Opinions of legal professionals: comparing child and adult witnesses´ memory report capabilities

• Autores: Jens Knutsson, Carl Martin Allwood
• Localización: The European journal of psychology applied to legal context, ISSN 1889-1861, Vol. 6, Nº. 2, 2014, págs. 79-89
• Idioma: inglés
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ejpal.2014.06.001
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• Dialnet Métricas: 1 Cita
• Resumen
  • español

    Las opiniones de los profesionales del derecho sobre los testimonios de niños y adultos podrían influir en la probabilidad de que un caso prospere en las diferentes etapas del procedimiento legal. Con el objetivo de conocer las opiniones de los actores legales y judiciales sobre los testimonios de niños y adultos, se encues- tó a 84 abogados, fiscales y policías suecos sobre sus creencias acerca de las habilidades de memoria (y metamemoria) de niños y adultos testigos presenciales. Los participantes respondieron a 27 preguntas re- lativas a 9 áreas de creencias relevantes para la práctica forense en las que informaban sobre las habilida- des de memoria de los niños (de 7 a 11 años) y adultos. Los resultados no mostraron diferencias inter-pro- fesiones pero sí una tendencia general que sugiere, en la muestra global, que se percibía a los niños con peores habilidades de memoria a la hora de prestar testimonio que a los adultos. No obstante, el grado de consenso intra-grupo resultó muy bajo. Se discuten las implicaciones de los resultados para la investiga- ción sobre el testimonio presencial y la práctica legal y judicial.

  • English

    The opinions of legal professionals about child and adult witnesses might influence the likelihood that a case is allowed to proceed through the different stages of the legal process. With the aim of knowing the opinions of legal practitioners about child and adult witnesses, 84 legal professionals (Swedish police, prosecutors, and attorneys) were surveyed about their beliefs about child and adult eyewitness memory (and metamemory) abilities. The respondents answered 27 questions relating to nine forensically relevant belief areas in which they compared the memory ability of children (ages 7 to 11 years) and adults. The results showed no differences in assessment among members of different professions and a general trend suggesting that, across the professions, children were believed to be poorer witnesses than adults regarding their memory abilities. Moreover, the professionals' within-group consensus was very low. These results are discussed in the context of eyewitness research findings and with respect to the implications for both legal and research practice.

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