Interviewing the Child Witness: The Do's and the Don't's, the How's and the Why's
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Authors
Walker, Nancy E.
Nguyen, Matthew
Issue Date
1996
Volume
29
Issue
Type
Journal Article
Language
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
INTRODUCTION|Children who are asked to provide testimony encounter adult strangers who use language they often do not understand and who demand information they may be reluctant to give. Should they be unable to relate their accounts in the way adults expect, children may be considered unreliable and therefore may be excluded from further proceedings, or they may be discredited publicly at trial. Yet the results of empirical studies clearly demonstrate that the nature of the interview process itself likely contributes at least as much to the veracity and completeness of the account obtained as does the sophistication of the child who is interviewed. In recent years, psychologists have conducted a variety of investigations in order to determine which techniques for interviewing child witnesses produce the most complete and reliable testimony. The purpose of this Article is to recommend to attorneys guidelines for interviewing child witnesses based upon those empirical findings. |Imagine the plight of the nine-year-old child who was confronted with the following questions at deposition: You don't know if any of your brothers or sisters or if I was your brother - well, any of your brothers or sisters didn't really tell what happened, didn't quite tell the truth once, you don't know of any of that happening in your family? Did you just pick that up just because you talk - plan your time to fill your space, the spacing off or riding your bike, or did...
Description
Citation
29 Creighton L. Rev. 1587 (1995-1996)
Publisher
Creighton University School of Law