NCJ Number
108483
Date Published
1987
Length
0 pages
Annotation
Presenters discuss issues on the reliability of testimony by child victims of sexual abuse, expert witnesses, and predictors of dangerousness.
Abstract
Kenneth Freeman, a specialist in the prosecution of child sexual abuse cases, discusses issues in the use of closed circuit television to obtain a child victim's testimony. The purpose of such testimony is to relieve the child of the stress of being in the courtroom. Freeman opposes this means of obtaining a child's testimony except when it is impossible to receive testimony from the child in a traditional courtroom appearance. The courtroom testimony not only satisfies the defendant's right to confront witnesses, but also gives the trier of fact the opportunity to observe interaction between the defendant and the child. In discussing the prediction of dangerousness, Joel Dvoskin, the director of forensic services for the New York Department of Mental Health, advises that although clinical predictions regarding the dangerousness of a particular individual cannot be reliably made, the courts still require that such predictions be used in various legal decisions, such as sentencing and parole. Dvoskin recommends the actuarial approach, which examines whether or not a particular person fits various risk factors for violence; this must include situational factors. This permits determination of probability of dangerousness. Dvoskin also provides guidelines for obtaining reliable testimony from expert psychiatric witnesses, among them being the distinction between fact and opinion and the determination of the witness' limits of expertise. Audience questions are included.