J.C. Yuille - Böcker

Credibility assessment refers to any attempt to ascertain truthfulness. Other terms which have been used to refer to the assessment of credibility include the detection of deception and lie detection. The term lie detection has become virtually synonymous with the use of the polygraph and can no longer be used to refer to the range of procedures currently employed to assess credibility. Also, both lie detection and the detection of deception have a negative cast which does not fully capture the orientation of current approaches to credibility. Consequently, the term credibility assessment has emerged recently as the preferred label. The goal of credibility assessment is typically the determination of the truth of a statement or be found in set of statements. The need or desire to make such an assessment can every human context from marital relations through clinical examinations to police and court interrogations. Examples of the kinds of statements which require credibility assessment are: 1) A child's assertion that she or he has been sexually abused. 2) The claim by a previously suicidal person that he or she has recovered and will not attempt suicide again. 3) The denial of guilt by a suspect in a criminal investigation. 4 ) The confident statement of a witness that he or she is sure in his or her identification of a thief. 5) The vow of loyalty by a potential employee for a security job. It is necessary to assess the credibility of these and similar statements.

The New Police Officer During the past twenty years the tasks required of police officers have expanded and changed with dramatic rapidi ty. The tradi tional roles of the police had been those of law enforcement and the maintenance of public order. As a consequence police officers were typically large-bodied males, selected for their physical abilities and trained to accept orders and enforce the law. Over the past two decades, however, the industrialized nations have placed a variety of new demands on police officers. To traditional law enforcement and public order tasks have been added social work, mental health duties, and cORllluni ty relations work. For example, domestic disputes, violence between husbands and wives, lovers, relatives, etc. , have increased in frequency and severity (or at least there has been a dramatic increase in reporting the occurence of domestic violence). Our societies have no formal system to deal with domestic disputes and the responsibility to do so, in most countries, has fallen to the police. In fact, in some areas as many as 607. of calls for service to the police are related to domestic disputes (see the chapter in this text by Dutton). As a result the police officer has had to become a skilled social worker, able to intervene with sensi ti vi ty in domestic situations. Alternatively, in the case of West Germany, the officer has had to learn to work co-operatively with social workers (see the chapter by Steinhilper).

Credibility assessment refers to any attempt to ascertain truthfulness. Other terms which have been used to refer to the assessment of credibility include the detection of deception and lie detection. The term lie detection has become virtually synonymous with the use of the polygraph and can no longer be used to refer to the range of procedures currently employed to assess credibility. Also, both lie detection and the detection of deception have a negative cast which does not fully capture the orientation of current approaches to credibility. Consequently, the term credibility assessment has emerged recently as the preferred label. The goal of credibility assessment is typically the determination of the truth of a statement or be found in set of statements. The need or desire to make such an assessment can every human context from marital relations through clinical examinations to police and court interrogations. Examples of the kinds of statements which require credibility assessment are: 1) A child's assertion that she or he has been sexually abused. 2) The claim by a previously suicidal person that he or she has recovered and will not attempt suicide again. 3) The denial of guilt by a suspect in a criminal investigation. 4 ) The confident statement of a witness that he or she is sure in his or her identification of a thief. 5) The vow of loyalty by a potential employee for a security job. It is necessary to assess the credibility of these and similar statements.