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The credibility of children's testimony is a hotly debated topic in America's courtrooms, universities, and professional organizations. Are children more suggestible than adults, and if so, what are the implications for those who work with child witnesses?
Using rigorous techniques of analysis, the authors examine real-life cases in which children were key witnesses in criminal child abuse trials. Written in lively, accessible language by acknowledged experts in the field, this book will be an invaluable guide for expert witnesses and all those who work with child witnesses, including therapists, social workers, law enforcement personnel, and lawyers.
Table of Contents
Preface
Introduction
Children as Witnesses: Seven Case Descriptions
Assessing the Scope and Characteristics of Child Sexual Abuse
Defining Memory and Suggestibility
Legal and Behavioral Approaches to Children's Suggestibility: 1900–1985
The Recent Past: Changes in Legal and Behavioral Approaches
The Architecture of Interviews With Children
The Role of Interviewer Bias
The Effects of Repeated Questioning
Stereotype Induction: A Suggestive Interviewing Technique
Other Suggestive Interviewing Techniques
The Pros and (Mostly) Cons of Using Anatomically Detailed Dolls
The Evidence for Delayed Recall of Childhood Sexual Abuse
The Role of Suggestion in Delayed Recall of Child Sexual Abuse
Age Differences in the Reliability of Reports
Mechanisms That May Account For Age Differences in Suggestibility
Ethical and Professional Issues
In Conclusion
References
Author Index
Subject Index
About the Authors
Reviews & Awards
This book is, by a wide margin, the best available volume of its kind.
—C. J. Brainerd and D. Hill, reviewed in Contemporary Psychology
We believe that this book would be useful reading for any lawyer who practices family law or prosecutes or defends child abuse cases. It deals with several highly publicized cases which were based on children's testimony…This is an often fascinating book. It is a careful, thoughtful study. The authors appreciated the jurisprudential difficulties of their subject. They demonstrate the wisdom, compassion, and ethical sensitivity which their subject demands. The book is rich in useful information, insight, and astuteness. It is both scholarly and highly readable.
—Appellate Practice Journal, American Bar Association, Vol. XVIV, No. 3
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