Abused Children Should Be Spared Having to Confront Abusers in Court (From Child Abuse: Opposing Viewpoints, P 195-202, 1994, David Bender and Bruno Leone, eds. -- See NCJ-159823)

• NCJ Number: 159846
• Author(s): K A Francis
• Date Published: 1994
• Length: 8 pages
• Sale Source: Greenhaven Press
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Opposing Viewpoints Series

Annotation

The prosecution in child abuse cases has increasingly forced legislatures and courts to address special problems involved in balancing victim and defendant rights when the victim is a child.

Abstract

In the 1990 decision in Maryland v. Craig, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that protecting child witnesses from trauma may outweigh the right of defendants to confront their accusers. The author agrees with this decision, contending that defendant rights are not violated when child victim testimony is heard via one-way closed circuit television. While physical confrontation is expressly guaranteed by the sixth amendment's Confrontation Clause and has often been the focus of the U.S. Supreme Court, criminal prosecution of physical, emotional, or sexual abuse of children in which child victims testify against the accused poses a difficult task for courts. Courts must balance constitutional rights of the accused with the physical and psychological well- being of the child victim-witness. Purposes of the Confrontation Clause and ways of preserving victim and defendant rights are addressed.