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.
Original language | English |
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Journal | Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 28 Jul 2018 |
Keywords
- autism
- criminal justice
- jury,
- credibility
- eyewitness memory