NCJ Number
130595
Date Published
1990
Length
379 pages
Annotation
A lawyer and a psychologist explain the civil and criminal rules of evidence affecting children in England, Wales, and Scotland and review the findings of psychologists and social scientists regarding the legal rules concerning child witnesses.
Abstract
The text is designed for use by lawyers, police officers, mental health professionals, physicians, and others. Individual sections focus on the concept of evidence, the competency requirement, the accusatorial system, the rule against hearsay, the use of videotapes, corroboration, and the use of expert assistance. The discussion also examines the stressful effects of having to give evidence and the results of recent research regarding children's memory abilities, their tendency to fantasize, and their susceptibility to coaching. Finally, the text considers how other legal systems deal with child witnesses and child victims and reviews recent proposals to reform the law in the United Kingdom. Figures, chapter notes, index, and 514 references (Publisher summary modified)