TY - JOUR
T1 - The prevalence of declarative and indirect yes/no Questions when children testify in criminal cases of child sexual abuse in the United States
AU - Stolzenberg, Stacia N.
AU - Morse, Stephanie J.
AU - Haverkate, Danielle L.
AU - Garcia-Johnson, Anastacia M.
N1 - Funding Information:
This project was supported by NIJ Grant 2016-R2-CX-0050 to Dr. Stacia N. Stolzenberg. We thank Ashley McDonald for her support with this project. Portions of this data were presented at the 2018 annual meeting of the American Society of Criminology. In addition, portions of this data will be presented at the 2019 meeting of the American Psychology-Law Society. We report no conflicts of interest.
Funding Information:
This project was supported by NIJ Grant 2016‐R2‐CX‐0050 to Dr. Stacia N. Stolzenberg. We thank Ashley McDonald for her support with this project. Portions of this data were presented at the 2018 annual meeting of the American Society of Criminology. In addition, portions of this data will be presented at the 2019 meeting of the American Psychology‐Law Society. We report no conflicts of interest.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
PY - 2020/1/1
Y1 - 2020/1/1
N2 - The present study assessed how attorneys questioned children in cases of child sexual abuse in the United States tried between 2005 and 2015. Trial testimonies (N = 134) of 5- to 17-year-olds (M = 12 years old) were coded for the linguistic form of attorneys' questions and children's subsequent responses. Three fourths of all questions were closed ended. Both declarative (statement question; e.g., “And he hit you?”; 21% of questions) and indirect yes/no questions (beginning with an indirect speech act; e.g., “Do you remember X?”; 11% of questions) were common, and produced potentially problematic responses, in comparison with forced-choice and yes/no questions. Declarative questions elicited the highest rates of unelaborative responses whereas indirect yes/no questions elicited the highest rate of nonsubstantive responses. The findings highlight the importance for researchers to better assess children's responses to declarative questions and for prosecuting attorneys to cautiously use declarative and indirect yes/no questions when questioning children.
AB - The present study assessed how attorneys questioned children in cases of child sexual abuse in the United States tried between 2005 and 2015. Trial testimonies (N = 134) of 5- to 17-year-olds (M = 12 years old) were coded for the linguistic form of attorneys' questions and children's subsequent responses. Three fourths of all questions were closed ended. Both declarative (statement question; e.g., “And he hit you?”; 21% of questions) and indirect yes/no questions (beginning with an indirect speech act; e.g., “Do you remember X?”; 11% of questions) were common, and produced potentially problematic responses, in comparison with forced-choice and yes/no questions. Declarative questions elicited the highest rates of unelaborative responses whereas indirect yes/no questions elicited the highest rate of nonsubstantive responses. The findings highlight the importance for researchers to better assess children's responses to declarative questions and for prosecuting attorneys to cautiously use declarative and indirect yes/no questions when questioning children.
KW - attorney questioning
KW - child sexual abuse
KW - children's testimony
KW - closed-ended questions
KW - declarative questions
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U2 - 10.1002/acp.3607
DO - 10.1002/acp.3607
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85074611893
SN - 0888-4080
VL - 34
SP - 194
EP - 204
JO - Applied Cognitive Psychology
JF - Applied Cognitive Psychology
IS - 1
ER -