Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

One can discern two parallel trends in the law and the psychology of child witnesses. In the law, appellate courts are beginning to stem the once powerful movement to increase the acceptance of children’s testimony and the admissibility of children’s out-of-court statements. In psychology, experimental psychologists are amassing evidence of the potential unreliability of children’s memory reports. The trends intersect when courts assess the reliability of children’s statements in order to evaluate the competency of child witnesses, to decide whether to admit expert testimony about the suggestibility of children, and to decide whether to admit children’s hearsay.