Truth & Lies

20 short films to explore understanding of truth and lies for legal proceedings

For children’s evidence to be used in criminal or family proceedings, they need to demonstrate their understanding of the difference between truth and lies.

Tried and tested in more than 200 police interviews and criminal trials, these brief film clips (10-20 seconds) show real children telling the truth or telling lies about events proven to engage children and young people.

The language used is simple and minimal and the film clips end on a still image, making it possible to point and ask a simple question: ‘Did he tell the truth or a lie?’

These film clips resolve a number of problems, requiring minimal language processing, not requesting the child to imagine or pretend, and requiring no person present to tell a lie or be accused of lying.

There are 20 clips, filmed with children and young people aged 3-21. British Sign Language versions are included. You can select a clip yourself, or answer three quick questions and an appropriate clip is suggested.