NCJ Number
123310
Date Published
1989
Length
198 pages
Annotation
This supplement addresses appellate decisions on child abuse and child witnesses during 1987 and 1988.
Abstract
Eight new sections on expert testimony in child sexual abuse litigation provide assessment and analysis of eight forms of expert testimony. There is also a new and expanded discussion of children's ability to tell time, along with a discussion of failure-to-thrive as a form of child maltreatment, including case law and medical literature. Another section addresses cases pertinent to the trial judge's authority to question witnesses, including children. The relationship between videotaped testimony and the criminal defendant's right to be present at the trial is also reviewed from recent cases. Considered as well is the related issue of video testimony and the defendant's right to confront accusatory witnesses. On June 29, 1988, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down Coy v. Iowa, in which the court addressed the confrontation-clause issues raised by trial techniques that permit children to testify out of the physical presence of the defendant. This decision is discussed. Case table, subject index.