more frequently compared with practitioners working with other criminal offences. Conclusions The results provide an initial exploration into the various strategies used by police interviewers when questioning suspects who decline to answer questions. Further research is necessary for understanding and evaluating the ethics and effectiveness of such strategies.
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| 2. |
- Bergius, M., et al.
(författare)
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Are judges influenced by legally irrelevant circumstances?
- 2020
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Ingår i: Law, Probability and Risk. - 1470-8396. ; 19:2, s. 157-164
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Judges should not be influenced by legally irrelevant circumstances in their legal decision making and judges generally believe that they manage legally irrelevant circumstances well. The purpose of this experimental study was to investigate whether this self-image is correct. Swedish judges (N = 256) read a vignette depicting a case of libel, where a female student had claimed on her blog that she had been sexually harassed by a named male professor. The professor had sued the student for libel and the student retracted her claim during the hearing. Half of the judges received irrelevant information - that the professor himself had been convicted of libel a year earlier, while the other half did not receive this information. For the outcome variable, the judges were asked to state how much compensation the student should pay the professor. Those judges who received information about the professor himself having been convicted of libel stated that he should be given significantly less compensation than those who did not receive the irrelevant information. The results show that the judges' decision was affected by legally irrelevant circumstances. Implications for research and practice are discussed. © The Author(s) [2020].
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Ernberg, Emelie, 1989, et al.
(författare)
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Child sexual abuse investigations involving preschool-aged complainants: Which cases are prosecuted?
- 2017
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Ingår i: The European Association of Psychology and Law (EAPL) conference.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Introduction. Child sexual abuse (CSA) cases are notoriously difficult to investigate and prosecute. Previous data from Swedish samples suggest that 10 - 15 % of reported cases are prosecuted, and several studies suggest that prosecution is less likely in investigations involving preschool-aged complainants compared to cases where the complainant is an older child. We aimed to investigate what is required for CSA cases involving preschool-aged complainants to be prosecuted. Method. Data from CSA cases involving preschool-aged children were analyzed (N = 147) using logistic regression. Results. Prosecuted cases were more likely to contain forensic evidence (documentation of abuse, DNA or a corroborative medical examination), while such evidence was not available in any discontinued case. Furthermore, cases were less likely to be prosecuted if there was a custodial dispute between the child’s parents as well as if the family had prior involvement from social services. Cases with more than one complainant were more likely to be prosecuted. Discussion. The results will be discussed in the light of previous research regarding the prosecution of CSA cases and we will offer some guiding suggestions to how these difficult investigations can be facilitated.
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| 5. |
- Ernberg, Emelie, 1989
(författare)
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Children in the Swedish Legal System, Part I
- 2017
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Ingår i: Landström S. (red.) Interviewing Child Witnesses: Proceedings of the 2016 theoretical course.. - Gothenburg : Department of Psychology, Gothenburg University.
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Bokkapitel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 6. |
- Ernberg, Emelie, 1989, et al.
(författare)
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Court evaluations of young children's testimony in child sexual abuse cases
- 2018
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Ingår i: Legal and Criminological Psychology. - : Wiley. - 1355-3259. ; 23:2, s. 176-191
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose Prosecutors working with child sexual abuse (CSA) cases involving young children have raised concerns that reliability criteria from the Supreme Court of Sweden are holding children's testimony to impossible standards (e.g., expecting the child's testimony to be long, rich in detail and spontaneous). This study aimed to address these concerns by investigating how District Courts and Courts of Appeal employ said criteria in their testimonial assessments of young child complainants. Methods Court documents from District Courts (n = 100) and Courts of Appeal (n = 45) in CSA cases involving 100 children age 7 years and under were analysed with respect to the courts’ testimonial assessments. Results Testimonial assessments were more frequently referenced in acquitting verdicts and in cases with evidence of low corroborative value. Richness in detail was the most frequently used reliability criterion, followed by spontaneity. Most criteria were used in favour of the children's testimony. However, the length criterion was typically used against the reliability of the children's testimony. Conclusions Our findings confirm prosecutors’ concerns that criteria from the Supreme Court are frequently used in evaluations of young children's testimony. This is troublesome, as some criteria do not correspond to current research on young children's witness abilities. For example, compared to testimony given by older children or adults, testimony provided by a young child is typically not long or rich in detail. We encourage prosecutors to extend their own knowledge on young children's capability as witnesses and present this to the court.
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| 7. |
- Ernberg, Emelie, 1989, et al.
(författare)
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Interviewing witnesses in a second language: A comparison of interpreter-assisted, unaided, and self-administered interviews
- 2023
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Ingår i: Legal and Criminological Psychology. - : Wiley. - 1355-3259 .- 2044-8333. ; 28:1, s. 60-73
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose With increasing rates of migration worldwide, police are more likely than ever to interview witnesses who do not have the same first language as they do. We examined how to best approach this situation by comparing three different ways of conducting such interviews. Methods Native Arabic speakers (N = 128) living in Sweden witnessed a video of a mock crime and were allocated to one of three interview conditions: a face-to-face interview in Swedish (i.e. their second language), a face-to-face interview with an interpreter translating from Swedish to Arabic or an Arabic language Self-Administered Interview (c) (SAI). Results For total number of details reported, the no interpreter condition resulted in moderately fewer details being reported than the interpreter and SAI conditions. A similar trend was seen for correct details; however, these differences were not statistically significant. Participants in the SAI condition were somewhat less accurate in their reports compared with both the interpreter and no interpreter conditions. Conclusions If interviewing without an interpreter, there is minimal loss of reported detail when the witness speaks the interviewer's language at an intermediate level and the questions posed are few and simple. Moreover, provided that the witness has a sufficient level of literacy, administrating the SAI in the witness's native language can be an alternative for witnesses with no or limited verbal ability in the interviewer's language.
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| 8. |
- Ernberg, Emelie, 1989, et al.
(författare)
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"It doesn't work at all, that's my experience" : Swedish forensic interviewers' views on interpreter-mediated child interviews
- 2022
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Ingår i: International Journal of Child Abuse & Neglect. - : Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd. - 0145-2134 .- 1873-7757. ; 127
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Legal practitioners have expressed concerns regarding the quality of interpreter mediated forensic interviews with child witnesses. Objective: This mixed-methods study aimed to examine Swedish forensic interviewers experiences of conducting child interviews via a language interpreter. Participants and setting: Forty-one forensic interviewers from the Swedish Police Authority with experience conducting interpreter-mediated child interviews participated in a digital survey. Methods: Their responses were analyzed using both qualitative (thematic and content analyses) and quantitative (descriptive and inferential statistics) approaches. Results: The forensic interviewers general experiences of conducting interpreter-mediated child interviews were negative. Limited access to authorized legal interpreters and doubts regarding the accuracy of interpretation were described as major obstacles in these investigations. The presence of an interpreter could negatively impact childrens disclosure process and limit their chances of expressing their views during legal proceedings. Conclusions: According to Swedish forensic interviewers, the quality of interpreter-mediated child interviews urgently needs to be addressed. Our results are consistent with previous surveys from Australia and the United States, highlighting the international relevance of these topics. Future improvements are vital to ensure that all children are provided an equal right to be heard during criminal investigations, regardless of the native language.
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| 9. |
- Ernberg, Emelie, 1989
(författare)
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Legal Practitioners’ Thoughts and Evaluations of Preschoolers’ Testimony in Child Sexual Abuse Cases
- 2016
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Child sexual abuse (CSA) cases are notoriously difficult to investigate, prosecute and adjudicate. In Sweden it is estimated that only about one tenth of all reported CSA cases are prosecuted and CSA cases involving preschoolers are less likely to be prosecuted compared to cases involving older children. Preliminary investigations concerning preschool-aged children are complicated. Preschoolers typically have a limited ability to remember and retell events, and their testimonies are often difficult to evaluate. Thus far, prosecution in CSA cases involving preschool-aged children has not been studied exclusively and only very few studies have investigated how preschoolers’ testimonies are evaluated by legal actors. The aim of this thesis is therefore to shed some light on how preschoolers’ testimonies are viewed and evaluated by prosecutors and judges in a Swedish legal context. In Study I, 9 specialized child prosecutors (6 women, 3 men) took part either in individual interviews or in focus groups. The transcripts were analyzed thematically. The prosecutors said that children’s testimony was sometimes evaluated with criteria from the Supreme Court (e.g., length and richness in detail) and held at standards that do not comply with their witness capability. CSA victims were identified as vulnerable victims who had difficulty telling their stories. Some aspects of forensic interviews with preschoolers were described as problematic, and the prosecutors stated that the interviews sometimes went on for too long or that the interviewers had difficulties directing the youngest children as to the purpose of the interview. Building on the finding that children’s testimony may be evaluated with criteria from the Supreme Court and held at standards that do not comply with their witness capability, Study II aimed at investigating judges’ evaluations of preschoolers’ testimony. The study consisted of descriptive analyses of a majority of all court decisions (N = 145) in CSA cases involving preschoolers as complainants issued between 2010 and 2014. Reliability assessments of the children’s testimonies were more frequently made in acquitting verdicts and in cases with evidence of low corroborative value. Most criteria used for assessing the reliability of preschoolers’ statements were used in favor of their testimony, with the exception of the length criteria, which was mostly used against the reliability of preschoolers’ testimony. The findings are discussed in the light of research on preschoolers’ abilities to testify about CSA and some guiding implications for legal professionals working with these cases are offered.
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| 10. |
- Ernberg, Emelie, 1989, et al.
(författare)
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Prosecution of Child Sexual Abuse Cases Involving Preschool-Aged Children: A Study of Swedish Cases from 2010 to 2014
- 2018
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Ingår i: Journal of Child Sexual Abuse. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1053-8712 .- 1547-0679. ; 27:7, s. 832-851
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Alleged child sexual abuse against preschool-aged children is often considered one of the most challenging cases for a prosecutor to handle. The aim of the current study was to examine differences between prosecuted and discontinued cases of alleged sexual abuse of preschool-aged children. Data from Swedish criminal cases of alleged sexual abuse of children ages 2–6 issued from 2010 to 2014 were analyzed (N=130). Prosecuted cases were more likely to contain forensic evidence (documentation of abuse, corroborative DNA evidence, or a corroborative medical examination), or a confession from the suspect, while such evidence was not available in any discontinued case. Furthermore, cases where the child was older, where the prosecutor had decided to conduct an interview with the child, and where there was more than one alleged victim were more likely to be prosecuted. Factors that were associated with a decreased likelihood of prosecution were ongoing custody disputes between parents, foster care placements prior to the abuse, and if the report concerned a boy. Boys and younger children were also less likely to be interviewed. The results suggest that prosecution of sexual abuse cases involving preschool-aged children remains difficult and that there is room for improvements in these investigations.
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