Psychologically Vulnerable Group of People

874 Words2 Pages

When it comes to looking at children in the criminal justice system, they could very easily be considered vulnerable, particularly as witnesses. This is most apparent during the process of giving evidence. Lamb (1999) identified factors that can affect the quality and subsequent understanding of a child’s input.

One of the factors stated that children are most likely to be psychologically vulnerable in interviews. This is because interviewers are more prone to using language that a child would find difficult to discern because their speech and language skills aren’t as developed as an adults would be. This leaves the child vulnerable to misunderstanding of the questions and resultant misinformation provided for the professional conducting interview.

It was also identified that the interviewer’s personal characteristics and how they actually deal with the child in question could have an effect on how the child responds to the interviewers enquiries. Cleary, Mechanic and Weiss (1981) indicated in their research that variants in interviewers characteristics such as; attitudes towards the person in question, could have an effect on the responses they receive from them. Despite the fact this research isn’t specific to children in interviews, the underlying point it makes; that there is an effect on responses, does make it justifiably applicable to the subject of vulnerable witnesses in the criminal justice system.

Lamb (1999) also listed suggestibility as a factor, which is supported by Baxter’s research (1990). Baxter found that high suggestibility and a lack of direct questions leads to bias information provided by child witnesses. This has led to the notion that suggestive questioning during interviews with vulnerable witnesses i...

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...sful interviewing process in the criminal justice system.

Word Count – 778 Words

References

Bull, R, 2010, The Investigative Interviewing of Children and other Vulnerable witnesses: Psychological Research and Working/Professional Practice, Legal and Criminological Psychology, volume 15 (Pages 5-23)

Cleary P D, Mechanic D and Weiss N, 1981, The Effect of Interviewer Characteristics on Responses to a Mental Health Interview, Journal of Health and Social Behaviour, Volume 22 (pages 183-193)

Newburn, T, 2013, Criminology (Second Edition) Oxfordshire, UK, Page 888

Poole D, Lamb M E, 1998, Investigative Interviews of Children: A Guide for Helping Professionals, Washington US, American Psychological Association (pages 179-80)

Sternberg K J, Lamb M, Davies G, Westcott H, 2001, The Memorandum of Good Practice: Theory versus Application, Child Abuse & Neglect

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