NCJ Number
152864
Journal
Expert Evidence Volume: 3 Issue: 1 Dated: (July 1994) Pages: 16-24
Date Published
1994
Length
9 pages
Annotation
Brennan's coding scheme was applied to transcripts from a court case in England that involved three lawyers and seven young witnesses; a high percentage of child-unfriendly questioning was noted, and both prosecution and defense lawyers did not statistically differ from each other in their use of such questioning.
Abstract
The coding scheme involved 15 constructions that were applied to court transcripts. The notion of child-unfriendly questioning was introduced to facilitate the calculation of percentages and frequencies. Multiple coding of exchanges allowed the use of percentages to portray the true nature of lawyers' questioning styles. Descriptive analysis was performed by counting individual code frequencies for each examination type. Percentages of child-unfriendly components were also calculated by dividing the total for each category by the number of exchanges within the transcript. A relatively large proportion of child-unfriendly questioning was observed. Lawyers did not change their style across witnesses to adapt to each individual child's needs. Policy and practice implications of the study findings are discussed, and the authors highlight the discrepancy between questioning that is permitted by police officers and social workers before children reach court and questioning that is sanctioned in court. 30 references, 2 tables, and 4 figures