The Impact of Age, Speech Style, and Question Form on Perceptions of Witness Credibility and Trial Outcome¹

Abstract

The experiment examined the effects that witness age (6, 10, or 22 year old), witness speech style (powerful or powerless), and prosecuting attorney's questioning style (open‐or closed‐ended) have on perceived witness credibility and trial outcome. Potential jurors ( N =276) read trial transcripts involving a murder. A significant age by speech style interaction revealed that speaking in a powerless manner was significantly more harmful to the adult witness' credibility than it was to the child witness' credibility. A Significant Age × Question Form interaction revealed that question form only had a significant effect on the 6‐year‐old's credibility. Finally, verdicts, guilt ratings, and the length of the sentence were significantly correlated with ratings of the witness' credibility.