A selection from Stockholm University publication database

• Professionals' Experiences With and Perceptions of Children Exposed to Severe and Homicidal Violence in Sweden

  2017. Malin C. Eriksson, Sven Å. Christianson. Victims & Offenders 12 (4), 523-548

  Article

  The present study aimed to examine professionals' experiences, perceptions, and knowledge regarding violence-exposed children in order to clarify the status and opportunities these children have in the Swedish legal system. A questionnaire was distributed to 63 professionals, representing police, prosecutors, social personnel, and treatment personnel. Findings revealed several problems that hindered effective work. Routines and guidelines were lacking and knowledge gaps regarding these children were found among all professions. Perceptions that children remember and tell were widely held, although conditions enabling sufficient reports are seldom met. Results can be used to guide necessary changes in national routines and guidelines to ensure recovery and maintaining of societal rights of this group of psychologically abused victims.

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• Children's reporting patterns after witnessing homicidal violence - the effect of repeated experience and repeated interviews

  2014. Azade Azad, Sven-Åke Christianson, Heidi Selenius. Psychology, Crime and Law 20 (5), 407-429

  Article

  For both legal and clinical purposes, it is of importance to study children's memories and reports of stressful events. The present study investigated the reporting patterns of 83 children who had witnessed homicidal violence, which is considered to be a highly stressful experience. More specifically, we explored the possible effects of prior violence exposure and of repeated questioning on the amount of details reported. Results showed that the majority of children provided detailed reports about the homicidal violence they had witnessed, including details concerning what happened before, during, and after the violent act. The children provided detailed and vivid testimonies from their experiences, whether they witnessed the event for the first time or had prior experience of witnessing severe violence against the victim by the perpetrator. Children with no prior experience of repeated violence who underwent repeated interviews provided more details than those interviewed once. The present data indicate that children are competent witnesses when questioned in legal contexts after having been exposed to extremely stressful events. These findings have implications for research related to children's memories and reporting of traumatic experiences, as well as practical implications for future treatment and evaluation of children's testimonies.

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• Children as Witnesses to Homicidal Violence

  2013. Sven å. Christianson (et al.). Psychiatry, Psychology and Law 20 (3), 366-383

  Article

  The present study investigated how 96 children who have witnessed homicidal violence remember and report their experiences. The aims of the study were to describe the children's reporting pattern and to investigate background factors that could affect the children's reporting. Police interviews with the children were analysed regarding the amount and type of information reported, as well as frequency of denial, withholding and claims of memory loss. Results showed that the majority of children provided detailed reports about the homicidal violence they had witnessed, including critical details about the abuse. Results also revealed that the child's relationship to the perpetrator or the victim did not affect the children's reporting pattern, indicating that the children's willingness to report exceeds strong impact factors such as loyalty conflicts. These findings are applicable in different legal contexts dealing with child witnesses and can be used as guidance when interviewing children and evaluating their testimony.

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• From Crime Scene Actions in Stranger Rape to Prediction of Rapist Type

  2012. Jelena Corovic, Sven Å. Christianson, Lars R. Bergman. Behavioral sciences & the law (Print) 30 (6), 764-781

  Article

  The differences in crime scene actions in cases of stranger rape committed by convicted offenders were examined between 31 single-victim rapists and 35 serial rapists. Data were collected from police files, court verdicts, psychiatric evaluations, and criminal records. Findings indicate that the serial rapists were more criminally sophisticated than the single-victim rapists, during their first and second rapes. The single-victim rapists were significantly more likely to engage in the interpersonal involvement behavior of kissing the victim, and to engage in pre-assault alcohol use, than the serial rapists. There was, however, no significant difference in physically violent or sexual behaviors. To investigate the possibility of predicting rapist type, logistic regression analyses were performed. Results indicate that three behaviors in conjunction, kissed victim, controlled victim, and offender drank alcohol before the offense, predicted whether an unknown offender is a single-victim or serial rapist with a classification accuracy of 80.4%. The findings have implications for the classification of stranger rapists in offender profiling.

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• Kommentarer till debattartikel om minnespsykologiska teorier

  2011. Sven Å. Christianson. Svensk Juristtidning (3), 321-323

  Article

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• Psykologi och bevisvärdering

  2011. Sven Å. Christianson, Marika Ehrenkrona.

  Book

  ”Vittnet talade klart och tydligt, hade stadig blick och lämnade en detaljrik och sammanhängande berättelse. Dessutom var hon säker på sina uppgifter och hade konsekvent berättat samma sak mellan olika förhör.”

  Är detta ett trovärdigt vittne och en tillförlitlig utsaga? – Inte självklart.

  Tvärtom visar flera vetenskapliga studier att många av de handgrepp och antaganden om hur människan fungerar som används inom rättsväsendet stämmer dåligt med den psykologiska forskningen på området.

  Med utgångspunkt i domar, intervjuer och enkätundersökningar analyserar författarna en rad psykologiska myter i juridiken. Olika föreställningar illustreras även med exempel från litteratur, konst och film, och många gamla sanningar sätts i nytt perspektiv. Syftet är att med aktuell och relevant kunskap bidra till att höja kvaliteten i de juridiska bedömningarna för att ytterst öka rättssäkerheten.

  Boken vänder sig i första hand till advokater, domare, åklagare, poliser och andra som är verksamma inom rättsväsendet. Den kan med fördel användas av juridikstudenter som vill fördjupa sina insikter i bevisvärdering och vid universitetskurser i kriminologi och rättspsykologi.

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