Year: 2016
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Providing accurate and detailed statements in police interviews can be challenging, especially for children.After reviewing the challenges relevant to the formation, maintenance and recall of memories, study 1 reviewed the guidance available to police interviewers questioning children in Germany and placed it in an international context through comparison with European manuals and the United States manual.As guidance was found to be limited, study 2 compared primary school-aged children's and adults' understanding of police interviews.Six-and 7-year-old-children were identified as the most vulnerable age group who tended to lack very basic knowledge.Study 3 introduced a live intervention to improve 6-and 7-yearolds' knowledge of how their behaviour could impact on statements in police interviews.This intervention was found to be effective for this age group.Study 4 replicated this finding with 9-and 10-year-old children and additionally suggested that this age group's understanding of police interviewer behaviours could be improved through the same live intervention.In contrast, study 5 suggested that 6-and 7-year-old children's knowledge of police interviewer behaviours could not be improved through the previously used live intervention or an analogous video intervention delivered by a mock police man.Study 6 compared the effectiveness of these two delivery methods of the intervention -live and video -and suggested that, for 8-to 10-year-old children, there was no difference in effectiveness between both delivery methods in improving the knowledge of interviewer and interviewee behaviours for up to a week.Taken together, these findings suggest that, while children's limited understanding of police interviews might be an underlying factor that impairs their ability to testify, only the understanding of older children can be improved for interviewee and interviewer behaviours, while younger children's knowledge can only be improved for interviewee behaviours. DeclarationThis thesis comprises the candidate's own original work and has not been submitted previously or simultaneously to this or any other university for a degree.All experiments were designed and conducted by the candidate under the supervision of Doctor Mark Blades and Doctor Sarah Krähenbühl.Part of the data from this thesis has previously been presented in the conference presentations detailed below.Hülsken, J. (2015, May).A comparison of children's and adults' understanding of police interviews.Paper presented at the Annual British Psychological Society Conference, Liverpool, UK.Hülsken, J. (2015, July).Young children do not understand the nature of police interviews.Paper presented at the Annual British Psychological Society Division of Forensic Psychology Conference, Manchester, UK.Hülsken, J. (2015, August).Young children's understanding of police interviews.Paper presented at the European Association of Psychology and Law Conference, Nuremberg, Germany.context with supplements provided by German counties as well as through comparison with European and the US manuals. Chapter 4This chapter describes study 2 which compared primary school aged children's and adults' understanding of various components of police interviews. Chapter 5This chapter introduces the intervention designed for the purpose of this thesis and in the framework of study 3 evaluated if the intervention could improve young children's understanding of police interviews, in particular of interviewee behaviours. Chapter 6This chapter describes study 4 which assessed if the intervention could improve older children's understanding of interviewee and interviewer behaviours. Chapter 7This chapter describes study 5 which evaluated if the intervention could improve younger children's understanding of interviewer behaviours.In addition to using the pre-established delivery method for the intervention, a more standardized delivery method was introduced. Chapter 8This chapter describes study 6 which compared the effectiveness of the two previously employed delivery methods of the intervention for older children with two novel delay durations. Chapter 9This chapter summarises the main findings, outlines the limitations and implications of the research conducted and provides suggestions for future research.
Author: Julia Hülsken
Language: English
Subfield: Social Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2414781867