Greater Knowledge Enhances Complainant Credibility and Increases Jury Convictions for Child Sexual Assault

Jane Goodman-Delahunty; Natalie Martschuk; Eunro Lee; Annie Cossins

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.624331

Greater Knowledge Enhances Complainant Credibility and Increases Jury Convictions for Child Sexual Assault

Front Psychol. 2021 Aug 19:12:624331. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.624331. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Jane Goodman-Delahunty¹, Natalie Martschuk², Eunro Lee³, Annie Cossins⁴

Affiliations

¹ Newcastle Law School, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW, Australia.
² Griffith Criminology Institute, Griffith University, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.
³ School of Health and Biomedical Sciences, The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
⁴ School of Law, Society & Criminology, Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales, Kensington, NSW, Australia.

Abstract

Child sexual assault (CSA) cases reliant on uncorroborated testimony yield low conviction rates. Past research demonstrated a strong relationship between verdict and juror CSA knowledge such as typical delays in reporting by victims, and perceived victim credibility. This trial simulation experiment examined the effectiveness of interventions by an expert witness or an educative judicial direction in reducing jurors' CSA misconceptions. Participants were 885 jurors in New South Wales, Australia. After viewing a professionally acted video trial, half the jurors rendered individual verdicts and half deliberated in groups of 8-12 before completing a post-trial questionnaire. Multilevel structural equation modeling exploring the relationship between CSA knowledge and verdict demonstrated that greater CSA knowledge after the interventions increased the odds ratio to convict by itself, and that the judicial direction predicted a higher level of post-trial CSA knowledge in jurors than other expert interventions. Moreover, greater CSA knowledge was associated with heightened credibility perceptions of the complainant and a corroborating witness. At the conclusion of the trial, the more jurors knew about CSA, the higher the perceived credibility of both the complainant and her grandmother, and the more likely jurors were to convict the accused.

Keywords: child sexual abuse; deliberation; educative information; expert evidence; judicial directions; jury decision making; multilevel structural equation modeling; witness credibility.