Abstract
Children's testimony is often a critical contributor to decision-making in forensic contexts (e.g., criminal or family courts). In such children's perspectives and recall of events may inform whether criminal or care and protection proceedings are instigated (e.g., in criminal courts), or custodial decisions (e.g., in family courts). As such, children's ability to provide detailed and accurate accounts of their experiences has been a focus of much psychological science. From this research, we have learned that children can provide meaningful and reliable information to investigators when they are prepared effectively for their task as an informant, questioned in a developmentally sensitive way, and when suggestive influences are minimised. Studies have demonstrated that how much children can recall, and how coherent and accurate their accounts are, is influenced by multiple factors relating to themselves, the event, and how they are questioned. Cognitive, motivational and social factors may underlie children's contributions to an interview, and event-related factors such as delay, frequency, complexity, and salience may also influence what children are able to report. Most importantly, how adults question children (in both formal and informal conversations) shapes how children respond. In this chapter, I review what we have learned about memory development as it relates to children's testimony and investigative interviews with children.
This chapter reviews what people have learned about memory development as it relates to children's testimony and investigative interviews with children. When children are questioned because of concerns about possible maltreatment, their responses during the interview are likely to make a critical contribution to the progression of the investigation and to decisions about whether to lay formal charges, and/or initiate care and protection proceedings. Children are placed into the role of an expert, as opposed to learner, and ideally will be supported to lead the recall and reporting process. The conversation takes place in an unfamiliar environment, with an unfamiliar person. The challenge of supporting children to provide detailed and accurate descriptions of their experiences may be further complicated by factors associated with the disclosure process. Children may be vulnerable to suggestion even when they are not directly exposed to leading questions.