Chapter 13
Things to think about before reading this Chapter
- What are the core features of applied development psychology and how do you see it related to both basic research and public policy?
- In what ways has basic and applied research been used to improve interviewing techniques used by investigators working with children who may be victims of maltreatment?
- In what ways has basic and applied research been used to better understand the effects of parental separation and divorce on children?
- In what ways has basic and applied research on attachment led to recommendations for post-divorce parenting plans?
- In what ways has basic and applied research on child and adolescent development influenced practices in the juvenile justice system?
Chapter Outline
CHILDREN AND THE LAW: EXAMPLES OF APPLIED DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY IN ACTION
Introduction
Applied Versus Basic Research
Child Maltreatment and Children’s Eyewitness Testimony
Impetus for This Line of Research
How Did Psychologists Respond to the Need for Research on Children’s Eyewitness Testimony
The Investigative Interview
Reaching the End-Users of Results
NICHD Investigative Interview Protocol
Pre-substantive phase
Substantive phase
Implementation
Evaluation
The Importance of Long-Term Evaluation and Training
How Does the Protocol Continue to Influence Research and Practice?
Summary
The Effects of Parental Separation and Divorce
Economic Stresses
Reductions in the Quality of Relationships with Children
Conflict between Parents
Quality and Type of Parenting
Disruptions in Relationships with Fathers
Attachment
Attachment and Implications for Parental Separation and Divorce
What Recommendations follow from the Attachment Research?
Best Practices In the Case of Parental Separation and Divorce
Why Aren’t These Best Practices Followed More Often?
Summary
Juvenile Justice
A Brief History
Role of Developmental Research in the Juvenile Justice System
Abolition of the Death Penalty for Adolescents
Basic Research Relevant to Juvenile Justice
Applied Research Concerning Juvenile Justice
The Death Penalty Decision
What Else Have We Learned from Research Concerning Juvenile Justice?
Interrogation of Juvenile Suspects
False Confessions
Youth as a Dispositional Risk Factor for False Confession
Field research
Laboratory research
Developmental Influences in the Interrogation Room
In the Interrogation Room
Where to Go From Here?
Summary
Conclusions
The Importance of Influencing Legal Practice with Science (and Vice Versa)
Dissemination
Suggested Readings
Bruck, M., Ceci, S. J., & Principe, G. F. (2006). The child and the law. In K. A. Renninger, I. E. Sigel, W. Damon, & R. M. Lerner (Eds.), Handbook of child psychology (6th ed., Vol. 4, pp. 776–816). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Fabricius, W. V., Braver, S. L., Diaz, P., & Schenck, C. (2010). Custody and parenting time: Links to family relationships and well-being after divorce. In M. E. Lamb (Ed.), The role of the father in child development (5th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Kassin, S. M., Drizin, S. A., Grisso, T., Gudjonsson, G. H., Leo, R. A., & Redlich, A. D. (2010). Police-induced confessions: Risk factors and recommendations. Law and Human Behavior, 34, 3–38.
Kelly, J. B. (2000). Children’s adjustment in conflicted marriage and divorce: A decade review of research. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 39, 963–973.
Lamb, M. E., Hershkowitz, I., Orbach, Y., & Esplin, P. W. (2008). Tell me what happened: Structured investigative interviews of child victims and witnesses. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Lamb, M. E., & Kelly, J. B. (2009). Improving the quality of parent–child contact in separating families with infants and young children: Empirical research foundations. In R. M. Gatalzer Levy, L. Kraus, & J. Galatzer-Levy (Eds.), The scientific basis of child custody decisions (2nd ed., pp. 187–214). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Pipe, M. E., Lamb, M. E., Orbach, Y., & Cederborg, A.-C. (2007). Child sexual abuse: Disclosure, delay and denial. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Redlich, A. D. (2007). Double jeopardy in the interrogation room: Young age and mental illness. American Psychologist, 62, 609–611.
Scott, E., & Steinberg, L. (2008). Rethinking juvenile justice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Glossary
Age–crime curve: The robust empirical finding that the onset of criminal offending is between ages 8–14, peaks in prevalence between ages 15–19, and declines towards adult levels between ages 20–29.
Closed questions: Queries for information posed to interviewees that specify a response or set of particular responses (e.g., “Did he touch you over or under your clothes?”, “Who did you tell?”). These types of questions are typically regarded as less preferable to open-ended questions in investigative interviews in part because they restrict the memory search to certain aspects of the event.
Competence to stand trial: The judgment that a person has the capacity to assist counsel in preparing his or her legal defense and to understand the nature of the proceeding sufficiently to participate in and make decisions about rights afforded to defendants; one of the areas of juvenile justice developmental science has contributed significantly to informing legal statutes and practice.
Culpability: The judgment that a person is sufficiently responsible for a criminal act or negligence to be at fault and liable for the conduct; one of the areas of juvenile justice developmental science has contributed significantly to informing legal statutes and practice.
Custody (child): A legal finding in which the care, control, and maintenance of a child is awarded to one or both parents following a divorce or separation proceeding.
Ecological validity: The degree to which empirical findings obtained under experimentally controlled conditions are generalizable to real-world situations and settings.
Emotional regulation: The management of emotions to accomplish one’s goals.
Investigative interviews: Interviews conducted with witnesses or suspected victims of maltreatment concerning their experiences, the outcomes of which typically set into motion criminal proceedings and a variety of interventions for children and families. Empirical research on the impact of various features of investigative interviews has been used to craft best-practice guidelines for professionals overseeing and conducting investigative interviews.
Open-ended questions: Queries for information posed to interviewees that do not specify a response or set of particular responses (e.g., “Tell me what happened”). These types of questions are typically regarded as preferable to closed questions in investigative interviews in part because they allow for an extensive memory search.
Parenting plans: Legal provision in the case of parental separation or divorce created to ensure that both parents become or remain attached to their children by encouraging parental participation by both parents in as broad as possible an array of social contexts on a regular basis.
Rehabilitation: A central feature of juvenile justice that focuses on preparing youthful offenders for a productive life upon release from detention that is based upon both historical assumptions about adolescents (e.g., maturity of judgment, malleability) as well as more recent empirical research on risk-taking, impulse control, and emotional regulation.
Suggestibility: The degree to which a person is susceptible or vulnerable to suggestive influences based upon individual traits or situational demands.