21 research outputs found
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Memory development: implications for adults recalling childhood experiences in the courtroom
Adults frequently provide compelling, detailed accounts of early childhood experiences in the courtroom. Judges and jurors are asked to decide guilt or innocence based solely on these decades-old memories using 'common sense' notions about memory. However, these notions are not in agreement with findings from neuroscientific and behavioural studies of memory development. Without expert guidance, judges and jurors may have difficulty in properly adjudicating the weight of memory evidence in cases involving adult recollections of childhood experiences
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Parental reminiscing style and children's suggestibility about an alleged transgression
We examined the links between parental elaborativeness and children's suggestibility about a salient event, testing the hypothesis that, in an accuracy-focused context, children of elaborative parents are more resistant to false suggestions than children of less elaborative parents. Our hypothesis was supported: in a sample of 68 4–7 year-old children and caregivers, parent elaborativeness, along with children's working memory, additively predicted resistance to false suggestions from an unfamiliar interviewer about peripheral details of an alleged transgression. Children were forthcoming about the transgression when it actually occurred and highly resistant to suggestions that the transgression took place when it did not. Results have implications for understanding how parents socialize children to resist suggestions in accuracy-focused contexts through everyday reminiscing practices. Implications for theories of narrative and memory development, and for applied contexts such as the legal system, are discussed
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Identification and Incidence of Child Maltreatment During the COVID-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic raised serious concerns about child maltreatment, which is known to increase in frequency and severity during times of high stress. The present study used diverse data sets to concurrently examine changes in identification and medical evaluation of maltreatment allegations from before to during COVID-19. Four sources of data were collected from two counties for the months of March through December, 2019 and 2020, including reports to social services and child maltreatment evaluation center medical evaluations (CMECs). The number of reports, number of children reported, and rate of children reported were used to evaluate identification. Incidence was estimated based on the number of medical evaluations conducted at the CMECs. Maltreatment type, reporter type, and child demographics were also considered. Across both counties, there were significantly fewer reports and reported children in 2020 compared with in 2019, signifying decreased identification of suspected maltreatment cases. This was especially true in spring and fall when children are typically in school. Across both counties, the proportion of children reported to the county that received medical evaluations was higher in 2020 compared with in 2019. This suggests that the pandemic was related to an increase in the occurrence of maltreatment serious enough to warrant medical evaluations, or perhaps in the relative number of serious cases identified. Findings show divergent trends in reporting and evaluation of suspected maltreatment cases from before to during COVID-19. Identification and service delivery methods need creative solutions to adapt to changing environments. Medical, social, and legal systems need to prepare for increases in families seeking services as pandemic-related restrictions are lifted