Twenty years ago the issue of child sexual abuse was seldom
discussed in the United States. Now reports of such abuses have
become commonplace, and the arrests and trials of alleged abusers
have become a staple of the evening television news reports. This
recent onslaught of disclosures about children who report being
sexually abused creates a dilemma for us all, but especially for
social scientists and legal or service-delivery professionals who
must make policy-oriented decisions concerning abused children. On
the one hand we want to trust children; on the other, we must honor
the rights of those accused of crimes. Furthermore, in our effort
to protect children from subsequent abuse, we increasingly request
that they testify in court about their traumatic experiences. What
rights, if any, do children have to special treatment? Are they
competent to testify? How will reliving their horrible experience
in court affect their emotional well-being? And, how does the court
balance the child's needs with the right of the defendant to a fair
trial? In The Child Witness Perry and Wrightsman provide an
integrated, up-to-date review of social science research,
legislation, and recent court decisions that relate to children as
witnesses in court. Four central issues are addressed: children's
competence as witnesses, their credibility, the rights of children,
and the rights of the accused. Recent research on issues of
comprehension, memory, and the communication skills of children are
evaluated as well as how different audiences--attorneys, judges,
and jurors--perceive a child's credibility. Replete with details
from actual cases, The Child Witness provides policy
recommendations and guidelines for judges, attorneys, and
service-delivery professionals who work with children that are
asked to testify in court. "The Child Witness is well organized and
informative. Readers who seek basic skills in interviewing children
will find that this book provides a window for understanding the
challenge of gathering information from child witnesses. . . . The
Child Witness merits reading by every professional social worker,
attorney, minister, counselor, teacher, or psychologist whose young
client is about to give testimony." --Families in Society: The
Journal of Contemporary Human Services "This sobering glimpse of
the costs and benefits of investigative interviewing sets the tone
for a highly readable survey of psychology, law, and the child
witness. . . . In addition to reviewing the law and psychology of
child witnesses, Perry and Wrightsman also provide some useful
pointers on how to interview children. . . . The Child Witness can
be read with profit by all participants in the child sex abuse
debate." --Child Abuse Review "The Child Witness effectively uses
boxed highlights and summaries to present illustrative legal cases,
definitions, and resource material. Instructors will find useful
and exceptionally detailed outlines of the contents of each
chapter. Finally, the coherance afforded by having only two authors
enables The Child Witness to adhere closely to its stated
organizational goals of explicating four key issues: child witness'
competency, child witness' credibility, children's legal rights and
the rights of adult defendants in cases involving child witnesses."
-- Candida Peterson, The Australian
General
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