Investigating memory reliability in intoxicated witnesses of crime. Eyewitness testimony is a crucial piece of evidence for solving a crime. Inaccurate testimony leads to miscarriages of justice such as failed prosecutions or false convictions. Many witnesses and victims are affected by alcohol or other drugs during the crime. This project brings together a multidisciplinary team aiming to improve understanding of how intoxication with different substances affects the reliability of victim and w ....Investigating memory reliability in intoxicated witnesses of crime. Eyewitness testimony is a crucial piece of evidence for solving a crime. Inaccurate testimony leads to miscarriages of justice such as failed prosecutions or false convictions. Many witnesses and victims are affected by alcohol or other drugs during the crime. This project brings together a multidisciplinary team aiming to improve understanding of how intoxication with different substances affects the reliability of victim and witness memory accuracy. Crucially, crimes are frequently distressing; therefore the interaction between intoxication and stress urgently requires exploration. This project will significantly advance our understanding of key mechanisms behind drug effects on memory, and support fairer judicial outcomes for all. Read moreRead less
Understanding Promises: Legal and Everyday Implications. This research will lead to a better understanding of the effects of keeping and breaking promises in different contexts. It will examine their potential beneficial function in peer relationships and their propensity to increase the quality of children's testimony. Keeping promises may be appropriate for fostering friendships but may have serious consequences when the information that is kept secret involves child abuse, for example. Inform ....Understanding Promises: Legal and Everyday Implications. This research will lead to a better understanding of the effects of keeping and breaking promises in different contexts. It will examine their potential beneficial function in peer relationships and their propensity to increase the quality of children's testimony. Keeping promises may be appropriate for fostering friendships but may have serious consequences when the information that is kept secret involves child abuse, for example. Information from this research is expected to contribute to more positive peer relationships and to children's honest disclosures of adult's (e.g. child abuse) and peer's (e.g. bullying) transgressive conduct.Read moreRead less
Rape victims on trial: understanding police officers' and jurors' beliefs about sexual assault, victims, and perpetrators. This project will enhance justice in cases of sexual assault. This project will discover the extra-legal factors that influence how victims of sexual assault are viewed by police and jurors, and test two ways to reduce the influence of these misconceptions in the criminal justice system.
Optimising recall in children's testimony: The challenge of repeated questions. One of the threats to a healthy start in life for Australian children, and one which imposes substantial financial and emotional cost on the Australian community, is child abuse and neglect. This project addresses a key stumbling block in obtaining evidence from child victims/witnesses- their tendency to inconsistent testimony under repeated questioning. It seeks to understand the conditions under which inconsiste ....Optimising recall in children's testimony: The challenge of repeated questions. One of the threats to a healthy start in life for Australian children, and one which imposes substantial financial and emotional cost on the Australian community, is child abuse and neglect. This project addresses a key stumbling block in obtaining evidence from child victims/witnesses- their tendency to inconsistent testimony under repeated questioning. It seeks to understand the conditions under which inconsistency is minimized, as a basis for developing empirically and theoretically based ways to optimise the accuracy and legal utility of children's testimony. As a signatory to the United National Convention on the Rights of the Child (1990), Australia has a legal as well as a moral responsibility in this regard.Read moreRead less
Repeated questions in children's event recall: Testing competing explanations. One of the threats to a healthy start in life for Australian children, and one which imposes substantial financial and emotional cost on the Australian community, is child abuse and neglect. This project addresses a key stumbling block in obtaining evidence from child victims/witnesses - their tendency to give inconsistent testimony under repeated questioning. It seeks to understand the conditions under which inconsis ....Repeated questions in children's event recall: Testing competing explanations. One of the threats to a healthy start in life for Australian children, and one which imposes substantial financial and emotional cost on the Australian community, is child abuse and neglect. This project addresses a key stumbling block in obtaining evidence from child victims/witnesses - their tendency to give inconsistent testimony under repeated questioning. It seeks to understand the conditions under which inconsistency is minimized, as a basis for developing empirically and theoretically based ways to optimise the accuracy and legal utility of children's testimony. Read moreRead less