Disclose Information During Eyewitness

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Pages: 3

Previous research has focused on certain characteristics that affect a child's ability to reveal information, including the developmental differences, gender, and the relationship to the perpetrator. However, there is little research present that studies how children may be hesitant to disclose information if the use of threat and intimidation is present. The purpose of the research is to examine how the use of threat and intimidation can affect a child’s ability to disclose crucial information during eyewitness testimonies.
Background
The implication of threat and intimidation can influence how a child disclose information as eyewitnesses. A threat is defined as an aggressive act in which a person promises to inflict harm or punish the victim with the purpose to gain compliance and alter the victim’s behavior (Benoit, 1983). The victim must comprehend that the person who issues the threat
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Likewise, intimidation is described as threatening to inflict harm on someone, including physically and financially, to deter the victim to disclose information as an eyewitness (Home Office, 1998). Fyfe and McKay (2000) identify several ways a victim may experience intimidation which includes verbal abuse and threats to the victim’s life, which increases the victim to experience fear and vulnerability. The examination of the severity of these threatening and intimidate claims in order to analyze how a child may react. Furthermore, London et al. (2008) analyze some retrospective studies that examine the delay of disclosure among adults who suffer from child sexual abuse. One of the characteristics reported is the possibility that disclosure rates among children will decrease if the child is threatened by the perpetrator. Threats can be made towards a child’s physical well-being, psychological well-being, their family, or something that is valuable to them. For example, the perpetrator can threat to harm or kill the child’s parents if they disclose