Children's truthful and deceptive testimonies: How camera perspective affects adult observers’ perception and assessment

Abstract

This experimental study investigates adults’ perception and assessments of children's testimonies as a function of camera shot (close-up shot vs medium shot vs long shot) and camera focus (child only vs child and interviewer). Truth-telling and lying children were interviewed and videotaped simultaneously by four cameras, each taking a different visual perspective (‘close-up shot/child only’, ‘medium shot/child only’, ‘medium shot/child and interviewer’, ‘long shot/child and interviewer’). Mock jurors (N=256) watched the videotaped testimonies and rated their perception of the children's statement and appearance, and assessed the children's veracity. Children seen in long shot were perceived as more neutral and relaxed, and children seen in close-up were perceived as having to think harder. The adult's deception detection accuracy was at chance level. The results suggest that legal policy-makers should consider the outcome of psycho-legal research on camera perspective when establishing and/or reforming standards for police interviews and courtroom procedures.     

走出刑事诉讼证人证言的怪圈——新《刑事诉讼法》颁行背景下的讨论

刑事诉讼证人证言在诉讼证明中的地位十分重要,但长期以来,在这种证据的运用和审查判断中存在着一些怪圈。本次《刑事诉讼法》的修改对于证人证言现存问题的解决意义重大,但是,欲走出刑事诉讼证人证言的怪圈,还需要更多的努力。     

Sexual assault complainants on the stand: a historical comparison of courtroom questioning

Because most cases of alleged sexual assault involve few sources of evidence, the complainant’s testimony is crucial. In line with empirical research findings, the way in which police question sexual assault complainants has evolved to ultimately maximise both the completeness and accuracy of evidence. But has courtroom questioning changed over time? To answer this question, we compared the courtroom questioning of sexual assault complainants in the 1950s to that used in cases from the turn of the twenty-first century. Overall, lawyers in contemporary cases asked complainants more questions and uttered more words than they did historically. Complainants, too, appear to have become more vocal over time. Across the two time periods, the questioning style used by prosecuting lawyers has shifted towards a more open style. In stark contrast, the format of cross-examination questions has remained remarkably consistent over time, with leading questions still making up the bulk of the questions asked. These findings have important implications for future legal reform and legal practice.     

包庇罪若干问题探讨

包庇罪特有的行为方式——作假证明包庇,决定了其行为对象及行为时间的相对确定性:"犯罪的人"只限于犯罪嫌疑人和被告人而不可能包括已决犯,同时"作假证明包庇"也意味着,其行为的时间只可能发生在刑事诉讼程序已经启动生效判决尚未作出前。"包庇"不仅是"作假证明"行为所具有的客观性质,也是行为人主观故意的内容。包庇罪和伪证罪存在着一定的交叉竞合关系。我国刑法规定的包庇罪同人伦关系存在冲突,在新的立法规定出台之前,我们可以充分利用《刑法》总则第13条"但书"的出罪功能及包庇罪和伪证罪的竞合关系来消解和减少这种冲突。     

The Effect of Lineup Member Similarity on Recognition Accuracy in Simultaneous and Sequential Lineups

Two experiments investigated whether remembering is affected by the similarity of the study face relative to the alternatives in a lineup. In simultaneous and sequential lineups, choice rates and false alarms were larger in low compared to high similarity lineups, indicating criterion placement was affected by lineup similarity structure (Experiment 1). In Experiment 2, foil choices and similarity ranking data for target present lineups were compared to responses made when the target was removed from the lineup (only the 5 foils were presented). The results indicated that although foils were selected more often in target-removed lineups in the simultaneous compared to the sequential condition, responses shifted from the target to one of the foils at equal rates across lineup procedures.     

专家证言、新科学理论与法官角色——以美国法中的Daubert标准为中心

在专家证言的可采性判断标准上,Daubert标准替代＂普遍接受＂标准成为发展方向。Daubert标准在赋予法官很大的自由裁量的同时,也赋予其艰巨的＂守门人＂角色。Daubert标准将决定权中心从专业界移至法官。Daubert标准对多种因素的弹性考量给新科学证据的可采性提供了机遇和可能,但是一切要取决于法官的自由裁量和＂守门人＂职责的履行。     

言词证据的分析与判断——以言词证据的结构分析为路径

言词证据是一类重要的诉讼证据,但是由于它以人的言词陈述为表现形式,因而通常被认为稳定性较差,证明力较弱。然而,如果我们能够认识到它的内在结构,透过其表面上的不稳定性,会发现言词证据是可以被把握的,其作用可以得到充分的发挥。