Law and human behavior
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Law and human behavior · Dec 2000
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialLawyers' questioning: the effect of confusing questions on witness confidence and accuracy.
The present study investigated the effect on witness confidence and accuracy of confusing questions often used by attorneys in court. Participants viewed a videotaped film and were individually questioned about the incident 1 week later. ⋯ Witness performance was impaired by the fact that mock-witnesses rarely asked for a confusing question to be explained or qualified their answers. This experiment demonstrates the importance of ensuring that lawyers ask witnesses simple, clear, questions.