NCJ Number
96985
Journal
Journal of Social Issues Volume: 40 Issue: 2 Dated: (1984) Pages: 9-31
Date Published
1984
Length
23 pages
Annotation
Children have been testifying in courts of law for centuries, but not without raising questions about the value of their statements.
Abstract
Over the years, the legal system has proposed a host of rules to govern children's testimony, but today the value of many of these rules is being questioned. The scientific study of child witnesses by psychologists began around the turn of the century. Early studies tended to support some of the legal profession's stereotypes of children by claiming to show that children are 'the most dangerous of all witnesses.' More recent studies challenge this oversimplified view and instead indicate that children are not always more suggestible than adults. In this paper, the laws, past and present, and the development of the relevant psychological literature are reviewed, with special attention placed on the early studies. (Publisher abstract)