Leading question
Definition
A question that signals or contains the expected answer. 'You were angry, weren't you?' is leading because the expected answer is embedded. Generally prohibited in examination-in-chief but permitted in cross-examination.
- Classic example
- You were angry, weren't you? This embeds the expected answer (yes) in the question itself.
- Use in examination
- Generally prohibited during examination-in-chief but permitted in cross-examination.
- Core risk
- Puts words in the interviewee's mouth, potentially yielding inaccurate responses rather than what the person actually knows or believes.
Common questions
What makes a question 'leading'?+
A leading question contains or strongly implies the expected answer, constraining what the person being interviewed can actually say. For example, 'You were angry at him, weren't you?' is leading because it puts words in the interviewee's mouth rather than asking them to say what they actually felt.
Can lawyers use leading questions in court?+
It depends on the stage of questioning. During examination-in-chief (when a lawyer questions their own witness), leading questions are generally prohibited. But during cross-examination (questioning the opposing side's witness), they are permitted and commonly used.
Why are leading questions a problem?+
They constrain an interviewee's response and risk getting inaccurate testimony. In police interviews and courtroom settings, the goal is to elicit what the person actually knows or believes, not what the questioner expects them to say.
Related terms
- Presupposition
- Information built into a question as a taken-for-granted background assumption. Asking 'Why did you go back?' presupposes the person went back. The...
- Code-switching
- Shifting between different registers or even different languages within an interaction, often as a signal of role or authority. An interviewer who...
- Cross-examination
- Questioning of a witness by the opposing party. For an expert, cross-examination probes qualifications, methodology, the basis of opinions, limitations, inconsistencies with...
- Examination-in-chief
- The questioning of a witness by the party who called them. For an expert, this is typically limited because the substance is...
- Institutional talk
- Conversation that takes place within an institutional context (courtroom, interview room, medical consultation) and is shaped by that context: one participant controls...
- Reformulation
- An interviewer's restatement of what the interviewee just said, often shorter or differently framed. If the interviewee does not correct it, the...
- Response constraint
- The structural limits on what a witness can say given a particular question type. A yes/no question formally permits only yes or...
- Tag question
- A short interrogative attached to a declarative, such as 'You left at midnight, didn't you?' The grammatical form invites agreement and is...
- Turn-taking asymmetry
- The structural imbalance in a police interview where the officer holds nearly all the conversational rights: who asks, who answers, when a...
Explained in these topics
- Police Interview Discourse: Power, Questions, and ControlA question that contains or strongly implies the expected answer, constraining the interviewee's response and potentially putting words in their mouth. A class...
- Courtroom Discourse: Examination, Cross-Examination, and Question ControlA question that signals or contains the expected answer. 'You were angry, weren't you?' is leading because the expected answer is embedded. Generally prohibite...