Shanna Williams
Biographic Data
| ID | 4126653 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Shanna Williams |
| GIVEN NAMES | Shanna |
| FAMILY NAME | Williams |
| SIGNATURE | WILLIAMS S |
| AFFILIATIONS | McGill University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5049-2598 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 14 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 3 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 14 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Gender Differences in Sports-Related Child Maltreatment: A Systematic Review
Sports-related child maltreatment (CM) has emerged as a global issue in the past few decades. Despite evidence pointing to gender differences in how children experience and report CM, this literature remains fragmented and limited to sexual abuse in sports. This systematic review identified and synthesized available evidence on the prevalence, perpetrators, outcomes, and disclosures of various sports-related CM subtypes to determine whether these…
Exploring forensic interviewers’ wait time practices with child witnesses
Improving the value of school professionals as partners in efforts to enhance recognition of and responses to youth sex trafficking
Sex trafficking of minors is a significant problem across North America, with sizeable numbers of youth being directly or indirectly manipulated into being exploited or trafficked. Identification of these youth remains difficult, in part because of a lack of knowledge about common characteristics and in part because of victims' reluctance engaging with and trusting law enforcement enough to disclose their experiences. Given that many youth are tr…
Interviewing Asylum-Seeking Children: A Scoping Review of Research to Inform Best Practices
Immigration interviews with asylum-seeking youth have been largely understudied. In domestic legal settings, children interviewed about abuse and maltreatment provide more detailed, relevant responses when asked open-ended questions and when interviewed in a neutral environment, among other supportive practices. In asylum settings, guidance for interviews with youth derives from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. It is not …
The Role of Wait Time During the Questioning of Children: A Systematic Review
The benefits of wait time in classroom discourses have been well documented in the field of education since the 1970s. While current forensic interview guidelines recognize the importance of pauses, whether there is sufficient empirical evidence to inform wait time guidelines in the legal context remains unanswered. This systematic review aimed to synthesize and provide a holistic update on the available research on the role of wait time when que…
The utility of the birthday prompt in narrative practice with maltreated and non-maltreated 4- to 9-year-old children
Forensic interviewers are encouraged to elicit a practice narrative from children in order to train them to answer free recall questions with narrative information. Although asking children about their last birthday has been recommended, concerns have been raised that many children will have nothing to report. This study asked 994 4- to 9-year-old maltreated and non-maltreated children to recall their last birthday. Although a fair number of chil…
Children's underextended understanding of touch
The impact of Covid-19 on Canadian child maltreatment workers
Don’t know responding in young maltreated children: The effects of wh- questions type and enhanced interview instructions
OBJECTIVE: Two studies examined 4-7-year-old maltreated children's "I don't know" (IDK) responses to wh- questions after receiving various interview instructions. HYPOTHESES: We predicted (H1) children would be less inclined to give IDK responses and more inclined to guess to color/number questions compared to other wh- questions; (H2) IDK instructions would increase children's IDK responding compared to no instructions, with an increase in accur…
The Impact of Covid-19 on Social Work Practice in Canada: A Comparison of Urban and Rural Contexts
Social workers involved in child maltreatment investigations faced considerable challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. Interactions with children and families carried new restrictions and risks, which resulted in changes in practice. We conducted a two-phase, mixed-methods study which examined the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on social workers who work with maltreated children from both urban and rural areas across Canada. More specifically,…
Disrupting the Pedagogy of Hypocrisy: How Do We Move Beyond Teaching Students How to Survive White Supremacy
This article discusses the ways that four educators experience the impacts of white supremacy in classroom spaces. We discuss the ways we navigate the tension created when we desire to foster antiracist spaces but are required to work within an academic system that is underpinned by white supremacy. Using tenets of Griot storytelling, we describe our points of origin, provide narrative examples of student interactions, and detail the reflexive le…
Understanding expert testimony on child sexual abuse denial after New Jersey v. J.L.G: Ground truth, disclosure suspicion bias, and disclosure substantiation bias
The New Jersey Supreme Court held in New Jersey v. J.L.G . (2018) that experts can no longer explain to juries why sexually abused children might deny abuse. The court was influenced by expert testimony that “methodologically superior” studies find lower rates of denial. Examining the studies in detail, we argue that the expert testimony was flawed due to three problems with using child disclosure studies to estimate the likelihood that abused ch…
The influence of an older sibling on preschoolers’ lie‐telling behavior
In the present study, children’s (2‐ to 5‐years old) lie‐telling was examined in relation to theory of mind (first‐order false belief understanding), executive functioning (measuring inhibitory control in conjunction with working memory), and presence of siblings in the home (no siblings vs. siblings; younger siblings vs. older siblings). Lie‐telling was observed using a temptation resistance paradigm. Overall, of the 152 (74.9%) children who pee…
Pants on Fire? Detecting Children's Lies
While there has been much research on adults' abilities to detect deception, there have been very few studies examining both children's and adults' abilities to detect children's real, spontaneous lies. The present study asked both children and adults to make judgments of children's true and false reports. Participants (N = 156) were shown videotaped sessions of children who were either spontaneously lying or telling the truth. Results indicate t…
The impact of Covid-19 on Canadian child maltreatment workers
The Impact of Covid-19 on Social Work Practice in Canada: A Comparison of Urban and Rural Contexts
Social workers involved in child maltreatment investigations faced considerable challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. Interactions with children and families carried new restrictions and risks, which resulted in changes in practice. We conducted a two-phase, mixed-methods study which examined the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on social workers who work with maltreated children from both urban and rural areas across Canada. More specifically,…
Disrupting the Pedagogy of Hypocrisy: How Do We Move Beyond Teaching Students How to Survive White Supremacy
This article discusses the ways that four educators experience the impacts of white supremacy in classroom spaces. We discuss the ways we navigate the tension created when we desire to foster antiracist spaces but are required to work within an academic system that is underpinned by white supremacy. Using tenets of Griot storytelling, we describe our points of origin, provide narrative examples of student interactions, and detail the reflexive le…
Pants on Fire? Detecting Children's Lies
While there has been much research on adults' abilities to detect deception, there have been very few studies examining both children's and adults' abilities to detect children's real, spontaneous lies. The present study asked both children and adults to make judgments of children's true and false reports. Participants (N = 156) were shown videotaped sessions of children who were either spontaneously lying or telling the truth. Results indicate t…
The influence of an older sibling on preschoolers’ lie‐telling behavior
In the present study, children’s (2‐ to 5‐years old) lie‐telling was examined in relation to theory of mind (first‐order false belief understanding), executive functioning (measuring inhibitory control in conjunction with working memory), and presence of siblings in the home (no siblings vs. siblings; younger siblings vs. older siblings). Lie‐telling was observed using a temptation resistance paradigm. Overall, of the 152 (74.9%) children who pee…
Understanding expert testimony on child sexual abuse denial after New Jersey v. J.L.G: Ground truth, disclosure suspicion bias, and disclosure substantiation bias
The New Jersey Supreme Court held in New Jersey v. J.L.G . (2018) that experts can no longer explain to juries why sexually abused children might deny abuse. The court was influenced by expert testimony that “methodologically superior” studies find lower rates of denial. Examining the studies in detail, we argue that the expert testimony was flawed due to three problems with using child disclosure studies to estimate the likelihood that abused ch…
Don’t know responding in young maltreated children: The effects of wh- questions type and enhanced interview instructions
OBJECTIVE: Two studies examined 4-7-year-old maltreated children's "I don't know" (IDK) responses to wh- questions after receiving various interview instructions. HYPOTHESES: We predicted (H1) children would be less inclined to give IDK responses and more inclined to guess to color/number questions compared to other wh- questions; (H2) IDK instructions would increase children's IDK responding compared to no instructions, with an increase in accur…
The Impact of Covid-19 on Social Work Practice in Canada: A Comparison of Urban and Rural Contexts
Social workers involved in child maltreatment investigations faced considerable challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. Interactions with children and families carried new restrictions and risks, which resulted in changes in practice. We conducted a two-phase, mixed-methods study which examined the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on social workers who work with maltreated children from both urban and rural areas across Canada. More specifically,…
Disrupting the Pedagogy of Hypocrisy: How Do We Move Beyond Teaching Students How to Survive White Supremacy
This article discusses the ways that four educators experience the impacts of white supremacy in classroom spaces. We discuss the ways we navigate the tension created when we desire to foster antiracist spaces but are required to work within an academic system that is underpinned by white supremacy. Using tenets of Griot storytelling, we describe our points of origin, provide narrative examples of student interactions, and detail the reflexive le…
The utility of the birthday prompt in narrative practice with maltreated and non-maltreated 4- to 9-year-old children
Forensic interviewers are encouraged to elicit a practice narrative from children in order to train them to answer free recall questions with narrative information. Although asking children about their last birthday has been recommended, concerns have been raised that many children will have nothing to report. This study asked 994 4- to 9-year-old maltreated and non-maltreated children to recall their last birthday. Although a fair number of chil…
Children's underextended understanding of touch
The impact of Covid-19 on Canadian child maltreatment workers
Improving the value of school professionals as partners in efforts to enhance recognition of and responses to youth sex trafficking
Sex trafficking of minors is a significant problem across North America, with sizeable numbers of youth being directly or indirectly manipulated into being exploited or trafficked. Identification of these youth remains difficult, in part because of a lack of knowledge about common characteristics and in part because of victims' reluctance engaging with and trusting law enforcement enough to disclose their experiences. Given that many youth are tr…
Interviewing Asylum-Seeking Children: A Scoping Review of Research to Inform Best Practices
Immigration interviews with asylum-seeking youth have been largely understudied. In domestic legal settings, children interviewed about abuse and maltreatment provide more detailed, relevant responses when asked open-ended questions and when interviewed in a neutral environment, among other supportive practices. In asylum settings, guidance for interviews with youth derives from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. It is not …
The Role of Wait Time During the Questioning of Children: A Systematic Review
The benefits of wait time in classroom discourses have been well documented in the field of education since the 1970s. While current forensic interview guidelines recognize the importance of pauses, whether there is sufficient empirical evidence to inform wait time guidelines in the legal context remains unanswered. This systematic review aimed to synthesize and provide a holistic update on the available research on the role of wait time when que…
Gender Differences in Sports-Related Child Maltreatment: A Systematic Review
Sports-related child maltreatment (CM) has emerged as a global issue in the past few decades. Despite evidence pointing to gender differences in how children experience and report CM, this literature remains fragmented and limited to sexual abuse in sports. This systematic review identified and synthesized available evidence on the prevalence, perpetrators, outcomes, and disclosures of various sports-related CM subtypes to determine whether these…
Exploring forensic interviewers’ wait time practices with child witnesses
Psychology (11 works) · Medicine (6 works) · Social Psychology (6 works) · Child Abuse and Trauma (5 works) · Developmental psychology (5 works) · Memory Processes and Influences (4 works) · Poison control (4 works) · Social Psychology (4 works) · Cognitive psychology (3 works) · Criminology (3 works)