NCJ Number
152791
Date Published
1994
Length
35 pages
Annotation
This document lists and summarizes all laws that authorize the introduction of child victims' and witnesses' hearsay in criminal trials, as of December 31, 1993.
Abstract
In Idaho v. Wright in 1990, the U.S. Supreme Court admitted the victim's statements made during a medical examination under Idaho's residual hearsay exception, ruling that the statements were improperly admitted but rejecting an argument that a child's hearsay statements are per se unreliable and cannot be admitted into evidence. Thirty-two States have such laws. They specify the crimes involved, the victim's age, the status into which the child must fall for the statutory exception to apply, and criteria for admissibility. A separate section explains the function of the National Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse, which was founded by the American Prosecutors Research Institute in 1985.