Police officers' perceptions and experiences of promoting honesty in child victims and witnesses

IF 2.2 2区社会学 Q1 CRIMINOLOGY & PENOLOGY

Legal and Criminological Psychology Pub Date : 2023-10-24 DOI:10.1111/lcrp.12250

Gadda Salhab, Lucy Akehurst, Hannah Cassidy, Victoria Talwar

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Purpose

This two-phase study employed a mixed-methods design to explore UK police officers' perceptions and experiences of promoting honesty in child witnesses with a special focus on the recommended inclusion of Truth-Lies Discussions (TLDs) at the start of interviews with children.

Method

In Phase 1, police officers completed an online survey designed to cover their experiences and perceptions regarding truth-promotion with child witnesses. In Phase 2, police officers were individually interviewed to elicit an in-depth understanding of current practice relating to this aspect of investigative interviews with children.

Results

Around half of the survey respondents believed that TLDs promote honesty in children. The majority reported always using TLDs during interviews to ensure compliance with UK best-practice guidance. There was evidence of a misconception among some police officers that children's performance on TLDs was related to their subsequent truth-telling behaviour. Following analysis of the interview transcripts, we found a main theme of police officers' uses of TLDs, which included (i) gauging children's conceptual understanding of truths/lies, (ii) ensuring no deviation from guidance and (iii) communicating children's credibility to the court. A second main theme revealed the challenges and obstacles police officers perceived when embarking on TLDs. These were that (i) one type of TLD is not suitable for all children, (ii) the training is insignificant and the application is inappropriate and (iii) participants sometimes use alternative strategies to promote honesty with children.

Conclusion

Police officers reported following guidance because a failure to do so would jeopordise children's testimony and provided recommendations for future practice-informed research designs to test techniques for the promotion of honesty in child witnesses.

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警官在促进儿童受害者和证人诚实方面的看法和经验

目的本研究采用混合方法设计，分两个阶段探讨英国警官在促进儿童证人诚实方面的看法和经验，特别关注建议在与儿童面谈开始时纳入 "真相-谎言讨论"（TLD）。方法在第 1 阶段，警官们完成了一项在线调查，调查内容包括他们在促进儿童证人诚实方面的经验和看法。在第 2 阶段，对警官进行了个别访谈，以深入了解与儿童调查访谈有关的现行做法。调查结果显示，约有一半的受访者认为 TLD 可以促进儿童诚实。大多数人报告说，在面谈过程中始终使用 TLD，以确保符合英国最佳做法指南。有证据表明，一些警官误认为儿童在 TLDs 中的表现与其随后的讲真话行为有关。在对访谈记录进行分析后，我们发现警官使用 TLDs 的一个主要主题包括：(i) 衡量儿童对真相/谎言的概念理解；(ii) 确保不偏离指南；(iii) 向法庭传达儿童的可信度。第二个主题揭示了警务人员在开展传统的语言使用问题时遇到的挑战和障碍。这些挑战和障碍是：(i) 一种类型的 TLD 并不适合所有儿童；(ii) 培训不重要，应用不恰当；(iii) 参与者有时使用其他战略促进对儿童的诚实。结论警务人员报告说，他们遵循了指导原则，因为如果不这样做，就会损害儿童的证词，并为今后以实践为依据的研究设计提供了建议，以测试促进儿童证人诚实的技巧。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Legal and Criminological Psychology Multiple-

CiteScore

4.00

自引率

4.30%

发文量

期刊介绍： Legal and Criminological Psychology publishes original papers in all areas of psychology and law: - victimology - policing and crime detection - crime prevention - management of offenders - mental health and the law - public attitudes to law - role of the expert witness - impact of law on behaviour - interviewing and eyewitness testimony - jury decision making - deception The journal publishes papers which advance professional and scientific knowledge defined broadly as the application of psychology to law and interdisciplinary enquiry in legal and psychological fields.