NCJ Number
182730
Date Published
May 2000
Length
25 pages
Annotation
The introduction of this document explains that the criminal justice system needs to take into account the special needs of child victims and witnesses to ensure that prosecution of offenses against children does not result in further damage to the child.
Abstract
The introduction explains notes The recommended legislation includes examples of legislative language from current State or Federal laws or is based on various State examples. Recommendations for offender accountability include reforming murder laws to ensure that child murderers can be effectively prosecuted and subjected to penalties that reflect the serious of their crimes. Also recommended are evidence rules that ensure that juries in child molestation cases can hear evidence that the defendant has committed other similar crimes. Another recommendation is to adopt evidence rules that ensure that juries can hear credible out-of-court statements that children make about abuse. Recommendations for effective courtroom procedures for juvenile witnesses including speeding up trials where children are the victims, the witnesses, or both; providing privacy protections to juvenile victims; and starting with the presumption that children are competent witnesses. Additional recommendations include reducing to a minimum the number of times a child is interviewed, providing children who testify in court with help from multidisciplinary child abuse teams, and allowing special procedures for child testimony on the rare occasions when a child cannot testify in the normal manner. Reference notes and appended excerpts from laws