Open court testimony poses difficulty for child witnesses required to face the defendant. Certain laws allow hearsay testimony to replace the alleged child victimu27s testimony. This study examines the relationship of the childu27s age to the relative believability of three hearsay testimony fonnats in a 2 (child witnesses: one 4-year-old and one 8-year-old) x 3 (hearsay conditions: interview of child, interviewer testimony in u22gistu22 or summary form, or interviewer testimony in detailed, u22verbatimu22 fonn) design. Transcripts were based on actual child sexual abuse interviews ( one 4 and one 8-year-old female) obtained for prior research with permission from Child Protective Services officials. College undergraduate students (N = 143) participated as mock jurors, each reading one of six randomly assigned hearsay transcripts. An overall verdict was rendered and believability was rated on a multidimensional scale. Jurorsu27 ratings indicated their sensitivity to the structure of the interviews, judging the actual child interviews as consisting of more structured, leading and suggestive questions than the gist testimony. However, this was not reflected in their verdicts or ratings of overall believability of the child statements. Thus, these results indicated that u22gistu22 adult hearsay testimony may be equally credible to the childu27s. Other influential factors that may affect the jurorsu27 perceptions of credibility, such as interview quality and age stereotypes, are also discussed.
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