Children's Understanding of Indirect Attacks on Credibility

当儿童声称受到性虐待时，他们的报告成为评估犯罪是否发生的核心。然而，孩子们很容易受到暗示的影响——无论是那些旨在影响他们报道的人，还是那些旨在证实孩子们所指控的事情的人。考虑到儿童对法庭提问的敏感性，儿童被问及先前的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，孩子们是如何理解的？攻击的微妙措辞又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侵案件中询问儿童，以及儿童如何理解和回应这些问题。这些发现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，以获得准确的回应。在这样做的过程中，拟议的研究有可能改善涉及儿童案件的法律决策，提供更好地区分虐待指控的真假的询问方法。研究人员将采用混合方法。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。调查结果将提供频率、内容、背景和对此类暗示性影响可信度评估的反应性的指示。其次，一系列的实验室研究将评估儿童对这些问题的理解和反应模式，这些材料将与实地评估的结果相结合，以近似法庭质询。在实验室研究中，研究人员还将包括律师不经常使用的提问方法。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办法，满足向儿童询问暗示性影响的法律行为者的需要，同时使儿童能够提供准确和完整的答复。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.