Interviewing techniques can render children’s testimony unreliable.

Evidence

Ceci and Bruck discovered that the problems of everyday adult–child conversations were magnified when topics with legal implications were discussed, and that the magnification was compounded whenever a child was re-interviewed on the same topic, and whenever anatomically correct dolls were introduced into the conversation. … Interviewers (be they parents, police officers or specialist interviewers) with a priori beliefs about what had happened were found to use repeated, suggestive and leading questions to encourage children to provide the answers they expected. — Lynley Hood, A City Possessed, 1578

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Lynley Hood, A City Possessed, 1578
• XREF: connects to: Children can create false narratives about abuse without experience. — Lynley Hood, A City Possessed, 2021; Psychiatric treatment pressure can coerce innocent youths into false confessions — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 494; Psychiatric investigation produces plausible stories, not verifiable truth — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 497 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Children can create false narratives about abuse without experience. #expands (0.75) — Lynley Hood, A City Possessed, 2021