Megan Sim

 mpys2@cam.ac.uk

Megan Sim is a PhD candidate in the Department of Psychology and a Gates Cambridge scholar. Megan's research interests include investigative interviewing, interrogations, juvenile decision-making, credibility assessment, deception detection, and the experience of children in the justice system. Her PhD project describes contemporary police interviews with juveniles in England, and analyses the interview methods employed by police officers during these interviews.

Education

Ph.D. candidate, University of Cambridge                                                    

M.Phil., University of Cambridge, 2010

B.A., University of Southern California, 2008

Publications

Sim, M.P.Y. & Dhami, M.K. (2014). The effect of offence seriousness on trained appropriate adults’ decision-making. Manuscript in preparation.

Lyon, T., Wandrey, L., Ahern, E., Licht, R., Sim, M.P.Y., Quas, J.A. (2014). Eliciting maltreated and non-maltreated children's transgression disclosures: Narrative practice rapport building and a putative confession. Child Development, 85, 1756-1769. doi:10.1111/cdev.12223 [link]

Sim, M.P.Y. & Lamb, M.E. (2013). Children’s disclosure of child sexual abuse: How motivational factors affect linguistic categories related to deception detection. Psychology, Crime, & Law, 19, 649-660. doi:10.1080/1068316X.2012.719621 [pdf]

Lamb, M.E. & Sim, M.P.Y. (2013). Developmental factors affecting children in legal contexts. Youth Justice: An International Journal, 13, 131-144. doi:10.1177/1473225413492055 [pdf]

Invited Talks

Dhami, M.K. & Sim, M.P.Y. (2014, January). Measuring the effectiveness of appropriate adults. Talk presented at the National Appropriate Adult Network Professional Development Day, London, UK.

Conference Presentations

Sim, M.P.Y. (2014, March). A descriptive analysis of how the police caution is administered to juvenile suspects. Paper presented at the 2nd Sidney Sussex College Annual Graduate Conference, Cambridge, UK. 

Sim, M.P.Y. & Lamb, M.E. (2013, September). Appropriate Adults’ contributions during police interviews with juveniles. Paper presented at the 23rd Conference of the European Association of Psychology and Law, Coventry, UK.

Sim, M.P.Y. & Lamb, M.E. (2013, July). Police interviews with juveniles: Question types, interview factors and interview outcomes. Paper presented at the 2013 International Investigative Interviewing Research Group Conference, Maastricht, The Netherlands.

Sim, M.P.Y. & Lamb, M.E. (2013, March). Police interviews with juveniles in the United Kingdom: suspect demographics, interview factors, and interview outcome. Paper presented at the 2013 Annual Conference of the American Psychology-Law Society, Portland, Oregon, USA.

Sim, M.P.Y. & Lamb, M.E. (2012, March). Police perceptions of interviews with juvenile suspects. Poster presented at the 2012 Annual Conference of the American Psychology-Law Society, Puerto Rico.

Sim, M.P.Y. & Lamb, M.E. (2011, June). The problems with linguistic credibility assessment of children. Paper presented at the 2011 International Investigative Interviewing Research Group Conference, Dundee, Scotland.

Sim, M.P.Y. & Lamb, M.E. (2011, March). Children’s statements about alleged sexual abuse: A linguistic profile. Paper presented at the 2011 AP-LS/4th International Congress on Psychology and Law, Miami, Florida, USA

Sim, M.P.Y., Katz, C., Hershkowitz, I., & Lamb, M.E. (2010, June). Credibility assessment in credible and doubtful cases of child sexual abuse. Paper presented at the 2010 International Investigative Interviewing Research Group Conference, Stavern, Norway.

Katz, C., Sim, M.P.Y., Hershkowitz, I., & Lamb, M.E. (2010, June). Credibility assessment in credible and doubtful cases of child sexual abuse. Paper presented at the 20th Conference of the European Association of Psychology and Law, Gothenburg, Sweden.

Licht, R.C., Wandrey, L.E., Ahern, E.C., Cooper, A., Sim, M., Quas, J.A., & Lyon, T.D. (2009, August). The effect of rapport building and putative confessions upon maltreated and non-maltreated children’s disclosure of a minor transgression. Paper presented at the 2009 Conference on Empirical Legal Studies, Los Angeles, California, USA.

Licht, R., Wandrey, L.E., Ahern, E.C., Sim, M., Quas, J.A., & Lyon, T.D. (2009, April). Rapport building and transgression disclosure among maltreated children. Symposium presented at the 2009 biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Denver, Colorado, USA.