Hearsay Versus Children's Testimony: Effects of Truthful and Deceptive Statements on Jurors' Decisions

Researchers and courts are focusing increasing attention on the reliability of children's out-of-court statements, especially in relation to trials of child sexual abuse. The main goal of this study was to investigate the effects of presentation of children's out-of-court statements (e.g.,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Law and human behavior 2006-06, Vol.30 (3), p.363-401
Main Authors: Goodman, Gail S, Myers, John E. B, Qin, Jianjian, Quas, Jodi A, Castelli, Paola, Redlich, Allison D, Rogers, Lisa
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adjudication
Adult
Behavior
Child
Child Abuse
Child molestation
Child Sexual Abuse
Child, Preschool
Children
Children & youth
Convictions
Court hearings & proceedings
Credibility
Criminal investigations
Daughters
Deception
Decision Making
Defendants
Federal Rules of Evidence
Female
Guilt
Guilty verdicts
Hearsay
Human
Humans
Interviews
Juries
Jurors
Legal Testimony
Magnetic storage
Male
Middle Aged
Pedophilia
Perceptions
Psychology
Recorded interviews
Repression, Psychology
Sex crimes
Sexual abuse
Social work
Social workers
Studies
Surveys and Questionnaires
Testimony
Trials
Truth Disclosure
Videotape Recording
Witnesses
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Summary:Researchers and courts are focusing increasing attention on the reliability of children's out-of-court statements, especially in relation to trials of child sexual abuse. The main goal of this study was to investigate the effects of presentation of children's out-of-court statements (e.g., hearsay) on jurors' perceptions of witness credibility and defendant guilt, and on jurors' abilities to reach the truth. Child participants experienced either a mock crime or were coached to say they experienced the crime when in fact they had not. During elaborate mock trials involving community member jurors, children's testimony was presented either: (1) live, (2) on videotape, or (3) via a social worker. Analyses revealed that testimony format directly influenced jurors' perceptions of child and social worker credibility (e.g., children were perceived as less likely to provide false statements if they testified live) as well as jurors' sympathy toward the child, all of which then predicted jurors' confidence in defendant guilt. Jurors had difficulty discerning accurate from deceptive child statements regardless of testimony format. Implications for psychology and the legal system are discussed.
ISSN:0147-7307
1573-661X
DOI:10.1007/s10979-006-9009-0