Since children's testimonies of child sexual abuse (CSA) often lack concrete evidence to corroborate a child's claims, attorneys devote a substantial amount of time to establishing a child as credible during the course of a trial. The results of the current study revealed that although prosecutors examined plausibility more often to establish credibility, defense attorneys focused their assessments on suggestibility/honesty and potential inconsistency; however, both attorneys asked many more questions about children's consistency than any other area of potential credibility. Furthermore, while prosecutors ask proportionally more credibility-challenging questions of older children, the defense did not. These results suggest that prosecutors may be missing an opportunity to establish children as honest and consistent and elucidate a need to train attorneys on the implications of children's inconsistencies, suggestibility, and plausible abuse dynamics. (publisher abstract modified)
Assessing Childrens Credibility in Courtroom Investigations of Alleged Child Sexual Abuse Suggestibility, Plausibility, and Consistency
NCJ Number
254230
Journal
Child Maltreatment Dated: 2019
Date Published
2019
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This study examined 134 testimonies of victims of child sexual abuse (CSA), ages 5-17 (M = 12.48, SD = 3.34; 90 percent female), with a focus on how attorneys assessed a child's credibility regarding suggestibility/honesty, plausibility, and consistency.
Abstract