911 calls in mysterious disappearances of children: Indicators of veracity and deception

911 calls reporting the mysterious disappearance of a child may contain information critical to law enforcement. If this information is untruthful, valuable resources can be misdirected and precious time may be lost. Therefore, the current study examined verbal cues of veracity and deception in 911...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied cognitive psychology 2023-05, Vol.37 (3), p.578-589
Main Authors: O'Donnell, Daniel E., Shelton, Joy Lynn, Huffman, Michelle C., Porter, Kathryn, Miller, Michelle
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Caregivers
child abduction
Children
Cues
Deception
Disappearance
emergency calls
Ethics
Homicide
Law enforcement
missing child
Missing children
Selfhandicapping behaviour
Telecommunications
Verbal Communication
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Summary:911 calls reporting the mysterious disappearance of a child may contain information critical to law enforcement. If this information is untruthful, valuable resources can be misdirected and precious time may be lost. Therefore, the current study examined verbal cues of veracity and deception in 911 calls placed by caregivers of missing children. Specifically, the current study compared differences between a sample of caregivers who falsely reported a child missing to conceal their role in the child's homicide and truthful caregivers who reported a child missing and had no knowledge of the child's whereabouts at the time of the call. Results show promise and consistency with previously proposed indicators of veracity and deception. Specifically, a greater number of self‐handicapping statements were made by deceptive individuals, whereas truthtellers were more likely to spontaneously self‐correct. Practical implications are discussed.
ISSN:0888-4080
1099-0720
DOI:10.1002/acp.4063