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Abstract:
This is a critical review of several of the most extensively researched issues regarding children's suggestibility. I discuss the research on suggestive questions, repeated questions, and repeated interviews. For each topic I isolate the factors that make children more or less suggestible, in order to facilitate consideration of the applicability of the research to individual cases. I highlight how the research may be interpreted in different ways, leading one to be less skeptical of children's reports than is currently the norm.

Abstract:
This is a critical review of several of the most extensively researched issues regarding children's suggestibility. I discuss the research on suggestive questions, repeated questions, and repeated interviews. For each topic I isolate the factors that make children more or less suggestible, in order to facilitate consideration of the applicability of the research to individual cases. I highlight how the research may be interpreted in different ways, leading one to be less skeptical of children's reports than is currently the norm.

Abstract:
This chapter is a brief overview of research-supported child interviewing strategies that can maximize the quality and quantity of information produced by children when questioned about abuse. I discuss the need to use open-ended questions, instructions, and practice narratives, and the importance of avoiding age-inappropriate questions regarding number and time.

Abstract:
There is a trend among American courts toward admitting defense expert testimony on the suggestibility of children in sexual abuse cases. This paper argues that there are good reasons to limit or exclude such testimony in a large proportion of cases. I emphasize the issue of "fit": review of appellate case law and the research on sexual abuse and suggestibility reveals that expert testimony often fails to match the research findings or does not fit the facts of the case. I discuss other arguments against admitting such testimony, and emphasize their limitations. These arguments include the objection that expert testimony regarding suggestibility invades the province of the jury, is not helpful to the jury because it is common sense, and is not scientific knowledge.

Abstract:
There is a trend among American courts toward admitting defense expert testimony on the suggestibility of children in sexual abuse cases. This paper argues that there are good reasons to limit or exclude such testimony in a large proportion of cases. I emphasize the issue of "fit": review of appellate case law and the research on sexual abuse and suggestibility reveals that expert testimony often fails to match the research findings or does not fit the facts of the case. I discuss other arguments against admitting such testimony, and emphasize their limitations. These arguments include the objection that expert testimony regarding suggestibility invades the province of the jury, is not helpful to the jury because it is common sense, and is not scientific knowledge.

Abstract:
Despite liberalization of the rules of evidence, children must still understand the difference between truth and falsehood, appreciate the obligation to tell the truth, and take some form of the oath before they are allowed to testify. The legal requirements raise three questions: (a) How should children's understanding be assessed? (b) What form of the oath should be used? and (c) Does understanding and/or oath-taking correlate with honesty? I review the research on these issues and present data from a series of studies involving maltreated and non-maltreated children. The research demonstrates that conventional methods of assessing children's understanding are prone to serious error and that young children may have difficulty understanding even simplified versions of the oath. I recommend more sensitive measures for qualifying children and a child-friendly version of the oath. I also review research testing the relation among oath-taking competence, oath-taking, and honesty, and present data from two studies demonstrating that the oath can affect children's honesty.

Abstract:
Before allowing child witnesses to testify, courts routinely require children to describe what would happen to them if they lied. However, young children often refuse to reason hypothetically if they view the premises as implausible or undesirable, and might be more willing to discuss the consequences of lying if they are asked about another child rather than themselves. On the other hand, children might view themselves as invulnerable to punishment, and therefore believe that whereas other children will be punished for lying, they will not be. In this study, 64 maltreated 5- and 6-year-old children were asked to describe the consequences of lying to three professionals (a judge, a social worker, and a doctor). Participants in the "self" condition were asked what would happen to them if they lied, whereas participants in the "other" condition were asked to describe what would happen to a story child if he or she lied. Asking children about "other" children increased responsiveness, but did not reveal perceptions of invulnerability. Previous research on children's understanding of lying has not explored motivational barriers to competence nor tested children actually appearing in court. The results highlight the importance of questioning child witnesses in a developmentally appropriate manner so that their abilities are not underestimated.

Abstract:
The United States Supreme Court has recently held that in order to determine the application of the Confrontation Clause to hearsay, one should examine common practice in 18th century British courts. Analyzing 18th century treatises and trial reports, this paper demonstrates that children's hearsay statements alleging abuse were routinely admitted when children were too young to testify, and that R. vs. Brasier, an oft-cited 1779 case, did not change this practice. Rather, both the courts and commentators believed that a best evidence approach should be applied - children should testify whenever possible, but when they could not, their hearsay could be heard. The paper proposes an interpretation of the Confrontation Clause forfeiture by wrongdoing doctrine that captures both historical and contemporary intuitions about what is fair in criminal cases when child victims are too young to testify.

evidence, hearsay, children, confrontation, sexual abuse, rape

Abstract:
In this study, we examined why and how preschoolers are able to reason about the moral aspects of illness and treatment with a simple interview that was designed to be sensitive to the abilities of this age group. A total of ninety-six 3- and 4-year-olds were asked to make moral judgments about illness and treatment. The results show that most preschoolers do not associate illness or treatment with wrongdoing. In Experiment 1, an overwhelmingly large proportion of participants distinguished between story children who were sick and story children who committed prudential violations (misbehaviors that harmed the self) by correctly identifying the latter characters as having done something "bad." In Experiment 2, a significant proportion of participants stated that story children who were sick or treated were not "bad," although they tended to make more harsh judgments about treated than ill children. The findings are discussed in terms of their theoretical and clinical significance in health care settings.

Abstract:
This study examined the effects of coaching (encouragement and rehearsal of false reports) and truth induction (a child-friendly version of the oath or general reassurance about the consequences of disclosure) on 4- to 7-year-old maltreated children's reports (N = 198). Children were questioned using free recall, repeated yes/no questions, and highly suggestive suppositional questions. Coaching impaired children's accuracy. For free recall and repeated yes/no questions, the oath exhibited some positive effects, but this effect diminished in the face of highly suggestive questions. Reassurance had few positive effects, and no ill-effects. Neither age nor understanding of the meaning and negative consequences of lying consistently predicted accuracy. The results support the utility of truth induction in enhancing the accuracy of child witnesses' reports.

Abstract:
Objective: Two studies examined the effects of the oath or reassurance (“truth induction”) on 5- to 7-year-old maltreated children’s true and false reports of a minor transgression.

Methods: In both studies an interviewer elicited a promise to tell the truth, reassured children that they would not get in trouble for disclosing the transgression, or gave no instructions before questioning the child. In Study 1, children were encouraged to play with an attractive toy by a confederate, who then informed them that they might get in trouble for playing. In Study 2, a confederate engaged children in play, but did not play with the attractive toy.

Results: In Study 1, the oath and reassurance increased disclosure among children who would qualify as competent to take the oath. In Study 2 neither the oath nor reassurance increased false reports among children who would qualify as competent, whether yes/no questions or tag questions were asked. Among non-competent children, reassurance (but not the oath) increased false reports. Children were more likely to accuse the confederate of the transgression than to implicate themselves.

Conclusions: The results suggest that a promise to tell the truth may increase true disclosures without increasing false allegations. Reassurance that specifically mentions the target activity also increases true disclosures, but may increase acquiescence among some children.

Practice implications: A child-friendly version of the oath may be a useful addition to child interviews.

child witnesses, child abuse, lying, suggestibility

Abstract:
Maltreated children are often asked, during forensic interviews and when testifying in court, temporal questions about when their abuse occurred. Yet, it is unknown as to how well maltreated children can actually answer temporal questions, or how their temporal knowledge develops more generally. The present study examined 167 6- to10-year-old maltreated children’s temporal knowledge (e.g., the current month) and temporal memory (e.g., how many times a prior event occurred) for prior significant documented events. Overall accuracy was poor for many of the questions when children were dichotomized as being correct or not. However, children’s reports were not largely discrepant from the correct time, and their reports were often significantly better than chance. Together, these results highlight limitations but also competencies in maltreated children’s temporal abilities and have important implications for evaluating children’s statements in legal contexts.

temporal memory, maltreated children

Abstract:
Part II defines the relevance ratio and explains its relation to probabilistic reasoning. Part Ill uses the ratio to explore the ways in which physicians have misused the term "consistent with sexual abuse" in child abuse cases. Part IV considers whether symptoms "consistent with sexual abuse," although irrelevant for the purpose of proving abuse, may nevertheless be admissible for rebutting the assertion that abuse did not occur. Part V uses the relevance ratio to show that symptoms that are common among abused children may nonetheless have little if any relevance for proving that abuse occurred. Part VI discusses the relevance of clusters of symptoms and reveals ways in which clusters are likely to be less relevant than often believed. Part VII outlines the methodological limitations of existing research on the symptoms of child sexual abuse and explains why they may lead to poor estimates of the relevance ratio. Part VIII uses the relevance ratio to demonstrate that probative asymmetries exist between the presence and absence of various symptoms. Part IX discusses the significance of the existence of symptoms among nonabused children for understanding the significance of those symptoms among abused children.

Child abuse, relevance ratio, expert testimony

Abstract:
The purpose of this article is to explain the implications of Crawford for child interviewing. The bottom line is that interviewers should remain committed to best practice; that is, they should continue to pursue approaches that increase the accuracy and completeness of children's reports. It would be a mistake, for example, to stop videotaping interviews in the hopes that this would render interviews non-testimonial. As for prosecutors, Crawford suggests that greater efforts should be made to enable children to testify at trial. In this article, I will briefly review the research on best practices in interviewing, discuss Crawford and the limits it places on testimonial hearsay, and explain how interviewers and prosecutors should best respond.

Abstract:
This book chapter reviews 14 retrospective surveys inquiring into respondent’s child abuse experiences and whether they ever disclosed abuse as children. I discuss the advantages of retrospective surveys (representativeness, reduced likelihood of false allegations, reduced suspicion bias). However, I also emphasize the likelihood of survey reluctance, and explain how this biases upwards estimates of abuse victims’ prior disclosure. If respondents who previously disclosed abuse are more likely to acknowledge abuse to a surveyor than respondents who never previously disclosed abuse, respondents who acknowledge abuse are disproportionately likely to be those who have previously disclosed. Difficulties notwithstanding, the research supports the proposition that most sexual abuse is not disclosed during childhood, and that, indeed, disclosure is difficult even for older respondents, particularly so in cases of intrafamilial abuse.

Abstract:
Little is known about the extent to which maltreated children understand what is happening during their participation in court proceedings, despite large numbers of children coming into contact with the legal system as victims of maltreatment. In the present study, maltreated 4- to 15-year-olds were interviewed about their understanding of dependency court on the day of their scheduled court visit. Their feelings about attending their hearing were also assessed, and after their hearing, their understanding of the decisions was examined. Age-related improvements in children’s understanding emerged. Also, children who were more knowledgeable about the legal system were less distressed about attending their hearing, as were younger children who had been in the system a longer time. Finally, a majority of children lacked full or accurate understanding of what actually happened during their hearing. Findings have implications for children’s participation in legal proceedings and the development of interventions to facilitate children’s legal understanding.

Abstract:
Attorneys' language has been found to influence the accuracy of a child's testimony, with defense attorneys asking more complex questions than the prosecution (Zajac & Hayne, J. Exp Psychol Appl 9:187-195, 2003; Zajac et al. Psychiatr Psychol Law, 10:199-209, 2003). These complex questions may be used as a strategy to influence the jury's perceived accuracy of child witnesses. However, we currently do not know whether the complexity of attorney's questions predict the trial outcome. The present study assesses whether the complexity of questions is related to the trial outcome in 46 child sexual abuse court transcripts using an automated linguistic analysis. Based on the complexity of defense attorney's questions, the trial verdict was accurately predicted 82.6% of the time. Contrary to our prediction, more complex questions asked by the defense were associated with convictions, not acquittals.

Abstract:
Objectives: The purpose of the study was to examine differences between maltreated and nonmaltreated children's ability to differentiate emotionally evocative fantastic and real events.

Methods: Four- and 5-year-old (n = 145) maltreated and nonmaltreated children viewed images depicting positive and negative fantastic and real events and reported whether the events could occur in real life and how the images made them feel. Children also completed a measure of verbal ability.

Results: Maltreated children were more accurate than nonmaltreated children in stating that negative real events could occur, but less accurate in stating that frightening fantastic events could not occur. Group differences also emerged for fantastic neutral events, but not for positive images or how the images made children feel. Additionally, findings emerged with children's verbal ability controlled statistically, suggesting that maltreated children's differential performance was not simply a result of cognitive delay.

Conclusions: Maltreated children's tendency to report that certain negative events can occur may be due to their greater exposure to negative events and heightened sensitivity to negative emotions. The present findings support a growing view that maltreatment uniquely affects how children attend to and process negative emotional information and have implications for practitioners working with maltreated children.

Practical Implications: Practitioners working with maltreated children in clinical and legal settings should consider children's sensitivity to negative information when evaluating their understanding of their surroundings. Contextually appropriate methods of assessing maltreated children's understanding of certain events are also needed, given these children's sensitivity to negative emotional information.

Abstract:
This study examined maltreated and non-maltreated children's (N = 183) emerging understanding of "truth" and "lie," terms about which they are quizzed in order to qualify as competent to testify. Four- to six-year-old children were asked to accept or reject true and false (T/F) statements, label T/F statements as the "truth" or "a lie," label T/F statements as "good" or "bad," and label "truth" and "lie" as "good" or "bad." The youngest children were at ceiling in accepting/rejecting T/F statements. The labeling tasks revealed improvement with age and children performed similarly across the tasks. Most children were better able to evaluate "truth" than "lie." Maltreated children exhibited somewhat different response patterns, suggesting greater sensitivity to the immorality of lying.

Abstract:
This short piece addresses criticisms of the NICHD Structured Protocol for interviewing children by Vieth (2008), published in a previous issue of Child Abuse & Neglect. We demonstrate that his criticisms are unwarranted and discuss how interviews conducted following the Protocol are legally and psychologically acceptable.

Abstract:
We propose five directions for future child witness research, inspired by recognition of the day-to-day realities of the legal system and the opportunities of psychology to react pro-actively to challenges child witnesses face. These directions include 1) the refinement of developmentally sensitive questioning aids that increase completeness without increasing suggestibility, 2) the development of approaches to non-disclosure and recantation, including understanding of the reasons underlying non-disclosure and the potential for building rapport and increasing trust, 3) the construction of interventions that meet mental health needs of child-victim witnesses without creating false memories or tainting testimony, 4) a focus on details of children's narratives that are often lacking, including temporal information and emotional reactions, and 5) expanding our attention beyond child sexual abuse allegations in criminal court and considering the many contexts in which child witnesses are questioned, including areas in which preferences rather than memories are elicited.

Abstract:
Controversy abounds regarding the process by which child sexual abuse (CSA) victims disclose their experiences, particularly the extent to which and reasons why some children, once having disclosed abuse, later recant their allegations. This study examined the prevalence and predictors of recantation among 2- to 17-year-old CSA victims. Method: Case files (N=257) were randomly selected from all substantiated cases resulting in a dependency court filing in a large urban county between 1999 and 2000. Recantation (i.e., denial of abuse post-disclosure) was scored across formal and informal interviews. Cases were also coded for characteristics of the child, family, and abuse. Results: A 23.1% recantation rate was observed. Multivariate analyses supported a filial dependency model of recantation, whereby abuse victims who were more vulnerable to familial adult influences (i.e., younger children, those abused by a parent figure, and who lacked support from the non-offending caregiver) were more likely to recant. An alternative hypothesis, that recantations resulted from potential inclusion of cases involving false allegations, was not supported. Conclusions: Results provide new insight into the process by which children reveal interpersonal trauma and have implications for debates concerning the credibility of CSA allegations and treatment in dependency samples.

Recantation, Child Sexual Abuse, Disclosure

Abstract:
In this paper we address two areas of disagreement among researchers regarding the two most widely discussed areas of expert testimony in child sexual abuse cases: behavioral symptoms
and the suggestibility of children. In the case of behavioral symptoms, observational research documenting symptoms among some non-abused children leads different researchers to different conclusions. Some believe that the existence of symptoms among non-abused children renders symptoms irrelevant, whereas others believe that symptoms may serve as evidence, but not conclusive evidence, that abuse has occurred. We argue that some symptoms (PTSD and sexualized behavior) are relevant evidence of abuse, but that experts should acknowledge the methodological limitations of observational research. In the case of suggestibility, laboratory research demonstrating that some children can be led to make false claims also leads researchers to disagree. We believe the laboratory research is often relevant in assessing the credibility of child witnesses, but that experts must acknowledge the potential differences between the research and the nature of interviewing and the dynamics of sexual abuse.

Abstract:
This paper assesses the rights of battered women who fail to protect their children against abuse. I first discuss how arguments advanced for expanding self-defense doctrine to excuse the actions of battered women who kill do not easily translate into arguments for greater rights.