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The aim of the present study was to assess the impact of past traumatic war experiences on preadolescents in the Gaza Strip, which could be useful for psychological intervention with current and future child victims. Participants were 521 preadolescents from United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) schools, aged 11 and 13 years old. Sections I to IV from Iraqi Version-Arabic of Harvard Trauma Questionnaire was used to assess trauma experiences and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The results show that the preadolescents in the Gaza Strip witnessed the destruction of their homes and the murder of family members and friends. A quarter of the individuals assessed either suffered torture or witnessed others undergoing it, including sexual assaults. Almost half of them experienced a lack of food and clean water. The traumatic and torture experiences seriously affected preadolescents’ mental health as 26.29% met criteria for the diagnosis of PTSD. The data analysis revealed two PTSD modalities, with the severity of impact depending on whether social implications were involved. Further research is required to check whether these two modalities fit to PTSD and complex PTSD. Understanding the effects of past wars on preadolescents in Gaza and distinguishing between different PTSD types could enhance comprehension of the impacts of current attacks on child victims. It can also aid in determining the type of intervention needed to minimize the impact on the mental health of Palestinian youth, enhancing their resilience through psychological and social support.

The validity of dissociative memory in forensic contexts and the causes of the so-called "memory wars" are discussed. Misconceptions between clinical and forensic psychology, a deficient definition of amnesia, and the difficulties inherent in studying traumatic memories contribute to the persistence of this controversy. Particularly in the field of forensic psychology, the debate could be attributed to the lack of consensus on scientific evidence. Psychologists need to establish an empirical foundation to understand better the mechanisms of memory involved in remembering and forgetting traumatic memories. The Continuous Accessibility Model of Memory is outlined to explain the retrieval of the different degrees of accessibility to autobiographical memories based on different factors.

The present study evaluates the quality of life of 1,139 surviving victims of the Colombian armed conflict benefited from some actions of reparation, through a brief sociodemographic and victimological survey and the WHO quality of life (WHOQOL-BREF) questionnaire, which takes into account perceived physical and mental health, social relations, and environmental factors. The results show that the quality of life of the victims of the armed conflict, once peace agreements had been reached, remained low or medium-low. The number of victimizing events suffered and the time elapsed have little effect on the quality of life, with type of trauma being more relevant. Land-related experiences, such as expropriation, had fundamentally an influence on environmental factors. Kidnappings, sexual assaults, and events where minors were involved affected mental health. Victims of sexual assault were those whose quality of life was most affected and torture victims were those with a lower index of global quality of life. Simple passing of time did not mean quality of life increase with specific interventions being needed to repair damage. To repair the damage caused, special attention should be paid to the sociodemographic characteristics of each victim, the type of aggression suffered, and their needs in the areas of physical and mental health, and economic resources.

For security and justice professionals (e.g., police officers, lawyers, judges), the thousands of peer-reviewed articles on nonverbal communication represent important sources of knowledge. However, despite the scope of the scientific work carried out on this subject, professionals can turn to programs, methods, and approaches that fail to reflect the state of science. The objective of this article is to examine (i) concepts of nonverbal communication conveyed by these programs, methods, and approaches, but also (ii) the consequences of their use (e.g., on the life or liberty of individuals). To achieve this objective, we describe the scope of scientific research on nonverbal communication. A program (SPOT; Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques), a method (the BAI; Behavior Analysis Interview) and an approach (synergology) that each run counter to the state of science are examined. Finally, we outline five hypotheses to explain why some organizations in the fields of security and justice are turning to pseudoscience and pseudoscientific techniques. We conclude the article by inviting these organizations to work with the international community of scholars who have scientific expertise in nonverbal communication and lie (and truth) detection to implement evidence-based practices.

Purpose: Interviews to obtain statements in judicial procedures need to be adapted to the witnesses’ abilities to testify. Moreover, knowing the cognitive abilities involved in testifying provides relevant criteria to assess statement credibility. As age or intelligence quotient is not enough to estimate these capabilities, an instrument to evaluate witnesses’ specific abilities to testify is needed. The present paper validates CAPALIST, a procedure that considers relevant capabilities when assessing the testimony given by children.Methods: This study analyzed, by means of an invariant measurement approach (Rasch model), four scales included in CAPALIST: language, memory, contextual information, and social thinking. In addition, gender and age differences were analyzed in 83 children [45 males and 38 females; Mage = 4.3 years, SD = 0.74, range (3.06–5.11)] from three courses in early childhood education.Results: The four scales do not severely violate the requirements of the model. The principal component analysis of the residuals indicates that the four scales are one dimensional and that the assumption of local independence was not violated. Differential item functioning of the scales associated with gender was not detected. A significant effect of the school year was obtained, with an increase in ability in successive courses. The percentage of children who presented severe misfit responses with the model was low. In addition, the number of items with a severe misfit was also low.Conclusion: An acceptable performance of CAPALIST is demonstrated for most of the scales, although items with a severe misfit must be replaced, and more difficult items have to be included in some scales of the revised version of the instrument. CAPALIST is a promising procedure to assess the abilities of children to testify in order to adapt interviews and to evaluate their statements correctly.

One of the main obstacles in the way of access to justice for the victims with intellectual disability comes from the stereotypes referred to their ability to produce a statement at police legal procedures, with the consequence that some consider their statements less reliable than the rest of the victims, and others considerate their statements more reliable given their inability to create complex lies. This article reviews three of the most recent studies done by the UCM group of Psychology of Testimony, with the objective of analyzing the role of experience and intuition in the evaluation of credibility in people with intellectual disability (ID), and also it aims to prove whether the credibility analysis procedures such as Reality Monitoring (RM) and Statement Validity Assessment (SVA) would be valid procedures to discriminate between real and false statements within these collectives. From the results of these studies, it can be deducted that experience may not seem to be enough in order to discriminate between real and simulated victims, but analyzing the characteristics of the statements as the only indicator doesn’t seem to be enough either. As an alternative, the general procedure HELPT is proposed for the evaluation of credibility of people with ID.

The objective of this study was to explore age-related differences in the phenomenal characteristics of long-term memories of the terrorist attacks that took place in Madrid (Spain) on March 11, 2004. One hundred and ninety-six individuals participated in this experiment: 92 were 9.60 years old on average and 104 were 39.41 years old on average at the time of the event. To evaluate their real memories of the event twelve years later, the Phenomenological Questionnaire on Autobiographical Memory was used. Differences were shown between the two groups in terms of memory quality, emotions associated with the event, and accessibility of the information remembered. Results were also represented using high-dimensional visualization (HDV) graphs, supporting the assertion that long-term event memories have different characteristics depending on the age of the individual at the time the event took place. Memories in adult people meet the criteria to be considered flashbulb memories, while in the case of the younger people this kind of memory does not seem to emerge. Young people are probably less capable of evaluating the consequences of an event which results in reduced emotional arousal and a different elaboration of the event memory in comparison to older adults.

The present study aimed to analyze the stability of the memory of a stressful event (medical examination within a hospital setting) over time in young people (age range 12 to 21, Mage = 15.11 years old, SD = 3.047) with mild or moderate intellectual disability (IQ = 54.32, SD = 13.47). The results show a stability of the memory of what happened an hour and a week after the event in relation to the people involved, the apparatus used, and the parts of the body explored. No interaction effects were found between the stability of memory over time and the level of intellectual disability. The level of disability (mild or moderate) only affected the description of the doctor who performed the exploration and the explored parts of the body, showing better results for people with mild disability. In addition, the results highlight the relationship between memory and IQ, especially verbal IQ.

The characteristics surrounding child sexual abuse (CSA), which is committed in secret without witnesses or corroborating physical evidence, make it difficult to prosecute. The analysis and assessment of the cognitive indicia (memory trace) thus becomes the primary documentary evidence on which the judge relies. The forensic interview is the instrument by which the forensic psychologist obtains the cognitive indicia for further analysis and assessment with regards to credibility. The present article warns of the potential interviewer biases and procedural errors that can contaminate the child’s narrative production, and proposes a design for the forensic interview process that aims to facilitate the evaluator’s task and minimize the potential biases. The need is emphasized for the evaluator to have knowledge and specialized training in this technique.

The testimony of pre-school children is, in many cases, the main and only evidence in criminal proceedings. Memory and language are two main components in the statement of the child and they require special analysis, not only because of the important role they play, but also because of the relationship between the two capacities. The vulnerability of memory and its ability to be altered by suggestions, as well as the variability of language development in the 3- to 6-year-old child, are two factors that influence the collection of testimony. These factors, together with the interviewer’s skill in adapting the interview to the child, may obtain reliable information that is free of subjectivity and that will facilitate the investigation of the allegations. This article presents an overview of both capabilities, language and memory, from the perspective of child witness testimony as evidence in criminal proceedings.

La prueba testifical de menores de corta edad es, en muchos casos, la principal y única prueba indiciaria en los procesos penales. La memoria y el lenguaje son dos de los principales componentes en la declaración del menor que requieren un especial análisis, no sólo por el importante papel que juegan, sino también por la relación existente entre ambas capacidades. La vulnerabilidad de la memoria y su posibilidad de ser alterada mediante sugerencias, así como la variabilidad del desarrollo del lenguaje en el menor de 3 a 6 años edad, son dos factores de influencia en la recogida del testimonio. Estos factores, junto con la pericia del entrevistador en la adaptación de la entrevista al menor al que va dirigida podrán conseguir una recogida de información fiable y libre de subjetividades que facilitarán la investigación de los hechos denunciados. El presente artículo presenta una visión conjunta de ambas capacidades desde la perspectiva del testimonio infantil en el proceso penal.

Las características que rodean a los delitos de abuso sexual infantil (ASI), puesto que muchos se cometen en la clandestinidad, sin testigos y sin evidencias físicas que los corroboren, dificultan el enjuiciamiento de los mismos. El análisis y valoración del indicio cognitivo (huella de memoria) se convierte así en el principal medio de prueba con el que cuenta el juez. La entrevista forense es el instrumento mediante el cual el perito psicólogo obtiene este indicio cognitivo para su posterior análisis y valoración en términos de credibilidad. En el presente artículo se alerta sobre los posibles sesgos en el entrevistador y errores procedimentales que pueden contaminar la obtención del relato del menor, y se propone un diseño del proceso de entrevista forense con el objetivo de facilitar la labor pericial y minimizar esos posibles sesgos. Se hace hincapié en la necesidad de que el evaluador cuente con formación y entrenamiento especializado en esta técnica.

En el marco del enfoque holístico para la evaluación de la prueba testifical (HELPT), el presente trabajo describe un protocolo para el análisis de toda aquella información susceptible de ser extraída de un expediente judicial, a la luz de los conocimientos del procesamiento heurístico de la información, y del análisis de los factores de influencia de las declaraciones desde la Psicología del Testimonio. El objetivo es brindar una sistematización de los tópicos que pudieran explorarse en un expediente, ya sea como parte de un peritaje directo o como un metaperitaje, extrayendo el máximo de información no sesgada a fin de establecer las hipótesis relevantes del caso y valorar los posibles factores de influencia.

A proposed protocol for evaluating the statements and identifications made by the potential victims of crimes is presented in this paper. The protocol, called HELPT, is part of a holistic approach to evaluating the testimony that takes into account all of the possible factors of influence: encoding, retention and recovery. Among these factors, the following will be relevant: a) the ability of victims to testify, as well as cognitive processes of attention, perception, memory and language; b) the specific characteristics of the offence; c) the history of the event and its consequences; d) other factors that might affect the quality and accuracy of the statements and identifications, such as the number of times the victim had to tell what happened, the methods used to obtain the story and possibilities of suggestion. The method includes specific procedures for exhaustive analysis of the testimonies and for the formulation and testing of hypotheses (Scott & Manzanero, 2015), the evaluation of the competence to testify (Contreras, Silva, & Manzanero, 2015) and the obtaining of statements (González, Muñoz, Sotoca, & Manzanero, 2013).

En este trabajo se presenta una propuesta de protocolo de evaluación de las declaraciones e identificaciones realizadas por posibles víctimas de delitos. El protocolo, denominado HELPT, se enmarca en un enfoque holístico de evaluación de la prueba testifical que considera todos los posibles factores de influencia: de codificación, de retención y de recuperación. Entre estos factores resultarán relevantes a) la capacidad para testificar de las víctimas, donde se tienen en cuenta los procesos cognitivos de atención, percepción, memoria y lenguaje; b) las características específicas del delito; c) los antecedentes del hecho evaluado y sus consecuencias; d) otros factores que pudieran afectar a la calidad y exactitud de las declaraciones e identificaciones, como el número de veces que la víctima tuvo que contar lo ocurrido, los métodos empleados para obtener el relato y posibilidades de sugestión. El método contempla procedimientos específicos de análisis exhaustivo de los expedientes y de formulación y contrastación de hipótesis (Scott y Manzanero, 2015), de evaluación de la competencia para testificar (Contreras, Silva y Manzanero, 2015) y de obtención de las declaraciones (González, Muñoz, Sotoca y Manzanero, 2013).

Under the holistic approach to the assessment of testimony (HELPT), this paper describes a protocol for the analysis of all of the information that can be extracted from a judicial file, regarding the knowledge of heuristic principles and psychology of testimony. The aim is to provide a systematisation for expert reports about the topics that could be explored in a file, extracting the maximum unbiased information to establish the relevant hypotheses of the case and evaluate possible factors of influence.

The aim of the present study was to examine the phenomenological qualities of self-reported negative and positive memories. The study was conducted in the Gaza Strip, Palestine, and a total of 134 autobiographical memories about negative and positive events were analyzed using a version of the Phenomenological Questionnaire for Autobiographical Memory (Manzanero & López, 2007). Participants were university students, 80 percent were women and 20 percent were men. Results showed that negative memories are more confused, more complex, and decay more over time than positive ones. In contrast, no differences were found between positive and negative memories on sensory information, spatial location, vividness, definition, accessibility, fragmentation, recall perspective, doubts about the accuracy of the memory, and how much participants recovered and talked about the event. High Dimensional Visualization (HDV) graph revealed that there were individual differences between negative and positive memories but no consistent differences across participants.

Las habilidades para testificar de las víctimas con discapacidad intelectual (DI) suelen ser consideradas de acuerdo con estereotipos más que con su realidad, teniendo en cuenta que se observa una gran heterogeneidad en este colectivo. Por ello es necesario un procedimiento que permita conocer específicamente las características cognitivas de cada víctima con DI con el fin último de adaptar los procedimientos policiales y judiciales a sus capacidades y evaluar adecuadamente la información que aportan en sus testimonios. Con este objetivo se desarrolló el protocolo de entrevista CAPALIST, que evalúa las capacidades cognitivas que intervendrían en la aportación de testimonio. En el presente trabajo se describe la herramienta y se aportan datos sobre su aplicación a cuatro víctimas reales de abuso sexual con DI. Los resultados muestran mínimas diferencias en los acuerdos interjueces. Se concluye que el CAPALIST podría ser de utilidad en la evaluación de las habilidades para testificar en víctimas con DI.

El presente trabajo analiza la aplicabilidad y limitaciones de uno de los procedimientos más empleado para analizar la credibilidad de un testimonio, el SVA. El punto de partida para su correcta aplicación es una consideración exhaustiva de las posibles fuentes que pudieran dar origen a una declaración siguiendo el método de falsación de hipótesis. Se describen los principales errores en su utilización y se clarifican los métodos indicados para las diferentes hipótesis a ser analizadas, contemplando tanto la pertinencia de cada procedimiento como sus limitaciones. Se concluye acerca de los peligros de una incorrecta o incompleta aplicación del SVA al margen del planteamiento de hipótesis y la técnica recomendada para su valoración, como a su vez el riesgo de sobregeneralizar el uso de los análisis de contenido (CBCA).

Existe un interés considerable en hallar métodos que nos ayuden a saber cuándo una persona miente y cuándo dice la verdad desde un punto de vista forense. Actualmente, una de las líneas de investigación se inclina hacia el uso de potenciales relacionados con eventos. Se pretende hacer una revisión de los artículos que estudian estos procedimientos mediante distintos métodos: propiedades, fiabilidad, validez y limitaciones. Los resultados indican tasas de acierto en la discriminación de culpables en un rango de 7 al 100 por ciento, y en la de inocentes de 31 a 100 por ciento. La gran variabilidad y la posibilidad de “falsear” las respuestas llevan a cuestionar la inexactitud utilizada en algunos círculos mediáticos respecto a las cualidades y finalidades de dicha prueba. Se concluye la necesidad de profundizar más la posibilidad de que esta prueba sea utilizada con fines forenses.

El presente trabajo trata de poner de manifiesto el riesgo, para jueces y tribunales, de valorar de forma acrítica los informes periciales psicológicos referidos a la valoración del daño psíquico en supuestos de abuso sexual infantil (ASI). Desde la revisión bibliográfica realizada se han detectado serias limitaciones para detectar ASI en la utilización de indicadores clínicos que han surgido del contexto sanitario y asistencial. Se cuestiona el modelo teórico subyacente y la rigurosidad de los estudios sobre las consecuencias psicológicas asociadas al ASI. Igualmente, son debatidos algunos métodos de exploración clínica, extrapolados al contexto forense, y desaconsejados debido a su baja fiabilidad y validez. Se concluye señalando lo inadecuado de trasladar modelos y procedimientos del contexto clínico-asistencial al pericial, y la necesidad de exigir requisitos técnicos a los informes forenses.

La prueba preconstituida es una fórmula jurídica que en los casos de víctimas especialmente vulnerables tiene dos objetivos fundamentales: por un lado, proteger el testimonio de la víctima (indicio cognitivo) del deterioro derivado de múltiples e inadecuados abordajes, y por otro, evitar la revictimización provocada por el sistema policial y de justicia. Conscientes de la ayuda que la Psicología Jurídica puede realizar al desarrollo de esta diligencia procesal, en el presente artículo se desarrolla una propuesta para la conducción de la prueba preconstituida basada en los conocimientos provenientes de la Psicología del Testimonio y de la Psicología de la Victimización Criminal además de la experiencia práctica de psicólogos criminalistas y forenses.

Prerecorded evidence is a legal form which has basic two purposes in especially vulnerable victims: on one hand, protecting the victim’s testimony (cognitive evidence) from deterioration derived from many different, inadequate approaches, and on the other, avoiding revictimization by the police and justice system. Aware of the assistance that forensic psychology can provide in carrying out these proceedings, this article describes a proposal for prerecording evidence based on knowledge of the psychology of testimony and of psychology of criminal victimization, in addition to the practical experience of criminal psychologists and forensic psychologists.

Responses in eyewitness identification of a person in a line-up may be based on two types of recovery experiences, remember and know experiences. Remember responses involve eyewitness identification of the target person as an episodic memory task, because it implies retrieving information about the target person in the place and at the time of the event. Know responses, in contrast, engage recognition based on familiarity or perceptual facilitation, that is, as a semantic memory task. To explore the relation between retrieval experiences and recognition accuracy, 86 participants took part in a recognition task with two conditions: one with an interpolated target absent line-up and the other only with the target present line-up. Accuracy of recognition and retrieval experience was measured. The results showed that, having previously participated in a target-absent line-up, increased omissions, while the number of hits decreased. Furthermore, participants’ know responses were associated to false recognition, whilst remember responses were associated to hits in recognition. Thus, asking eyewitnesses to inform about the kind of retrieval experience in which they based their recognition responses, may serve as a reliable indicator of accuracy in recognition. Future studies are needed to investigate whether this is also the case in natural settings.

The aims of the present study were to analyse people’s natural ability to discriminate between true and false statements provided by people with intellectual disability (IQTRUE = 62.00, SD = 10.07; IQFALSE = 58.41, SD = 8.42), and the differentiating characteristics of such people’s statements using criteria-based content analysis (CBCA). Thirty-three people assessed 16 true statements and 13 false statements using their normal abilities. Two other evaluators trained in CBCA evaluated the same statements. The natural evaluators differentiated between true and false statements with somewhat above-chance accuracy, even though error rate was high (38.19%). That lay participants could not effectively discriminate between false and true statements demonstrates that such assessments cannot be considered useful in a forensic context. The CBCA technique did discriminate at a better level than intuitive judgements. However, of the 19 criteria, only one significantly discriminated. More procedures specifically adapted to the abilities of people with intellectual disabilities are thus required. The presence of structured production, quantity of details, characteristics details and unexpected complications increased the probability that a statement would be considered true by non-expert evaluators. The classification made by the non-expert evaluators was independent of the participants’ IQ. A big data analysis is performed in search for better classification quality.

La evaluación del comportamiento de los niños y adolescentes en edad escolar es relevante para la detección de grupos de riesgo en ámbitos educativos y clínicos. Frecuentemente se realiza a través de cuestionarios que muestran algunos problemas metodológicos no resueltos. El presente estudio explora los factores principales del Cuestionario de Comportamiento Infantil y Adolescente, instrumento en desarrollo diseñado para evaluar la población infanto-juvenil sana, a través del criterio de maestros en Cuba. Fueron seleccionados por muestreo no probabilístico 6,993 niños y adolescentes, del municipio Centro Habana: 4,991 (71.37%) escolares de primaria entre 6 y 12 años de edad y 2,002 estudiantes de secundaria entre 11 y 15 años de edad; de ellos, 3,528 (50.45%) fueron mujeres y 3,465 hombres. Un análisis de factores principales iterados con rotación varimax normalizada extrajo tres factores, que explican el 70.94% de la varianza total: control de comportamiento, desempeño cognitivo escolar y socialización. Se discuten las posibles relaciones de estos resultados con distintos del desarrollo psicológico, la neuromaduración y los procesos educativos.