The Accuracy, Credibility, and Impact of Children's Eyewitness Testimony

越来越多的儿童在法律诉讼中作为目击证人出庭。 迄今为止的研究结果表明，儿童可能是不可靠的记忆来源，并且被陪审员视为不可靠的记忆来源，但尚无定论。 然而，以前的研究很少关注儿童对法律上现实事件的记忆，也很少考察成年人对儿童的实际目击者报告的反应。 莱普博士计划通过精心策划的研究计划（包括模拟实验）来完成这两项任务。 在第一组研究中，一年级学生、五年级学生和大学生观看录像带上的盗窃事件，然后尝试识别肇事者并在录音的同时提供犯罪情况的口头报告。 “主题证人”报告会向成年“主题陪审员”展示，由他们判断报告的准确性和“交付风格”（例如，信心、一致性）。 根据陪审员的评估、经过培训的观察员的评分以及证人准确性的表现指数，分析可以解决证词中实际和感知年龄差异的原因。 在第二组研究中，从大学和符合陪审团资格的人群中选出的主题陪审员接受了包括第一项研究的证词在内的试验。 这些实验旨在隔离证人年龄、证词强度和合理怀疑指示等因素对陪审团行为的影响。 该研究计划将大大有助于科学地理解儿童证词的准确性及其在法庭上的影响。 通过将儿童证人视为信息来源，将陪审团视为此类信息的接收者，莱普博士汇集了信息处理和说服方面的理论工作，以解释一个基本的法律现象——陪审员相信和不相信证词的原因。

More and more children come forth as eyewitnesses in legal proceedings. To date research findings are suggestive but inconclusive that children may be unreliable memory sources and be perceived as such by jurors. Previous studies, however, have seldom focused on children's memory for legally realistic events or examined adults' reactions to the actual eyewitness reports of children. Dr. Leippe plans to accomplish both of those tasks through a carefully planned program of research, including simulation experiments. In a first set of studies, first graders, fifth graders, and college students watch a theft on videotape and then attempt to identify the perpetrator and provide verbal reports of the crime while also being taped. The "subject-witnesses'" reports are shown to adult "subject-jurors" who judge their accuracy and "delivery style" (e.g., confidence, consistency). Based on jurors' assessments, trained observers' ratings, and performance indices of witness accuracy, analyses address what accounts for actual and perceived age differences in testimony. In a second set of studies, subject- jurors, drawn from college and jury eligible populations, are presented with trials that include testimony from the first studies. These experiments aim to isolate the effects of such factors as age of witness, strength of testimony, and reasonable doubt instructions on jury behavior. This program of research should contribute substantially to a scientific understanding of the accuracy of children's testimony and its impact in court. By viewing the child witness as a source of information and the jury as a receiver of such information, Dr. Leippe brings together theoretical work on information processing and persuasion to explain a basic legal phenomena--the causes of juror belief and disbelief in testimony.