7. Expert Testimony On The Suggestibility Of Children: Does It Fit?, Thomas D. Lyon
Oct 2002
7. Expert Testimony On The Suggestibility Of Children: Does It Fit?, Thomas D. Lyon
Thomas D. Lyon
State v. Sloan (1995 [Mo. Ct. App.]) was a criminal case of child sexual abuse. AD., the 6-year-old alleged victim, was dropped off on Friday by her mother at her grandmother's house, where the child's aunt Evelyn and the defendant also resided. Two days later, on Sunday, the child's aunt Anita phoned the child's mother and told her that something was wrong. AD. then told her mother that the defendant had sexually assaulted her the day before. The mother called the child abuse hot line. On Thursday, 5 days after the alleged abuse, a social worker and a police detective …
6. Child Witnesses And The Oath., Thomas D. Lyon
Aug 2002
6. Child Witnesses And The Oath., Thomas D. Lyon
Thomas D. Lyon
Despite the liberalization of competency requirements for child witnesses in many countries (Spencer & Flin, 1993; Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act, 1999, s. 53 [Engl.]), a substantial number of courts in the United States and other countries require that every witness take the oath or make some sort of affirmation that s/he will tell the truth (Federal Rules of Evidence 602,2001;Shrimpton, Oates, & Hayes, 1996).In order to guarantee that an oath or affirmation is understood by child witnesses, courts routinely inquire into children's understanding of the difference between the truth and lies and their obligation to tell the truth …
5. Scientific Support For Expert Testimony On Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation., Thomas D. Lyon
May 2002
5. Scientific Support For Expert Testimony On Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation., Thomas D. Lyon
Thomas D. Lyon
Roland Summit's article on child sexual abuse accommodation (CSAA)(Summit, 1983) describes sexually abused children's secrecy, helplessness, entrapment, delayed disclosure, and retraction. The paper is both admired and maligned. On the one hand, it has been hailed as one of the most influential papers ever written on child abuse (Oates & Donnelly, 1997). On the other hand, testimony on accommodation is often dismissed as dangerous pseudoscience" by both commentators and the courts (Summit, 1992).
4. Interviewing Children In And Out Of Court: Current Research And Practice Implications., Karen J. Saywitz, Gail S. Goodman, Thomas D. Lyon
Jan 2002
4. Interviewing Children In And Out Of Court: Current Research And Practice Implications., Karen J. Saywitz, Gail S. Goodman, Thomas D. Lyon
Thomas D. Lyon
What do we know about children's abilities to provide eyewitness testimony? Until recently, scientific data wee surprisingly sparse. However, beginning in the mid-1980s, the study of child victims/witnesses grew at an astounding rate; now it is a worldwide endeavor. When Melton (1981) published one of the first modern reviews of psychological research on children's testimony, only one contemporary empirical study directly dressing children's eyewitness memory was cited. Today, entire books and journal issues are devoted to research on this topic (e.g., Ceci & Bruck, 1995; Dent & Flin, 1992; Goodman, 1984; Goodman & Bottoms, 1993; Perry & Wrightsman, 1991; Poole …
3. Coming To Grips With Children’S Suggestibility., Karen J. Saywitz, Thomas D. Lyon
Dec 2001
3. Coming To Grips With Children’S Suggestibility., Karen J. Saywitz, Thomas D. Lyon
Thomas D. Lyon
When children are asked to describe what they have seen, heard, or experienced,they bring their limitations along with their capabilities to the task. Adults who rely on children's answers must come to grips with theimperfections and inadequacies, as well as the merits and utility, of children'sreports. Some research findings appear to condemn children's re...ports, others champion their competencies. One way to understand thisinconsistency is to align the studies along a continuum.
