Browsing by Author "Lyon, T. D."
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Item American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children in Support of Petitioner, Ohio v. Clark [Amicus Curiae Brief in the Supreme Court of the United States (merits)(American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children, 2014) Lyon, T. D.To protect children, all fifty states have passed mandatory-reporting statutes. These statutes require certain individuals — teachers, social workers, therapists, doctors, and, in many states, everyone — to report suspected maltreatment to government agencies, including child-protective services or the police. These statutes play a key role in protecting children. These statutes also raise important questions under the Confrontation Clause. The clause requires that “[i]n all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right . . . to be confronted with the witnesses against him.” The question in this case is whether a three-year-old’s disclosure of abuse to his preschool teacher was testimonial and thus inadmissible in a criminal prosecution. More broadly, the question in cases across the country is whether young children’s disclosures of maltreatment to mandatory reporters are testimonial. The clear answer to these questions is no. Children’s primary purpose in disclosing maltreatment is to protect themselves and other victims from further harm. Young children have little or no understanding of the criminal-justice process. They do not recognize that their disclosures to mandatory reporters can be used in trial or, for that matter, that their disclosures can lead to trial at all. For these reasons, the Court should conclude that young children’s disclosures of maltreatment to mandatory reporters are non-testimonial. (Auther Text)Item Applying suggestibility research to the real world: The case of repeated questions(Law & Contemporary Problems, 2002) Lyon, T. D.This article will analyze particular strands of each trend. With respect to the law of the child witness, it will consider the application of the medical diagnosis hearsay exception to sexual abuse cases, using as a case study State v. Larson,1 a Minnesota case that made its way to the United States Supreme Court. The analysis will show how restrictive application of the medical diagnosis exception forces courts to confront the dangers of children’s suggestibility.Item Child witnesses and the oath: Empirical evidence(Southern California Law Review, 1999) Lyon, T. D.Item Interviewing children(Annual Review of Law and Social Science, 2014) Lyon, T. D.Interviewers can avoid closed-ended questions through narrative practice, in which interviewers ask children to narrate a recent innocuous event before introducing the abuse topic; cued invitations, in which interviewers repeat details reported by children and ask for elaboration; open-ended wh- questions, and interview instructions, including asking children to promise to tell the truth. Better understanding of the dynamics of abuse disclosure and optimal interviewing strategies can assist the legal system in assessing the veracity of children’s reports. (Author Abstract)Item New Wave in Children’s Suggestibility Research: A Critique(Cornell Law Review, 1998) Lyon, T. D.The new wave in children's suggestibility research consists of a prestigious group of researchers in developmental psychology who argue that children are highly vulnerable to suggestive interviewing techniques. Because of its scientific credentials, its moderate tone, and its impressive body of research, the new wave presents a serious challenge to those who have claimed that children are unlikely to allege sexual abuse falsely. Although we can learn much from the research, concerns over society's ability to detect abuse motivate three criticisms. First, the new-wave researchers assume that highly suggestive interviewing techniques are the norm in abuse investigations, despite little empirical evidence to support this claim. Second, the research neglects the characteristics of child sexual abuse that both make false allegations less likely and increase the need to guard against a failure to detect abuse when it actually has occurred. Third, the researchers' apparent value-free scientific treatment of the suggestibility issue obscures, rather than avoids, value judgments regarding the tradeoff between false allegations and false denials of sexual abuse. (Author Abstract)Item Speaking with Children: Advice from Investigative Interviewers(Handbook for the Treatment of Abused and Neglected Children, 2013) Lyon, T. D.Item Webinar: Asking children about time and number(National Children's Advocacy Center, 2016) Lyon, T. D.This webinar will discuss the pitfalls in asking children questions about time and number and suggest alternative means of getting at forensically relevant information.