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Children's Understanding of Legal Terminology: Judges Get Money at Pet Shows, Don't They?

NCJ Number
168029
Journal
Child Abuse Review Volume: 6 Issue: 2 Dated: (May 1997) Pages: 141-146
Author(s)
M Aldridge; K Timmins; J Wood
Date Published
1997
Length
6 pages
Annotation
Data from a language game with children presumed not to have been abused and transcripts of police-child video interviews in cases of suspected child abuse revealed that children may have a partial understanding of any word or legal term at any given time and that this partial understanding may have dire effects on the interview outcome.
Abstract
The research took place in the United Kingdom. The children who took part in the language game were ages 5, 7, 8, and 10. The children understood more legal terms such as arrest and judge with increasing age. However, fewer than half the children in each age group were able to provide some correct description for the terms custody, magistrate, and probation. No child could define prosecution. The videos further revealed the potential misunderstandings and their consequences. Some only understood that police arrest people and lock them away and may have been frightened upon being told that they were to be interviewed by a police officer. These findings indicate that interviewers must take noting for granted, must be wary of using technical terminology with very young children. Tables and 4 references