Development and evaluation of an interactive film for adolescents to assess court knowledge

An interactive movie for juvenile witnesses produced by the author was evaluated in terms of its effectiveness to convey court relevant knowledge to 16-year-old and 17-year-old students. A control group design was used. Controls received a brochure containing information comparable to the movie which was also developed by the author. The aim of the study was to empirically evaluate the movie in order to make it available to juvenile witnesses as an instrument for court preparation in the future. A total of 52 students aged 16 and 17 years at a training college were investigated and court knowledge was measured prior to testing. Participants in the treatment group then viewed the movie, which was produced by the author. The control group received a brochure containing information very similar to the contents of the movie. Approximately 2 weeks later, court relevant knowledge was again assessed and both treatment and control groups showed a strong and significant increase in court relevant knowledge. Comparing the groups showed that the effects tended to be stronger for the treatment group than for the control group. It was also investigated if legal misconceptions could be reduced by the interventions. Analyses indicated that effects were not significant and there was no significant difference between the groups. A significant increase of court relevant knowledge could be found for both treatment conditions. The weak effects concerning the reduction of legal misconceptions could be due to the fact that they were not explicitly presented in the movie but were treated more indirectly by presenting correct knowledge only.