NCJ Number
139900
Journal
Law and Human Behavior Volume: 16 Issue: 6 Dated: (December 1992) Pages: 635-650
Date Published
1992
Length
16 pages
Annotation
The characteristics of criminal court cases involving children as potential witnesses were studied using data from 316 such cases in Alabama, Florida, and South Carolina during a 12-month period.
Abstract
The cases all had plea-bargained convictions, jury acquittals, or jury convictions. The children involved in these cases were all crime victims, because the case files did not provide information regarding whether or not the witnesses were minors. The analysis revealed that the children's average age at the time of the crime was 10.81 and that 10 percent of the children were under 6 years of age. Almost 90 percent of the crimes were of a sexual nature. Overall, only 16.8 percent of the cases were resolved through a trial proceeding, including 32.9 percent in Alabama, 10.9 percent in South Carolina, and 10.8 percent in Florida. Convictions occurred in more than 90 percent of the cases, usually through a plea bargain. Sentencing varied from State to State and as a function of the disposition of the case. Only about half of the offenders were sentenced to prison. The sentences generally involved a combination of a prison term, probation, and/or a suspended sentence, but 5.8 percent of the convicted offenders received none of these components. Future research should be conducted prospectively to determine whether cases involving children as witnesses are prosecuted at lower rates than cases involving adults and to examine the reasons cases leave the criminal justice system prior to any court action. Tables and 20 references