Thursday, January 22, 2009

Crossing Child Victims in Sex Cases

For those dual-discipline science/lawyer geeks, Mark Bennett of Defending People has a really interesting post discussing an article on how to question a child victim in sex cases.

For those of you who don't like reading studies and statistics I'll summarize...

...The only factor between the Prosecution questioning the child victim and the defense is the complexity of the Defense Attorney's cross. In short, if te child answers "I don't know" or "No" and expanding, it works against the defense. To keep your case on an even playing field, ask the child simple questions that elicit a "yes" response, without elaboration.

Easier said than done, I know... but something to keep in mind.

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