Childrens Testimonies essays

Children's Testimonies essays Every year some hundreds of thousands of children may be involved in the legal system. Most encounters have been with sexual assault cases. Although some children may be capable of giving an accurate testimony most are vulnerable to having their testimony and their memories distorted to the point where the truth may never be known. Children have problems distinguishing reality from fantasy, making them susceptible to the coaching of an authority figure. Award winning development psychologist Stephen J. Ceci, Ph.D., of Cornell University has conducted a laboratory research, studying some factors that can affect a childs testimony. These conclude: Interviewer bias-When the interviewer (parent, therapist, investigator) believes he or she knows what happened and attempts to get the child to confirm it, ignoring anything the child says that does not conform with the interviewers bias and encouraging anything that does. Repeated Questions-Children, especially younger children are more likely to change their answers when asked the same yes or no question repeated during a single interview. Answers from children to yes or no questions repeated over several interviews are likely to become more firm and confident, regardless of whether they are correct. Stereotype induction-Childrens reports can be influenced by stereotypes suggested by the interviewer (or by others before the interview takes place). An interviewer telling a child that the [suspect] is a bad man who does bad things is an example of stereotype induction. Similarly, children can come to assume and report bad things about someone they had previously heard described in negative terms. Encouragement to imagine and visualize-When asked to think real hard about or to visualize events they dont remember, children can come to remember and then present a detailed, coherent narrative o...

How to Make Nylon - Nylon Synthesis

How to Make Nylon - Nylon Synthesis Nylon is a polymer you can make yourself in the lab. A strand of nylon rope is pulled from the interface between two liquids. The demonstration sometimes is called the nylon rope trick because you can pull a continuous rope of nylon from the liquid indefinitely. Close examination of the rope will reveal that is is a hollow polymer tube. Nylon Materials a solution made from 6 g sebacoyl chloride in 70 ml heptanea solution made from 3 g 1,6-diaminohexane in 70 ml watermetal tweezers or forceps Make Nylon Use equal volumes of the two solutions. Tilt the beaker containing the 1,6-diaminohexane solution and slowly pour the sebacoyl chloride solution down the side of the beaker so that it forms the top layer.Dip tweezers into the interface of the liquids and pull them up to form a strand of nylon. Continue to pull the tweezers away from the beaker to lengthen the strand. You may wish to wrap the nylon rope around a glass rod.Rinse the nylon with water, ethanol or methanol to remove the acid from the nylon. Be sure to rinse the nylon before handling it or storing it. How the Nylon Rope Trick Works Nylon is the name given to any synthetic polyamide. Acyl chloride from any dicarboxylic acid reacts via a substitution reaction with any amine to form a nylon polymer and HCl. Safety and Disposal The reactants are irritating to the skin, so wear gloves throughout the procedure. Remaining liquid should be mixed to form nylon. The nylon should be washed prior to disposal. Any unreacted liquid should be neutralized prior to washing it down the drain. If the solution is basic, add sodium bisulfate. If the solution is acidic, add sodium carbonate. Reference Chemical Magic, 2nd Ed., Leonard A. Ford (1993) Dover Publications, Inc.