Court evaluations of young children's testimony in child sexual abuse cases
Date
2018
Journal Title
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Publisher
Legal and Criminological Psychology
Abstract
Purpose. Prosecutors working with child sexual abuse (CSA) cases involving young
children have raised concerns that reliability criteria from the Supreme Court of Sweden
are holding children’s testimony to impossible standards (e.g., expecting the child’s
testimony to be long, rich in detail and spontaneous). This study aimed to address these
concerns by investigating how District Courts and Courts of Appeal employ said criteria
in their testimonial assessments of young child complainants.
Methods. Court documents from District Courts (n = 100) and Courts of Appeal
(n = 45) in CSA cases involving 100 children age 7 years and under were analysed with
respect to the courts’ testimonial assessments.
Results. Testimonial assessments were more frequently referenced in acquitting
verdicts and in cases with evidence of low corroborative value. Richness in detail was the
most frequently used reliability criterion, followed by spontaneity. Most criteria were
used in favour of the children’s testimony. However, the length criterion was typically
used against the reliability of the children’s testimony.
Conclusions. Our findings confirm prosecutors’ concerns that criteria from the
Supreme Court are frequently used in evaluations of young children’s testimony. This is
troublesome, as some criteria do not correspond to current research on young children’s
witness abilities. For example, compared to testimony given by older children or adults,
testimony provided by a young child is typically not long or rich in detail. We encourage
prosecutors to extend their own knowledge on young children’s capability as witnesses
and present this to the court.
Description
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Keywords
child sexual abuse, prosecution, children's testimony
Citation
Ernberg, E., Magnusson, M., Landström, S., & Tidefors, I. (2018). Court evaluations of young children's testimony in child sexual abuse cases. Legal and Criminological Psychology.