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?