NCJ Number
204940
Journal
Child Abuse Review Volume: 13 Issue: 1 Dated: January-February 2004 Pages: 42-50
Date Published
January 2004
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This article describes the development of assessment tool to determine whether a child witness has an understanding of the difference between truth and lies.
Abstract
Coinciding with the increase in child sexual abuse, is the increase in child witnesses testifying for the court. The credibility and competency of child witnesses comes under scrutiny in the decision of whether to admit a child’s testimony into evidence. The competency of a child witness is generally established by proving the child knows the difference between truth and lies and understands the importance of telling the truth. The task of assessing competency, especially in very young children, is a difficult one even for trained professionals. The authors underscore the importance of using an assessment tool that is developmentally appropriate. Thus, an assessment tool, known as the Truth and Lie Story, was developed by the authors and has been subsequently incorporated into the Achieving Best Evidence as a best practice. Police officers from the Northumbria Police Force recruited the assistance of two clinical psychologists and an education psychologist in developing a method to assess a child’s understanding of truth versus lies. A story and question format was chosen because even small children can relate to a story. The pilot study, involving 100 randomly selected children ages 3 through 10 years, highlighted problem areas with the story and with the questions. Four main revisions followed; the revised version contains one story and three questions that establish competency. The authors recommend the Truth and Lie Story for use with children as young as 3 years. A separate Truth and Lie Story was developed for use with adolescents. Appendices present the original and the revised versions of the Truth and Lie Story, as well as the adolescent version. Appendix, references