Eyewitness identification in child witnesses on the autism spectrum

Background. Although there is increasing interest in the capabilities of children with autism at different stages of the criminal justice process, there is little research into how well this group perform when asked to identify perpetrators from identification lineups. This is despite theoretical and empirical literature suggesting that autistic children experience face recognition memory difficulties. Method. As part of a broader study into eyewitness memory skills, 50 children with autism and 162 children with typical development (TD) (all with IQs > 69) watched a mock crime event (either live or on a video) involving two male perpetrators. One week later, their eyewitness identification skills were compared, with children asked to identify the perpetrators from two ecologically valid video lineups. The children were also assessed on a standardised face memory task. Results. When asked to identify perpetrators in the video lineups, in many respects the autistic children performed at an equivalent level to the TD children. This was despite the TD children outperforming the autistic children on the standardized face memory task. Conclusions. These preliminary findings suggest that group differences between autistic and TD children may not always emerge on an ecologically valid, real world eyewitness identification lineup task, despite autistic children showing poorer performance on a standardized face memory task. However, as identification performance in both groups was low, it remains important for future research to identify how to scaffold eyewitness identification performance in both children with and without an autism diagnosis

Verbal, visual, and intermediary support for child witnesses with autism during investigative interviews

Three promising investigative interview interventions were assessed in 270 children (age 6-11 years): 71 with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and 199 who were typically developing (TD). Children received ‘Verbal Labels’, ‘Sketch Reinstatement of Context’ or ‘Registered Intermediary’ interviews designed to improve interview performance without decreasing accuracy. Children with ASD showed no increases in the number of correct details recalled for any of the three interview types (compared to a Best-Practice police interview), whereas TD children showed significant improvements in the Registered Intermediary and Verbal Labels interviews. Findings suggested that children with ASD can perform as well as TD children in certain types of investigative interviews, but some expected benefits (e.g., of Registered Intermediaries) were not apparent in this study

Research review: Childhood maltreatment and executive functioning during adolescence

Research over the past decade indicates that adolescents who have experienced childhood maltreatment have more emotional and behavioural disturbances and less socially desirable or adaptive behaviours than typically developing adolescents. These difficulties are consistent with weaknesses in executive functioning skills. Executive functioning (EF), which involves higher order thinking and reasoning skills, is considered to be critically important for complex human behaviour. Adolescence is a period of marked neurodevelopmental change, particularly in the regions of the brain that deals with EF. During this period youngsters are in the process of acquiring higher-order, abstract cognitive skills as well as coping with the normal pressures of teenage life. EF skills may therefore be critical at this time and may explain the cognitive and behavioural difficulties that maltreated adolescents’ experience. However, despite evidence to suggest that the overwhelming stress of childhood maltreatment leads to adverse effects on brain development, research into maltreatment and EF is still limited, particularly using adolescent samples. After a brief introduction to childhood maltreatment, an overview of recent findings will be provided, with first a consideration of the general effects of maltreatment on cognitive achievements and behavioural regulation, followed by an examination of the role of developmental period, severity and type of abuse. Theories about EF will then be outlined, concluding with a consideration of the effects of maltreatment specifically on EF