assessing credibility slides 24th november
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Assessing credibility
Leslie CuthbertCrown Court Recorder,
Tribunal Judge, Adjudicatorand Trainer for the Judicial College
and La Touche Training
Session aims
By the end of the session you will have had an opportunity to:
Consider what demeanour is made up of.
Consider how much reliance should be put on demeanour in assessing a witness's evidence.
Become acquainted with some of the 'myths' surrounding the assessment of credibility.
Exercise
You will need a pen and a piece of paper.
You have 2 minutes to write down as many
of the individual states of the United States
of America as you can remember by
yourself - no discussions!
Why a session on assessing demeanour?
In parts of Germany in the 13th century the
hand of a believed victim of murder would
be brought in to court and given to the
suspected killer who, clad only in a loincloth,
would have to hold it and assert their
innocence 3 times. If the judge detected
signs of discomfort in either the Defendant
or the hand, guilt would be established.
Watch the following and assess
the demeanour of the family
members
• Carmen Thomas -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtxfHeJw65E
• Stuart Hazell -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xRGr8KwGj
o
• Aisling Symes -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AByKwX9Yz
ms
Five (suggested) aspects to demeanour
Can you identify them?
• Body language
• Facial expressions
• Tone of voice
• Style of speaking
• Content
Demeanour as described by Lord
Bingham
"the sum of a witness'
conduct,
manner,
bearing,
behaviour,
delivery,
inflexion"
[1968] 2 Lloyd's Reports 5
What indicators do you take from a
person's body language?
What indicators do you take from a
person's facial expressions?
Observing
Contempt Disgust
What indicators do you take from a
person's tone of voice?
• A person telling the truth has nothing to fear
and therefore has no reason to stammer or
hesitate?
• Therefore people telling the truth will be
confident, spontaneous and relaxed.
• Will a person who is attempting to lie lower
their voice or alternatively will they speak in a
'squeaky' high pitched voice?
What indicators do you take from a
person's style of talking?
• Aggressive.
• Passive.
• Assertive.
What about the content of what
someone is saying?
• Often a better means of assessing a person's credibility.
• A form of 'forensic linguistic analysis’ helps to detect possible
deceit due to the increased cognitive load when lying.
• Look out for:
• distancing language i.e. avoiding the use of I - "how can you say
that?"
• passive language - "if you say so"
• negative language - "You cannot be serious"
• content at odds with non verbal - saying "No" but nodding head
• longer pauses in their speech
• making more word and phrase repetitions
• a tendency to make generalised statements
• a tendency to make shorter statements
What do people believe are the
non-verbal cues to deception?
What people believe about non-
verbal and verbal cues to deception?
• Global Deception Team (2006)
• Beliefs relate to:
• Gaze aversion
• Body movements and nervousness
• Inconsistency
• Lack of plausibility
Further beliefs
• Untidy people are more suspicious/less
trustworthy than smartly dressed
people
• People wearing dark clothing are more
suspicious than those wearing light
clothing
• Attractive people are more honest than
less attractive people
Exercise Part II
• You again have 2 minutes to write down as
many of the individual states of the United
States of America as you can remember by
yourself.
• Do NOT look at the earlier sheet on which
you wrote down the list.
Exercise Part III
• How did you do?
• Compare your first and second lists. Is there a
difference - an inconsistency?
• The likelihood is that on your second list you had
more states listed. This is called 'Reminiscence' (in
psychology) - which refers to a gain in performance
without practice. It is perfectly natural and does not
indicate deceit by itself.
What are the causes of
unreliability in a witness's
account?
• Three common sources according to Lord
Bingham:
• Exposure to later information
• Loss of recollection through passage of time
• Wishful thinking
Yet what do we perceive the
verbal cues to deception to be?
• Consistent v Inconsistent statements
• Lord Justice Maurice Kay:
‘The mere fact that a witness has said substantially the
same thing on a previous occasion will not generally be
a sufficient basis to adduce the previous statement
when the truthfulness of his evidence is put in issue.’
How good are we at detecting
lies told by adult strangers?
Discriminating between truth and
lies in children we haven't met
before?
• When do children start to lie?
• How do they learn to lie?
• Accuracy rates in laypersons in identifying
lies in children are 49 - 66%
• Accuracy rates in professionals in identifying
lies in children are 43 - 67%
Who was telling the
truth?• Carmen Thomas -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtxfHeJw
65E
• Stuart Hazell -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xRGr8K
wGjo
• Aisling Symes -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AByKwX
9Yzms
Some conclusions
• Don't make snap judgments (gut feelings) based upon
a sole aspect of someone's demeanour.
• Instead be alive to inconsistencies between the
content of what someone is saying and the other 4
communication channels.
• On spotting an inconsistency probe the content/topic
being spoken about - use an information-gathering
style - SNORE!
• Be suspicious - but do not show it
• Let the witness repeat him or herself
• Ask the witness temporal questions - work backwards
• Consider how readily the witness makes
concessions?
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