NCJ Number
179189
Date Published
1998
Length
314 pages
Annotation
This book describes the trials associated with charges of child sexual abuse at a day care facility in Martensville, Saskatchewan, Canada, and focuses on what police, lawyers, and therapists did about children who said they were violated.
Abstract
Between March 1993 and February 1994, the author observed the Martensville trials and saw the problems child witnesses had when testifying in adult court that involved immaturity of language, cognitive development, and memory recall. She found that the court had to deal with these difficulties in trying to decide whether to believe the children, and she wrote the book to evaluate problems in and possible solutions to the way child sexual abuse cases are handled by courts. The book covers the media's role at the first trial, as well as the prosecution and the defense. The second trial is reviewed in terms of jury selection, prosecution, and defense. Particular attention is paid to the testimony of children, defense competence, cross-examination of police officers and physicians, expert witnesses, and the verdict and sentence. The courtroom hearings are described in detail based on the author's observations in an effort to come to grips with situations in which children say they have been sexually abused. Photographs