Children in Court

Abstract

We focus on children's experiences in court and children's ability to meet the expectations that the adversarial legal system places on witnesses. We first discuss many of the expectations placed on child witnesses when they testify in the adversarial system. In doing so, we review research relevant to children's abilities to meet these expectations. We address children's knowledge of the court, children's understanding of legal terminology, competence examinations, children's abilities to provide eyewitness evidence during direct-examination and cross-examination, and children's ability to cope emotionally. The research derives primarily from studies conducted in reference to criminal courts in the United States and England, and focuses heavily on issues that arise in prosecutions of child sexual abuse. We also review what is known about the emotional effects on children of participating in legal proceedings. We then contrast the expectations placed on children in the adversarial legal system with the expectations placed on children in variants of the inquisitorial legal system. We end with the suggestion that the advantages of both legal traditions should be integrated so as to optimize the efficacy of the fact-finding process and ensure the least emotional burden on the child. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)