Deck 6: B: Child Victims and Witnesses

Question 1

What is Criterion-Based Content Analysis (CBCA)? Specify the assumption that underlies the CBCA and identify two potential problems with this method.

Answer 1

-The CBCA is a method that facilitates distinguishing true from false statements made by children.
-The criteria are based on the underlying assumption that the quality and content of true memories will differ from that of fabricated memories.
-Two potential problems with the CBCA:
a.different decision rules for arriving at a conclusion
b.age of interviewee positively correlated with scores on the CBCA
c.inconsistencies in the number of criteria required for truthfulness to be determined.
d.scores influenced by how familiar the event is to the child and how old the child is
e.subjective scoring

Question 2

A number of changes were made to improve courtroom accommodations for child witnesses in Canada.List four of these changes.

Answer 2

a.Use of a shield/screen to separate the child from the defendant
b.Allowing the child to provide testimony via closed-circuit television
c.Allowing a support person be with the child while he/she provides testimony
d.Admitting into evidence a videotaped interview with the child
e.Allowing hearsay testimony
f.Restricting to courtroom to the public,press,or media

Question 3

Name and briefly describe the two directions that have been taken to understand children's greater propensity toward suggestibility when recalling events (Bruck & Ceci,1999).

Answer 3

-Social compliance: Children trust and want to cooperate with adult interviewers even if they do not understand or have the knowledge to answer the question.
-Changes to the cognitive system: There are developmental differences in the ways children and adults encode,store,and retrieve memories; differences also exist in terms of forgetting and retention.Finally,children "misattribute" where information comes from.

Question 4

What are the five criteria identified by Lindsay and Read (1995)that should be considered when determining the veracity of a recovered memory?

Question 5

List four risk factors associated with physical abuse and four risk factors associated with sexual abuse.

Question 6

Discuss the prevailing view regarding child witnesses from the 1600-1900s.Identify the four factors outlined by Ceci and Bruck (1993)that led to the renewed interest in child witnesses.

Question 7

What is the narrative elaboration interview procedure? Describe how this procedure works and what the research on this procedure suggests in terms of its usefulness in interviewing children?

Question 8

Describe the changes made to the competency inquiry with the enactment of Bill C-2 (2006).

Question 9

Discuss the short and long term effects of physical abuse as well as sexual abuse.

Question 10

Distinguish between the incidence and the prevalence of child maltreatment.Provide an example of each.

Question 11

Describe the four categories of child maltreatment defined by the Child Maltreatment Section (CMS)of Health Canada.

Question 12

Name and briefly explain the first five steps of the Step-Wise Interview.