The young eyewitness: How well do children and adolescents describe and identify perpetrators?
ISBN: 9781433822926
Platform/Publisher: PsycBOOKS / American Psychological Association
Digital rights: Users: Unlimited; Printing: Chapter; Download: Chapter
Subjects: Cognitive & Perceptual Development;

This book summarizes the research on how well children can describe an event and perpetrator, which is a recall task, and how well they can identify the perpetrator in person or in photographs, which is a recognition task.

Every year, numerous crimes involving child eyewitnesses occur. In some cases, children are the only eyewitnesses, which makes their testimony especially critical for solving the cases. But how reliable is child eyewitness evidence? Joanna Pozzulo argues that although children may be less advanced in these skills than adults, they nonetheless can provide invaluable evidence. She interprets the research in light of developmental theories and notes its practical implications for forensic investigations. Interviewing techniques that facilitate accurate recall are presented, as are lineup techniques that facilitate accurate recognition. This book is an essential resource for all forensic investigators.

Joanna Pozzulo, PhD, is a professor of psychology and chair of the Department of Psychology at Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Dr. Pozzulo is a leading expert on children's eyewitness identification abilities. Her research, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and Carleton University, focuses on the development of face memory and the procedures that police can use to increase the reliability of eyewitness identification from lineups. Dr. Pozzulo has coauthored two textbooks on forensic psychology. She has received numerous awards for her research and teaching.

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