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Children as Witnesses in Court

The viewpoint toward children as witnesses in court has undergone several changes during this century. In the early part of the century, and until quite recently, children were considered to be basically unreliable, having tendencies to lie and make up stories. They were believed to be incapable of differentiating right from wrong in some instances.

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 frequently impugned by such experts as Elizabeth Loftus. It is my contention that although child witnesses are sometimes unreliable, they are also frequently reliable, and, often needed as sole witnesses for a particular case. Adult witnesses, too, are sometimes unreliable, but in both instances, it is the job of the entire judicial system to minimize the inaccuracies, and maximize the potential for learning the truth. In other words, child witnesses may make somewhat less reliable witnesses than ad...

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Children as Witnesses in Court. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 01:21, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1691748.html