Evidence provided in many courtroom cases can range from DNA samples, eyewitness testimony and video-recordings, to name a few. What happens when one of the main sources of information in a case comes from a child? Even worse, what if the child is the victim in the case? The topic of children participating and providing testimony in courtroom settings is an image that, presumably, most would not associate as a “usual” place for children. Yet in cases such as sexual abuse or violence towards a child or within the child’s family, it is not impossible to have cases where children are the predominant source of information provided for judges and jurors. Ref It is then important to consider the reliability of children’s testimonial accounts much like how adult testimonies are examined. The question of focus is then, to what extent can we rely on child eyewitnesses? Specifically, what factors influence the veracity of their testimonies?
Children as Witnesses
Involvement of Children in the Justice System
This question becomes more imperative when considering the increase in frequency of children involved with the legal system. According to Statistics Canada, from 2004-2009, family violence allegedly victimized 18, 710 children under the age of 17 (Sinha, 2012). In the same article, children were also reported to have witnessed an increased amount of spousal violence in their homes, such that the proportion of spousal victims with children increased from 43 percent to 52 percent. Sinha (2012) also stated that out of the reported victims of spousal violence in 2009, 39 percent would involve officials in the matter due to the presence of a child witness versus 10 percent of victims with no child witness. These statistics alone account...
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Regan, P.C. & Baker, S.J. (1998). The impact of child witness demeanor on perceived credibility and trial outcome in sexual abuse cases. Journal of Family Violence, 13(2), 187-195.
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Sinha, M. (2012). Family violence in Canada: A statistical profile, 2010. Juristat. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 85-002-X. Retrieved from http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-002-x/2012001/article/11643-eng.pdf
Zajac, R. & Hayne H. (2003). I don’t think that’s what really happened: The effect of cross-examination on the accuracy of children’s repots. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 9, 187-195.
Parameswari, B. (2015). Domestic Violence and Child Abuse. IOSR Journal Of Humanities And Social Science, 20(2), 56-59. Retrieved from http://www.iosrjournals.org/iosr-jhss/papers/Vol20-issue2/Version-3/I020235659.pdf
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(Kennedy & Haygood, 1992; Williams & Loftus, 1994), which is worrying considering the growing and substantial body of evidence from laboratory studies, field studies, and the criminal justice system supporting the conclusion that eyewitnesses frequently make mistakes (Cutler & Penrod, 1995; Huff, 1987; Huff, Rattner, & Sagarin, 1986; Innocence Project, 2009; Wells, Small, Penrod, Malpass, Fulero, & Brimacombe, 1998). According to a number of studies, eyewitness misidentifications are the most common cause of wrongful convictions (Huff, Rattner, & Sagarin, 1986; Wells et al., 1998; Yarmey, 2003) and, through the use of forensic DNA testing, have been found to account for more convictions of innocent individuals than all other factors combined (Innocence Project, 2009; Wells, Memon, & Penrod, 2006).
Brott, A. (2010). A System Out of Control: The Epidemic of False Allegations of Child Abuse. Retrieved from http://www.fathersmanifesto.net/armin.htm
The situation that I have thought of is, when I was on the jury for juveniles who committed first offenses. While I was listening to the lawyers depend these kids, I looked on the list and saw a familiar name. The name was a person I went to kindergarten with. She was being convicted of shoplifting. I could not believe it. All the thoughts of that soft, kind-hearted person went out the window. My behaviors were changed by the environmental influences. My thoughts were overcome with coldness. I felt that she choose her situation. Somewhere along she became part of the wrong crowd and never changed her situation. I also think that the situation changed what I thought of her.
Vallas, G. (2011). A survey of federal and state standards for the admission of expert testimony on the reliability of eyewitnesses. American Journal of Criminal Law, 39(1), 97-146. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.pioproxy.carrollu.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=cookie,ip,cpid&custid=s6222004&db=aph&AN=74017401&site=ehost-live&scope=site
Eyewitnesses are primarily used by the criminal justice system for investigating and prosecuting crimes, particularly in circumstances where it is the only evidence available (Wells & Olson, 2003). Their testimony is highly regarded as it allows for police, prosecutors, judges and juries to establi...
This webpage, the Canadian Child Welfare Research Portal, aims to provide access to research on the Canadian child welfare system. It looks upon the different forms of abuse including sexual, emotional, and physical abuse which affects a child’s wellbeing. As well, further links are provided to help readers understand the exposure of domestic violence and neglect within the household. According to this webpage, child abuse and neglect includes acts of commission or omission by a parent or other caregiver which create a potential, threat or result of harm to a child. As well, supplementary links to frequent definitions used when discussing child
Many people think that children do not lie. It is not that they lie, they just cannot remember what happened a year or two ago when they were much younger, perhaps only a year or two old. The truth is children do lie. “One study shows that twenty three percent of abuse allegations are false and there was insufficient information to determine the truth in another twenty four percent” (Slicker W.D., 1999, Child testimony ¶ 16). Fear is also a factor in children lying or not providing adequate information. Lepore (1991) says that studies show in most abuse cases the suspect will usually bribe the child or threaten them into secrecy. This causes the child to become afraid to tell the truth, and they will begin to deny what has happened or even worse not report the abuse at all. The way an interviewer phrases a question will influence a child.
Storbeck, J., & Clore, G. L. (2005). With sadness comes accuracy; with happiness, false memory. Psychological Science, 16(10), 785-791.
The courts have an empirically verifiable definition for child sexual abuse in order for them to be able to convict someone accused – put simply, they need a definition that can be proven with hard, physical evidence. This makes a problem for all the children abused in ways that do not leave a mark.
There are many misconceptions about memory that influences the strength of eye witness testimonies in court cases. Law enforcement officers, judges, and the general public believe that human memory works like a video camera so everything people remember must be true and accurate. If the person recalling the memory has high confidence in the accuracy of the memory, even if it were an adult recalling a childhood event, the memory is more likely to be believed as true. However, memory must be encoded and retrieved. During the retrieval process, there are factors that may influence the accuracy of the memory that is actually remembered. This causes problems in the legal system when an innocent person is falsely accused and punished solely on witness
Which means that eyewitness testimony can influence judges and jurors’ decision making, they sometimes cannot identify the credibility and accuracy of the eyewitness testimony and may led to misinformation, hence, put innocent people in prison. According to Pozzulo, Lemieus, Wells and Mccuaig (2006) that jurors’ verdicts can be influenced by witness’s age and the interact with juror’s beliefs, jurors may think children are more honest than adults, thus providing the most reliable testimony. (pg.643). This shows that jurors are more likely to trust children’s testimony, but as the essay mentioned above, children are lacking of language abilities and they have different ways of viewing events compare to adults. Therefore, children’s testimony is not always reliable. Also, Pozzulo, Lemieus, Wells and Mccuaig (2006) have indicated that when witness provides positive identification, jurors are most likely to give guilty verdicts compare with non-identification and foil identification. (pg.650). This explains that jurors’ verdicts are depending on witness’s confidence of identifying the suspects. Moreover, Sigler and Couch (2002) suggest when there is discredited eyewitness testimony, jurors feel that they have been tricked by the prosecution, hence, the jurors will vote more in favour. (pg.146). This explains that if the eyewitness testimony
“Domestic violence is a violent confrontation between family or household members involving physical harm, sexual assault, or fear of physical harm” (Stewart & Croudep, 1998-2012). In most places domestic violence is looked on as one of the higher priorities when trying to stop crime. Domestic Violence cases are thought to be influenced by the use of alcohol, drugs, stress or anger but in reality, they are just learned behaviors by the batterer. These habits can be stopped as long as one seeks help (Stewart & Croudep, 1998-2012). For instance, a child is brought up in a household that is constantly involved in criminal acts. As this child grows up, the criminal lifestyle will be synonymous with his/her behavior. With that being said, it is also a given fact that if a household and its members are surrounded with violence, the relationships between one another will be strained. Eventually this will end up in a divorce or even worse, death, depending on how far the violence goes. If there is violence in a family, then the ones who are affected by it may feel like they deserve it because of what the batterer is accusing them of doing. Battering occurs among people of all races, ages, socio-economic classes, religious affiliations, occupations, and educational backgrounds (Stewart & Croudep, 1998-2012). Domestic violence can affect families in more aspects than one; the husband-wife relationship, the children, and also the financial stability.
In criminal cases there are many people, tools, and techniques used to determine who the culprit of the crime actually is. One of most difficult, but useful thing to actually use in criminal cases are eye witnesses. Witnesses are those who were part the crime scene somehow, whether it be just seeing the crime occur or actually experiencing it. One would think that having a witness means that the case is automatically solved because someone was there to identify the criminal and in some cases this is true. However, when a cases actually has an eye witness they have to make sure that the person is telling the truth and is a valid source of information. This is one of major reasons why people think children don’t make proper eye witnesses. They believe that they are not capable of providing such vital information, solely on the fact that they are a child. It is true that maturity does play a vital role when determining if a witness is valid or not , but there have been many studies that have point out how some children can be as