| 1. |
- Landström, Sara, 1980, et al.
(författare)
-
Children’s testimony and the emotional victim effect
- 2015
-
Ingår i: Legal and Criminological Psychology. - : Wiley. - 1355-3259 .- 2044-8333. ; 20:2, s. 365-383
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose. Two experiments were conducted to examine the effects of (1) child victims’ emotional expression during testimony and (2) the camera perspective used to record the testimony, on judgements of credibility. Methods. Law students (N = 155 in Experiment 1; N = 86 in Experiment 2) watched a child harassment complainant provide a statement in an emotional or neutral manner, presented using different camera perspectives: balanced focus (i.e., a shot portraying an equal focus on the child complainant and the interviewer) versus picture-in-picture (PiP; i.e., a shot portraying only the child with an inset window depicting both the child and the interviewer in the corner of the screen) in Experiment 1 and PiP versus child focus (i.e., a shot depicting only the child) in Experiment 2. Results. Although no effect was found for camera perspective, the results provide support for an emotional victim effect (EVE); the child was perceived as more credible and truthful when communicating the statement in an emotional (vs. neutral) manner. Moreover, the results provide corroborating evidence for the assumption that the EVE rests on both cognitive (expectancy confirmation) and affective (compassion) mechanisms. Conclusions. These findings extend previous research by showing that the EVE and its underlying mechanisms apply to judgements of child complainants in the context of non sexual crimes and appear to be robust against variations of camera perspectives. Legal implications are discussed.
|
|
| 2. |
- Lindgren, Sara, 1991, et al.
(författare)
-
Assessing Reliability of Verbal Statements in Swedish Courts: Judges' perception of the Supreme Court Criteria
- 2016
-
Ingår i: The 12th Meeting of the NNPL in Sweden, September 23-24, 2016.
-
Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aim of this mixed-method type of study was to evaluate Swedish judges’ perception of the use of the Supreme Court Criteria used for assessing reliability of verbal statements in legal cases. Judges from all over Sweden, in different stages of their career, participated in this study which was divided in two parts. In the first qualitative part, three semi-structured interviews with three different judges were held. The results were analysed thematically and showed skepticism to the use of guidelines as well as a gratefulness to have something to rely on. Situational factors and individual factors were lifted as influential to the usability of criteria. The second part of this study consisted of a web based survey created to acquire quantitative data. Results from the analysis will be presented.
|
|
| 3. |
- Adolfsson, Kerstin, 1988, et al.
(författare)
-
Hur ser yrkesverksamma på sitt arbete med våldtäktsutredningar och bemötande av utsatta?
- 2017
-
Ingår i: Brottsoffermyndighetens viktimologiska forskarkonferens, Stockholm, 21 november, 2017.
-
Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Tidigare psykologisk forskning har fokuserat på varför utsatta inte vill anmäla sexualbrott eller väljer att hoppa av under utredningen. I denna studie svarade 237 polisanställda, åklagare och sjukvårdspersonal på en webbenkät med syfte att fånga upp deras perspektiv på att arbeta med våldtäktsfall och bemöta personer som blivit utsatta för våldtäkt. Frågorna gällde hinder i deras yrkesutförande, om de kunde se rutiner i deras arbete som kan uppfattas som stötande ur de utsattas perspektiv, förtroende för rättsväsendet, falska anmälningar samt kunskap om reaktioner och beteenden hos våldtäktsutsatta. De fick även ta ställning till våldtäktsmyter. Resultatet visade att äldre respondenter hade högre förtroende för rättssystemet än yngre, och att åklagare kände högre förtroende än polisanställda. Polisanställda ansåg att falska anmälningar var vanligare, jämfört med åklagare och sjukvårdspersonal. Detsamma gällde yngre respondenter och respondenter med högre acceptans av våldtäktsmyter.
|
|
| 4. |
- Adolfsson, Kerstin, 1988, et al.
(författare)
-
Professionals’ perception of meeting rape victims and handling cases of rape
- 2017
-
Ingår i: 59th Research Seminar, Nordiska samrådet för kriminologi (NSfK). Örenäs: 9-11 maj.
-
Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- As the final part of a three-year project regarding attitudes toward victims of rape, a survey study was conducted with the aim to gain knowledge concerning difficulties and possibilities in handlings of rape victims and rape cases. An online survey was sent out to professionals working within the police, the healthcare system and prosecutors across Sweden, who meet victims of rape through their daily work. We wanted to get the professionals’ perspective and wondered if they could contribute with knowledge concerning why rapes are not being reported and why so few of the reports proceed to court. Over 230 professionals took the survey. They answered questions concerning perceived obstacles for their work performance, their trust in the justice system, knowledge and further education in victim behaviour and reactions, suggestions for improved treatment of rape victims, how their work would be affected by a possibly broader legislation, and police officers’ view on giving information about counsel for an injured party at an early stage of the investigation. Participants also had to consider statements regarding myths about rape. Data was analysed both separate as well as across professions and the results from this study will be presented at the conference. The title of the full project is Victim blaming in rape cases: Empirical studies of understudied situations. It is partly financed by the Swedish Crime Victim Compensation and Support Authority and conducted by researchers at the psychology department at the University of Gothenburg. The aim of the project was to enhance knowledge about blame attributions in rape cases and to use variables, situations and group of participants not previously included in experimental studies.
|
|
| 5. |
- Adolfsson, Kerstin, 1988, et al.
(författare)
-
Professionals’ perceptions of handling cases of rape
- 2017
-
Ingår i: The 13th meeting of the Nordic Network for research on Psychology and Law (NNPL). Katowice, Poland: 22-23 September.
-
Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- A survey study was conducted with the aim to gain knowledge concerning difficulties and possibilities in handlings of rape victims and rape cases among Swedish professionals. An online survey was taken by 237 police employees, prosecutors and healthcare personnel, who meet victims of rape in their daily work. The survey included questions concerning obstacles for the respondents work performance, trust in the justice system, false reports and further education in victim behaviour and reactions. The respondents were also asked to provide suggestions for improved treatment of rape victims and cases of rape, and police officers’ view on giving information about counsel for an injured party at an early stage of the investigation. Respondents also had to consider statements regarding rape myths. Data was analysed both separate as well as across professions. Trust in the justice system was affected by respondent age and profession. Older respondents had higher trust in the justice system and prosecutors had significantly higher levels of trust in the justice system compared to police employees. Police employees believed there were significantly more false reports of rape compared to both prosecutors and health care personnel. This was also true for younger respondents (compared to older) and respondents with higher levels of rape myth acceptance (compared with lower levels). More results and discussion about implications will be presented at the conference.
|
|
| 6. |
- Adolfsson, Kerstin, 1988, et al.
(författare)
-
Victim blame in single versus multiple perpetrator rape cases
- 2016
-
Ingår i: The 26th meeting of the European Association of psychology and Law (EAPL), Toulouse, France, July 5-8, 2016.
-
Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Substantial research has been conducted in the field of victim blaming, but still we do not fully understand the complexity of how and why people tend to blame rape victims. Two important aspects that have been more or less neglected in previous research within the field of victim blame are multiple perpetrator rape cases and the level of force used by the perpetrator(s). Since the prevalence of acquaintance rape is higher than of stranger rape, we conducted two experiments using a setting in which rapes may occur but not typically included in previous research. According to Swedish legislation, a rape situation with more than one perpetrator is considered an aggravated crime, irrespective of the level of force used. However, we wanted to examine if the level of force used and/or number of perpetrators had any impact on levels of blame attributed to the victim. To investigate this we conducted an online multi-experimental study with a Swedish community sample. Participants read a scenario describing a rape and thereafter provided ratings of victim blame, Belief in a Just World and Rape Myth Acceptance, as well as their trust in the Swedish justice system and self-experience of sexual victimization. All scenarios described the same four people and the relation between them, colleagues, was held constant. In the first experiment (N = 1704), number of perpetrators (one or three) was manipulated. We used number of perpetrators and participant gender as independent variables and victim blame as the dependent variable. In the second experiment we held number of perpetrators (three) constant but manipulated the level of force used. Level of force and participant gender were the independent variables and victim blame the dependent variable. At the conference in Toulouse we will present the results from our ongoing statistical analyses, in the hope of bringing new, important knowledge of victim blaming attitudes.
|
|
| 7. |
|
|
| 8. |
- Calado, Bruna, et al.
(författare)
-
Remembering what never occurred? Children’s false memories for repeated experiences
- 2018
-
Ingår i: In-Mind. - 1877-5306. ; 5:37
-
Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Research has demonstrated that children can be as consistent as adults when it comes to their capacity of producing reliable statements. However, their testimonies can sometimes be riddled with falsities caused by unintentional errors made by practitioners when conducting interviews. These mistakes, such as providing information that was not divulged by the interviewee and coercing them to respond to a question in a specific way, might compromise the quality of the statement. This can induce the interviewee to form memories of non-experienced events (i.e. false memories). Lab studies have shown that people can create rich and compelling false memories, even for highly negative events. In legal cases, these events are sometimes remembered as a repeated experience. How can this be? Can people create false memories of events that they believe happened to them numerous times? This article aims to clarify how easily such false memories can be formed. Specifically, we will focus on events that allegedly happened repeatedly, focusing on the formation of children’s false memories.
|
|
| 9. |
- De La Fuente Vilar, Alejandra, 1988, et al.
(författare)
-
Gaining Witness Cooperation: An International Survey of Investigative Interviewers
- 2019
-
Ingår i: Paper presentation at the European Association of Psychology and Law conference, Santiago de Compostela, Spain..
-
Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The application of interviewing strategies to gather accurate and detailed witness accounts is highly dependent on witness cooperation. However, some witnesses who recall the crime are unwilling to be involved in the criminal investigation. For example, some uncooperative witnesses are resistant to disclose valid information to aid the case, while others who have been intimidated or are hostile towards the police are simply reluctant to talk. Therefore, lack of witness cooperation represents a significant obstacle to law enforcement gathering witness evidence. Furthermore, emergent research indicates that lack of cooperation is detrimental to the amount and accuracy of information disclosed by witnesses, and that it affects how investigative interviews are conducted. Thus, we focus this research on how practitioners overcome lack of witness cooperation and interview initially uncooperative witnesses. Study purpose: To conduct the first examination of current investigative interviewing of uncooperative witnesses from an international practitioner’s perspective. We examined practitioner’s beliefs regarding and witnesses’ motives to cooperate and not cooperate in criminal investigations. In addition, we aimed to learn the prevalence and relevance of this topic according to their experience, as well as which strategies practitioners believe to be effective specifically to interview witnesses who are unwilling to cooperate and disclose information. Method: Police officers who conduct witness interviews took part in an online survey. Participants (N = 227) were investigative interviewers across different police services in The Netherlands, United Kingdom, Sweden, Norway, Canada, and Australia. Results: Data are currently being translated, analysed and will be presented at the conference. We expect interviewing of uncooperative witnesses to be different across countries according to police interviewing experience, training, institutional demands and each country’s tradition of interviewing, whether information gathering or accusatorial. Specifically, we predict that practitioners’ belief that witnesses ought to cooperate, together with lack of training and flexibility influence the perception of effectiveness of interviewing strategies that in fact interfere with the task of gaining and maintaining cooperation (e.g., using closed and probative questions). In addition, we expect that current practice does not target how to increase motivation to cooperate and is detrimental to witnesses’ memory processes (e.g., poor rapport building). Lastly, practitioners aiming to overcome lack of witness cooperation may be resorting to interviewing strategies which have unknown consequences for the validity and reliability of witness accounts, such as legal warnings about lying and withholding information, moral appeals, or anonymity incentives. Conclusions: Findings from this research are of vital importance to reflect and improve the quality of witness interviewing by identifying and changing practice that does not promote cooperation or increases witness reluctance to disclose information. In addition, understanding how interviewers’ beliefs regarding witness cooperation (and lack thereof) affect information gathering during investigative interviews is necessary to inform interviewing training and lines of research that examine the effects of current practice on witness accounts considering their importance to advance criminal investigations and as evidence in court. Most importantly, given the practical relevance of this topic, future research examining field data is warranted to examine the extent to which practitioner’s beliefs, perceptions and experiences of interviewing uncooperative witnesses affect real witness interviewing practice.
|
|
| 10. |
- De La Fuente Vilar, Alejandra, 1988, et al.
(författare)
-
Memory of Uncooperative Witnesses
- 2017
-
Ingår i: Pitch presentation during the 2017 conference of the European Association of Psychology and Law in Mechelen, Belgium.
-
Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Introduction Despite the importance of their testimony, witnesses rarely provide sufficient information (Kebbell & Milne, 1998). However, witnesses’ reports are not necessarily a representation of memory. In fact, lack of reporting does not equal to lack of memory. But, there is no empirical evidence on whether memory is protected if it is not reported. This will be the first study to examine whether level of cooperation during an investigative interview affects memory for the target event. Specifically, we aim to learn whether memory traces are conserved when witnesses are uncooperative. Method During an in-person session, all participants will watch a mock-crime video clip and serve as eyewitnesses. They will be randomly assigned to only one of four interviewing conditions: control, enhanced cooperative style and two uncooperative style groups. Participants in the uncooperative groups will be told that the police believe they also participated in the crime. It is expected that participants to avoid self-incrimination will be less cooperative than those who are independent witnesses. Further, those in the enhanced cooperative condition will receive an extra incentive to facilitate disclosure. After a week, only one of the uncooperative groups will be debriefed. All groups will be interviewed again. Memory performance will be measured in both interviews. Results A literature review regarding memory for the unsaid (i.e., what is remembered and not disclosed) shows mixed results. Lack of disclosure of information can be accompanied, or not, by remembering. Thus, not reporting may lead to forgetting, but also to memory facilitation (Stone, Coman, Brown, Koppel & Hirst, 2012). As this is an exploratory study, no directional hypotheses are formulated. Preliminary data will be presented during the conference. Discussion Learning about how interview cooperation style affects memory and how this can be best recalled at a later stage is of particular relevance.
|
|
