Supporting child witnesses during identification lineups: Exploring the effectiveness of registered intermediaries.

Performance at identification lineup was assessed in eighty-five 6- to 11-year-old typically developing children. Children viewed a live staged event involving 2 male actors, and were asked to identify the perpetrators from 2 separate lineups (one perpetrator-present lineup and one perpetrator-absent lineup). Half the children took part in lineups adapted by a registered intermediary (an impartial, trained professional who facilitates understanding and communication between vulnerable witnesses and members of the justice system), and half took part in "best-practice" lineups, according to the current guidance for eyewitness identification in England and Wales. Children receiving assistance from a registered intermediary (relative to children who received best-practice lineups) were more accurate in their identifications for perpetrator-present lineups, and there was some evidence that they were also more accurate for perpetrator-absent lineups. This provides the first empirical evidence for the effectiveness of registered intermediary support during identification lineups.

Verbal, Visual, and Intermediary Support for Child Witnesses with Autism During Investigative Interviews.

Three promising investigative interview interventions were assessed in 270 children (age 6-11 years): 71 with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and 199 who were typically developing (TD). Children received 'Verbal Labels', 'Sketch Reinstatement of Context' or 'Registered Intermediary' interviews designed to improve interview performance without decreasing accuracy. Children with ASD showed no increases in the number of correct details recalled for any of the three interview types (compared to a Best-Practice police interview), whereas TD children showed significant improvements in the Registered Intermediary and Verbal Labels interviews. Findings suggested that children with ASD can perform as well as TD children in certain types of investigative interviews, but some expected benefits (e.g., of Registered Intermediaries) were not apparent in this study.

Executive functioning: developmental consequences on adolescents with histories of maltreatment.

Research suggests that children exposed to maltreatment have deficits in executive functioning (EF) but few studies have focused on the adolescent age group. We investigated whether maltreated adolescents had lower EF abilities compared to a group of non-maltreated adolescents. Forty adolescents with histories of child maltreatment, together with a comparison group of 40 non-maltreated adolescents matched for age, completed a comprehensive battery of EF tasks. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses, controlling for IQ, were carried out using each of the EF measures as dependent variables to examine group differences. Maltreated adolescents had significantly lower performance than non-maltreated adolescents on tasks assessing executive loaded working memory, fluency, and inhibition, although switching was not impaired. Emotional and behavioural difficulties (EBD) were included in additional regression analyses to examine whether these variables would explain the group differences. The inclusion of EBD variables had some effect on group differences, as expected, but did not eliminate them. These findings support the theory that impairments in EF may be one underlying reason why adolescents with histories of maltreatment struggle to cope both inside and outside the classroom.