Do you believe?”: The effects of child witness age and background on the credibility of child sexual exploitation cases

Lees, Yasmin (2018) Do you believe?”: The effects of child witness age and background on the credibility of child sexual exploitation cases. Manchester Metropolitan University. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

A mock child sexual exploitation trial was used to study juror’s perceptions of child victim’s credibility. The age and socioeconomic status of the child victim were tested. Results indicated that child victim age had no significant impact on the mock juror’s perceptions of their credibility. The socioeconomic status of the child victim had a significant impact on how credible the jurors perceived the child. Juror’s hearing a case of a child from a high socioeconomic status were more likely to reach a guilty verdict compared to the child from a low socioeconomic status. Additionally, jurors who perceived the child as credible were significantly more likely to pass a guilty verdict. The study concluded that the socioeconomic status of a child victim can impact how credible jurors perceive their allegations. Future research should aim to examine stereotypes surrounding victims of child sexual abuse. Specifically, what it is about child victims from low socioeconomic status’ that causes jurors to perceive their allegations as less credible.