Obtaining Testimony from Autistic People

Police suspect interviews with autistic adults: The impact of truth telling versus deception on testimony

“…Autism is a lifelong neurodevelopmental condition characterized by persistent difficulties with social communication and interaction, as well as restricted and repetitive behaviors, interests and activities ( American Psychiatric Association, 2013 ; World Health Organization, 2018 ). Relatedly, social communication and memory differences in autism present substantial challenges for providing best evidence’ during investigative interviews ( Maras, 2021 ). Autistic mock-witnesses often provide less detailed free-recall accounts ( Maras and Bowler, 2011 , 2012 ; Henry et al, 2020 ) due in part to autism-common difficulties with episodic memory retrieval, exacerbated by insufficiently specific, structured questioning ( Maras, 2021 ).…”

“…Relatedly, social communication and memory differences in autism present substantial challenges for providing best evidence’ during investigative interviews ( Maras, 2021 ). Autistic mock-witnesses often provide less detailed free-recall accounts ( Maras and Bowler, 2011 , 2012 ; Henry et al, 2020 ) due in part to autism-common difficulties with episodic memory retrieval, exacerbated by insufficiently specific, structured questioning ( Maras, 2021 ). More broadly, autistic individuals may produce less coherent and causally connected narrative versions of events with fewer key contextualizing details ( Barnes and Baron-Cohen, 2012 ; Baixauli et al, 2016 ; but see Henry et al, 2020 ).…”

Supporting autistic adults’ episodic memory recall in interviews: The role of executive functions, theory of mind, and language abilities

“…Difficulties with appreciating the listener’s perspective, in terms of what they already know and what they need to know from the participant’s recall, have been suggested to impede the production of an appropriately detailed, coherent, and relevant account (Colle et al, 2008). Therefore, without careful consideration of questioning techniques, autistic people may not be sufficiently supported to provide all the relevant information to support their witness testimonies (Maras, in Press), to convey an incident/series of events with sufficient detail to support a medical diagnosis (e.g. Pohl et al, 2020), or to ‘sell’ themselves to an appropriate level in employment interviews (Maras et al, 2021).…”

“…In sum, to recall high quality, specific, and relevant responses in a dynamic interview environment, it is necessary to monitor one’s own cognitions, plan an appropriate response, hold in mind various reporting options, inhibit the reporting of irrelevant or inaccurate details, and select an optimal level of detail, while considering one’s own and the interviewer’s perspective, all of which can be difficult for an autistic person. Thus, social demands and ToM difficulties may hinder autistic individuals’ performance in a range of formal social interaction contexts, from recalling eyewitnessed incidents under standard face-to-face questioning in the criminal justice system (Hsu & Teoh, 2017; Maras, in Press), and gauging appropriate information to report in healthcare consultations (Raymaker et al, 2017), to recalling specific personal information in employment interviews, where the desired response is often unclear (Maras et al, 2021).…”

“…Although researchers have begun to develop support for the difficulties faced by autistic people in recalling episodic memories across various applied contexts (Maras, in Press; Maras et al, 2020; Norris et al, 2020), the role of executive functions, social cognition, and language abilities requires direct exploration in order to further develop appropriate support. The current study aimed to assess the impact of these abilities on recall in two previous studies that compared autistic and TD adults on recall specificity in police, healthcare, and job interviews, and recall quality in employment interviews (Maras et al, 2021; Norris et al, 2020).…”