Does the type of prompt affect the accuracy of information provided by alleged victims of abuse in forensic interviews?

Forty‐three victims of sexual abuse averaging 9.78 years of age and 52 youths who admitted abusing them were interviewed about the abusive incidents. Forensically relevant details provided by the victims were categorised as confirmed, contradicted or ignored by the perpetrators. Most (66.6%) of the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied cognitive psychology 2007-12, Vol.21 (9), p.1117-1130
Main Authors: Lamb, Michael E., Orbach, Yael, Hershkowitz, Irit, Horowitz, Dvora, Abbott, Craig B.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accuracy
Biological and medical sciences
Child
Children & youth
Cognitive psychology
Forensic sciences
Information
Medical sciences
Perpetrators
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Sex crimes
Sexual abuse
Sons
Victimology
Victims
Victims of crime
Young people
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Summary:Forty‐three victims of sexual abuse averaging 9.78 years of age and 52 youths who admitted abusing them were interviewed about the abusive incidents. Forensically relevant details provided by the victims were categorised as confirmed, contradicted or ignored by the perpetrators. Most (66.6%) of the details were ignored, but details were more likely to be confirmed when they were elicited using invitations (open‐ended free‐recall prompts) rather than focused prompts. However, similar effects were not evident with respect to contradictions. The results support predictions that information elicited using free‐recall prompts is more likely to be accurate than information elicited using focused prompts. Published in 2007 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
ISSN:0888-4080
1099-0720
DOI:10.1002/acp.1318