Doctoral Dissertation Research: Does Cross-Examination Uncover Deception?

PI和Co-PI: Margaret Bull koovera和Sarah greathouse题目：博士论文研究：交叉询问是否揭露欺骗？项目摘要提出的研究旨在检验目前使用的交叉询问技术在确定证人证词的真实性方面的有效性。此外，传统的交叉询问技术将与基于源自欺骗检测文献的技术的交叉询问策略进行测试。在第一阶段，参与者要么目睹同伙从公文包里偷钱包，要么自己不被发现。在实验的第二阶段，我们将操纵参与者的动机，让他们对所看到的东西撒谎或说实话。证人的直接询问和交叉询问将在模拟法庭上进行录像，证人将接受传统的交叉询问，基于欺骗检测研究的交叉询问，或者不进行交叉询问。在研究的第三阶段，将把每一个证人的证词编入盗窃案审判的大背景中。模拟陪审员将观看审判，并为每个证人提供真实性判断，并作出裁决。这个项目的智力价值是三重的。首先，本研究将首次检验传统的交叉询问方法是否有助于陪审员对证人真实性的判断。其次，由于大多数传统的质证方法都是基于人类行为的常识性概念，因此本研究将利用实证研究来发现有效的欺骗方法，以提高质证过程中提出的问题的效用。第三，本研究将通过检验外行人的真实性判断来扩展传统的欺骗检测方法，这些人的证词暗示被告有罪，他们的证词为被告无罪开脱。这项研究将通过提供证据来证明我们目前发现不可靠证词的方法是否有效，从而产生更广泛的影响，这可能导致审判程序和司法质量的改善。此外，该提案的资金将为约翰·杰伊刑事司法学院（一个种族多元化的学生群体）的少数族裔本科生研究助理提供研究经验和指导。

PI and Co-PI: Margaret Bull Kovera and Sarah GreathouseTitle: Doctoral Dissertation Research: Does Cross-Examination Uncover Deception? 0752638Project AbstractThe proposed research is designed to examine the effectiveness of currently employed cross-examination techniques in determining the truthfulness of a witness's testimony. In addition, the traditional cross-examination techniques will be tested against cross-examination strategies that are based on techniques derived from the deception detection literature. In the first phase, participants will either witness a confederate steal a wallet from a briefcase or they will not be exposed to the theft. In phase II of the experiment, we will manipulate participants' motivation to either lie or tell the truth about what they saw. Witnesses' direct and cross-examinations will be videotaped in a mock courtroom, and witnesses will either undergo a traditional cross-examination, a cross-examination based on deception detection research, or no cross examination. In phase III of the study each of the witnesses' examinations will be edited into the larger context of a theft trial. Mock jurors will view the trial and provide veracity judgments for each of the witnesses and render a verdict. The intellectual merit of this project is threefold. First, this research will be the first to examine whether traditional cross-examination methods aid jurors' in their judgments of witness truthfulness. Second, as most of the traditional cross-examination methods are based on commonsense notions of human behavior, this study will use empirical research on effective methods for detecting deception to improve the utility of the questions posed during cross-examination. Third, this research will broaden traditional examinations of deception detection by examining laypersons' veracity judgments, both of individuals whose testimony implicates a defendant's guilt and whose testimony exculpates a defendant's innocence. This research will have broader impact by providing evidence about whether our current methods of uncovering unreliable testimony are effective, which could lead to an improvement in trial procedure and the quality of justice dispensed. In addition, funding this proposal will provide research experiences and mentoring for minority undergraduate research assistants at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, an ethnically diverse group of students.