NCJ Number
100712
Journal
Legal Service Bulletin Volume: 10 Issue: 1 Dated: (February 1985) Pages: 12-17
Date Published
1985
Length
6 pages
Annotation
The New South Wales evidentiary requirements of corroboration are central both to the decision to prosecute and the course of the trial in child sexual abuse cases.
Abstract
Corroboration requires evidence to confirm the evidence of a complainant or other witness on the matters at issue. Under New South Wales evidentiary rules, corroboration may be mandatory (e.g., regarding an unsworn child's testimony, perjury, and certain statutory sexual offenses). A judicial warning to the jury to look for corroboration can be given at the judge's discretion in any case. It is commonly given regarding the evidence of sexual assault victims. The best corroborative evidence would come from a witness to the sexual assault, but a chain of circumstances, each alone incapable of corroborating, can provide cumulative corroboration of a complainant's story. The effect of corroboration rules is cause prosecutors not to prosecute in cases where a child claims to have been sexually abused in the absence of witnesses, when the accused makes no admissions. Corroboration rules regarding child witnesses should be abolished, since there is no basis for the presumption that sexual assault complainants and children are particularly unreliable witnesses. The jury should be permitted to evaluate the evidence of child sexual assault victims as it does the evidence of other witnesses. 29 references.