ults in some instances, but that does not mean that they should be dismissed from input into criminal, or civil, cases.
Both the available articles and a recent book seem to offer mixed answers to the question of the reliability of child witnesses. Lucy McGough (1994), in her recent book, noted that children can be both reliable and unreliable witnesses. Children are easily traumatized, and sometimes can be manipulated or coerced by adults into providing inappropriate and inaccurate testimony. However, there are many instances in which they perform reliably and well, and are able to serve the important role of the only available witnesses. This perspective seems to be fairly consistent throughout the literature. Much of the material about child witnesses appears in law and case work journals, and within that field there is considerable current discussion of the issue.
Again, the answer to child reliability seems to be yes and no (Shoop, 1993). Children can apparently be manipulated into giving inaccurate testimony by adults, in some instances. However, they also show strong signs of being able to understand when adults are lying to them and trying to convince them of something that is not true. They seem to be variable witnesses, depending upon the situation and, often, the kinds of initial questioning that they underwent.
Yet considerable effort has been put forth to utilize the testimony of child witnesses and to provide the best possible conditions for them to testify under. For example, some common protective procedures have involved having children testify through using television or videotape, rather than having children in the courtroom. In other instances, children have been allowed to testify while having their backs to the defendant, rather than facing them. The court system has developed a whole range of questioning and testifying procedures to ensure that the child's testimony is most accurately held, wi...