False allegations in child sexual abuse: the pattern of referral in an area where reporting is not mandatory

Anthony, Graham; Watkeys, Jane

doi:10.1111/j.1099-0860.1991.tb00377.x

Cited by 14 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 4 publications

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“…Trocmé and Bala found that 4 per cent of abuse allegations were intentionally false and that this represented 12 per cent of custody and access cases. Earlier studies found rates of false allegations by children to be between 2 and 5 per cent (Anthony and Watkeys, 1991;Horowitz et al, 1995). Although these figures appear to be small, the consequences for the accused are severe.…”

Section: False Reportsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Question type and its effect on children ' s maintenance and accuracy during courtroom testimony

Saykaly

Crossman

Morris

et al. 2016

Journal of Forensic Practice

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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of question type (open-ended, prompted, reverse order and chronological order recall) on children’s ability to maintain a truth or a lie in a two-part mock-courtroom study. Design/methodology/approach – In total, 96 children (M age=131.00 months) between 9 and 12 years of age were asked to testify about an interaction with a research assistant the week prior. They were assigned to one of four conditions (true/false×assertion/denial). Findings – Results indicate that question type has an influence on children’s ability to maintain their condition. Results also indicate that regardless of question type, children have difficulty recalling information sequentially. Practical implications – Implications of the current research support the use of various question types, including increasing the cognitive load demands, when interviewing children. Originality/value – To date, this is the first study to investigate the use of reverse order questioning in a courtroom study with children.

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Section: False Reportsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Question type and its effect on children ' s maintenance and accuracy during courtroom testimony

Saykaly

Crossman

Morris

et al. 2016

Journal of Forensic Practice

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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Remembrance of lies past: A comparison of the features and consistency of truthful and fabricated trauma narratives

Peace

Porter

2010

Appl. Cognit. Psychol.

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The credibility of reports of victimization must be evaluated by police and adjudicators. The present prospective study investigated the features of truthful and fabricated narratives of trauma and their relative consistency over a 6-month period. Participants described both a genuine and fabricated traumatic experience on three occasions over the 6 months. The narrative features were coded at each phase and the stories' consistency was examined at Times 2 and 3. We found that truthful trauma narratives contained more: details, contextual information, and emotional details, and were rated as more 'plausible', relative to fabricated traumas. The details of truthful narratives also were more factually consistent than fabricated narratives over the 6 month interval. This research offers basic information on the nature and consistency of traumatic memories, and potentially applicable information for discriminating true and false allegations.

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Developing an objective approach to assessing allegations of sexual abuse

Bradford¹

1994

Child Abuse Review

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The decision to prosecute in a case of alleged child sexual abuse is a function of whether it is in the child's and the public's interest and whether the case is likely to be successful. This in turn rests largely upon what the child says during a joint investigative interview, the adequacy of that interview in terms of whether it meets the necessary legal requirements and whether other evidence is available, and the weight given to it. This paper describes an approach to evaluating what a child says during the interview which has been used widely in Europe to aid the decision‐making process of teams and courts in their dealings with allegations of child sexual abuse. It is concluded that despite a number of methodological problems with the technique, known as statement validity analysis, joint investigating teams and the Crown Prosecution Service are likely to find it of assistance in clarifying their decision‐making concerning children's evidence and, in particular, whether it is likely to be sufficiently strong to succeed within our current legal framework.

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False allegations in child sexual abuse: the pattern of referral in an area where reporting is not mandatory

Cited by 14 publications

References 4 publications

Question type and its effect on children ' s maintenance and accuracy during courtroom testimony

Question type and its effect on children ' s maintenance and accuracy during courtroom testimony

Remembrance of lies past: A comparison of the features and consistency of truthful and fabricated trauma narratives

Developing an objective approach to assessing allegations of sexual abuse

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