輔助式工具是否有助於兒童陳述重複事件

Abstract

台灣在司法程序中使用偵訊娃娃已經有一段時間了，然而司法人員對偵訊娃娃集與其類似的訊問輔助工具的認識及使用限制似乎仍有不足。過去的研究結果顯示，偵訊娃娃對於兒童陳述事件的正確率會造成不好的影響，而且使用娃娃在口說的訪談方式基本上沒有增添益處。當使用不當時，偵訊娃娃會嚴重地污染兒童的證詞並造成嚴重的司法後果。針對這個狀況，本研究採用台灣國小一年級的兒童為樣本，設計出一系列的重複事件，試圖探討偵訊娃娃在訪談中扮演的角色，以及它是否有助於兒童對於這一系列的重複事件的陳述。

The present study examined the effects of anatomical dolls on Taiwanese children’s recall of a repeated event that involved innocuous touching. Thirty-seven first-grade children participated in a repeated event on three consecutive days and were interviewed two days after the last incident. All children went through two interview phases, namely the NICHD-based interview phase and the touch clarification phase, where they were randomly assigned to either a verbal or anatomical doll condition. No significant differences were found in the total number of correct and incorrect details reported across conditions (verbal vs. doll). However, the number of correct details reported in the touch clarification phase by children in the verbal condition was significantly higher than that in the doll condition. Few erroneous reports were made overall, however, more touch-related errors were made by children using dolls compared to none verbally. More than half of the reported details were touch-related and 75% of target touch locations were mentioned, suggesting effects of the repeated nature of the event. The limited number of new details offered in the touch clarification phase suggests that our participants’ recall had been exhausted verbally in the first part of the interview. Results suggest that dolls provided no incremental effects on children’s recall. Limitations of the current study are discussed.