Credibility of child witnesses

Abstract

Children seem to be unreliable and unpredictable wit nesses. Why? The answers lie more with the adults than the chil dren. Often, adults have unrealistic expectations about children as witnesses. Attorneys, therefore, typically fail to consider a child's developmental level when assessing that child as a possible witness. Further, studies suggest that adults have preconceived notions about children's ability to be good witnesses we are skeptical about the usefulness of children's testimony (Goodman, Golding, & Haith; Yarmey & Jones). Predicting a child's performance on the stand with any reliability means that you must not only evaluate his or her developmental level but also how that level interacts with personality, clinical diagnosis, and cop ing style. Then you must also consider those factors within the context of the case. The following case illustrates some of the special problems inherent in children's testimony. Jenny M. is four. Her parents recently separated. She complained to her teacher that her father had molested her while they were on vacation. Jenny made several consistent statements, but over the course of her testimony her account of the event changed enough to create many inconsistencies. Some of the apparent inconsistencies actually were the result of adult insensitivity to child development issues. For example:

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