Grounded in the latest clinical and developmental knowledge, this book brings together leading authorities to examine the critical issues that arise when children and adolescents become involved in the justice system. Chapters explore young people’s capacities, competencies, and special vulnerabilities as victims, witnesses, and defendants. Key topics include the reliability of children’s abuse disclosures, eyewitness testimony, interviews, and confessions; the evolving role of the expert witness; the psychological impact of trauma and of legal involvement; factors that shape jurors’ perceptions of children; and what works in rehabilitating juvenile offenders. Policies and practices that are not supported by science are identified, and approaches to improving them are discussed.

This volume presents a collection of chapters by top researchers reporting the new child witness research being conducted today. In these chapters, the authors confront the major societal issues and questions that arise when children must give testimony: Do children have the cognitive capacity to recall accurately and report past events? How can knowledge of children's memory be applied to understanding children's testimony in forensic situations? Do socio-emotional or motivational factors influence the accuracy of children's reports? Are children likely to conceal or fabricate information about past events? Are there special interview techniques that might enhance the likelihood of obtaining accurate information from child witnesses? Can jurors accurately evaluate the testimony of child witnesses? Are jurors biased in ways that might preclude the fair adjudication of trials involving child witnesses? What is the emotional impact on child witnesses of involvement in legal proceedings? This book will be an invaluable reference to anyone concerned with children's testimony legal, mental health, social service, and medical professionals, students of psychology, social policy, or law, as well as practitioners and researchers.

This book is a practical and thoughtful guide for the forensic interview of children, presenting a synthesis of the empirical and theoretical knowledge necessary to understand the account of child victims of abuse or witnesses of crime. It is a complex task to interview children who are suspected of being abused in order to gather their stories, requiring the mastery of many skills and knowledge. This book is a practical one in that constant links are made between the results of the research and their relevance for the interventions made when interviewing child victims of abuse or witnesses of crime and in understanding their accounts. This book also presents in a detailed and concrete way the revised version of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD-R) Protocol, a forensic structured interview guide empirically supported by numerous studies carried out in different countries. The step-by-step explanations are illustrated with a verbatim interview with a child, as well as other tools to help the interviewer to prepare and handle an efficient and supportive interview. Conducting Interviews with Child Victims of Abuse and Witnesses of Crime is essential reading for stakeholders in the justice, social and health systems as well as anyone likely to receive allegations from children such as educators or daycare staff. Although the NICHD-R Protocol is intended for forensic interviewers, the science behind its development and application is relevant to all professionals working with children.

Investigation of child abuse is often hampered by doubts about the reliability of children as only sources of information. Over the last decade, consensus has been reached about children's limitations and competencies. New for the Wiley Series in the Psychology of Crime, Policing and Law, Tell Me What Happened summarizes key research on children's memory, communicative skills and social tendencies, describes how it can be incorporated into a specific structured interview technique and reviews evidence involving more than 40,000 alleged victims.

Psychological research can provide constructive explanations of key problems in the criminal justice system--and can help generate solutions. This state-of-the-art text dissects the psychological processes associated with fundamental legal questions: Is a suspect lying? Will an incarcerated individual be dangerous in the future? Is an eyewitness accurate? How can false memories be implanted? How do juries, experts, forensic examiners, and judges make decisions, and how can racial and other forms of bias be minimized? Chapters offer up-to-date reviews of relevant theory, experimental methods, and empirical findings. Specific recommendations are made for improving the quality of evidence and preserving the integrity of investigative and legal proceedings.

This publication sets out practical guidance on the use of fifteen indicators of core importance to juvenile justice, developed by UNICEF and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime in consultation with non-governmental organisations and individual experts. The indicators have been refined through field-testing in a number of countries and are endorsed by the Interagency Juvenile Justice Panel. The indicators fall into two categorie of quantitative and policy matters, with five core indicators relating to: the number of children in detention; the number of children in pre-sentence detention; the percentage of children sentenced to a custodial sentence; the percentage of children diverted or sentenced who enter a pre-sentence diversion scheme; and the existence of a specialised juvenile justice system.

Presents the findings of a project that was designed to assess current practices used in the handling of criminal court cases involving children as victims/witnesses. The project utilized case file reviews and interviews of participants in recently adjudicated cases to describe current approaches to children in the criminal justice system. The 3 states are: Alabama, Florida and South Carolina. Extensive bibliography. Tables.