City Research Online

Mock juror perceptions of child witnesses on the autism spectrum: the impact of providing diagnostic labels and information about autism

Crane, L., Wilcock, R., Maras, K. L. , Chui, W., Marti-Sanchez, C. & Henry, L. ORCID: 0000-0001-5422-4358 (2018). Mock juror perceptions of child witnesses on the autism spectrum: the impact of providing diagnostic labels and information about autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 50(5), pp. 1509-1519. doi: 10.1007/s10803-018-3700-0

Abstract

Research suggests that autistic children can provide accurate and forensically useful eyewitness evidence. However, members of a jury also rely on non-verbal behaviours when judging the credibility of a witness, and this could determine the verdict of a case. We presented mock jurors with videos (from an experimental study) of one of two child witnesses on the autism spectrum being interviewed about a mock minor crime. Results demonstrated that providing jurors with generic information about autism and/or informing them of the child’s diagnostic label differentially affected credibility ratings, but not for both children. Implications for how to present information about child witnesses with autism to a jury – highlighting the need for approaches tailored to individual children – are discussed.

Publication Type: Article
Publisher Keywords: autism, criminal justice, jury, credibility, eyewitness memory
Subjects: R Medicine > RC Internal medicine
Departments: School of Health & Psychological Sciences > Language & Communication Science
SWORD Depositor:
[thumbnail of Crane2018_Article_MockJurorPerceptionsOfChildWit.pdf]
Preview
Text - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons: Attribution International Public License 4.0.

Download (997kB) | Preview

Export

Add to AnyAdd to TwitterAdd to FacebookAdd to LinkedinAdd to PinterestAdd to Email

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics

Actions (login required)

Admin Login Admin Login