Children's Understanding of Indirect Attacks on Credibility

当儿童指控性虐待时，他们的报告成为评估是否发生犯罪的核心。然而，儿童容易受到暗示的影响-无论是那些旨在影响他们的报告的人，还是那些旨在确定儿童所指控的人。鉴于儿童对法庭提问的敏感性，儿童被问及先前暗示影响的方式是非常重要的。当律师攻击他们报告的可信度时，孩子们如何理解？攻击的微妙措辞如何影响孩子们的反应？这项调查将评估律师如何在最近的性虐待指控案件中询问儿童，以及儿童如何理解和回应这些问题。调查结果可以为那些询问儿童涉嫌犯罪的人提供具体建议，帮助建立有效的技术，以获得准确的答案。在这样做的过程中，拟议的研究有可能改善涉及儿童的案件的法律的决策，通过提供更好地区分虐待指控的真实性和虚假性的提问方法。首先，他们将对在最近的虐待指控案件中如何询问儿童进行系统的实地评估。调查结果将提供一个频率，内容，上下文，并回应这种评估的可信度暗示影响的指示。其次，一系列的实验室研究将评估儿童的理解和反应模式，这些问题，与现场评估的结果，以近似法庭提问的材料一起开发。在实验室研究中，研究人员还将询问律师不经常使用的替代方案。这些发现将评估儿童理解的界限。此外，这样做可以产生替代方案，满足法律的行为者质疑儿童的暗示性影响的需求，同时允许儿童提供准确和完整的答案。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

When children allege sexual abuse, their report becomes central to assessing whether the crime occurred. However, children are susceptible to suggestion -- both from those who aim to influence their reports and those who aim to establish what children are alleging. Given children's susceptibility to courtroom questioning, the manner in which children are questioned about prior suggestive influence is incredibly important. How do children understand when attorneys are attacking the credibility of their reports, and how does the subtle phrasing of attacks influence children's responses? This investigation will assess how attorneys are questioning children in recent cases of alleged sexual abuse, as well as how children understand and respond to such questions. The findings can provide concrete recommendations for those questioning children about alleged crimes, helping to establish productive techniques that elicit accurate responses. In doing so, the proposed research has the potential to improve legal decision making in cases involving children, by providing questioning methods that better distinguish true from false allegations of abuse.The researchers will utilize a mixed-methods approach. First they will conduct a systematic field assessment of how children are questioned in recent cases of alleged abuse. The findings will provide an indication of the frequency, content, context, and responsiveness to such assessments of credibility about suggestive influence. Second, a series of laboratory studies will assess children's comprehension and response patterns to such questions, with the materials developed in tandem with the findings from the field assessment to approximate courtroom questioning. In the laboratory studies, the researchers will also include questioning alternatives not used frequently by attorneys. Such findings will assess the boundaries on what children understand. Furthermore, doing so can result in producing alternatives that meet the needs of legal actors questioning children about suggestive influence, while allowing children to provide accurate and complete responses.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.