Children as Witnesses in Court

However, during the past two decades, with increased attention to child abuse and prosecution of offenders, children have increasingly been called upon to serve as witnesses in courtroom situations. There was a shift in perception toward viewing children as reliable witnesses, particularly in regard to sexual abuse, because it was believed that they were not able to make up stories about sexual acts, not likely to tell lies about that issue, and generally disinclined to talk about being abused (which seemed to speak to their reluctance to impeach the adults in their lives). That has been followed by yet another shift, partly in response to cases such as the McMartin case in which individuals convicted largely by the testimony of children have later been released, with some indication that the evidence convicting them was less credible (McGough, 1994).

The intention in the following pages is to look at the discussion regarding the credibility of child witnesses. It should be understood that this exists in an even larger context, in which the testimony even of adult eyewitnesses is frequen

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ional questioning to ensure that the children are not directly, or indirectly, influenced by the way the questions are phrased. One of the major problems with child testimony has been that children are easily influenced by the questions that they are asked, by the way those are phrased, and by the demeanor, attitude, and behavior of the interviewer. Children, in general, are considered to be more easily influenced. Another issue that created doubt about the reliability of child testimony was the exposure of that child to materials about sexuality or about sexual abuse reporting. In one case, the child's exposure to materials about sexual abuse reporting procedures and requirements was used to cast sufficient doubt upon the testimony to void the conviction of a defendant in the case (Child's extensive exposure . . ., 1993). Children can be given support, however. In that same issue of Children Today, Ellis (1993) indicated that court schools provide programs that support reliable child testimony by giving children good information about the court system itself and the requirements of participation in a case. Children can be taught the expectations of them, and earlier research indicated that young children can distinguish r
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2023
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)

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