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Abstract: Traditionally, the British legal system has exhibited great caution in its treatment of children's testimony and this has been reflected in the laws of evidence as they have applied to juveniles. Recent research by psychologists has challenged the view that children are necessarily incompetent witnesses and contributed to the changes in the law embodied in the 1988 and 1990 Criminal Justice Acts. The 1988 Act set up a system of live video links designed to reduce the trauma of testifying for children. The impact of those changes has been the subject of both experimental and observational research by the author, the latter commissioned by the Home Office. The Pigot Report proposed a series of additional reforms including the admission of videotaped evidence and some of these recommendations were incorporated into the 1990 Act. It is argued that the cumulative impact of these changes could assist greatly the gathering of evidence from children and its presentation in courts of law.

Abstract: In England and Wales, criminal convictions continue to be secured on the basis of identification evidence alone. The Devlin Report (1976) concluded that the process of identification was inherently fallible and recommended that such prosecutions should cease save in exceptional circumstances. Devlin also called for more psychological research on the identification process. Examples of such research are reviewed, together with cases of actual or alleged mistaken identification which exemplify the principles uncovered by this work. It is concluded that until Devlin's central recommendation is carried into law, miscarriages of justice based on mistaken identity are likely to continue to bedevil the English legal system.

Intro -- Preface -- Introduction -- Contributors -- Part I: Eyewitness Testimony -- The Perceived Credibility of Rape Victims During a Police Interview: An Experiment among Victim Assistance Workers -- The Perceived Truthfulness of Children's and Adults' Testimony: The Oath versus the Competency Test -- The Relation between Consistency and Accuracy of Eyewitness Testimony -- The "Authenticity Error" in Real Lineup Procedures. Effects of Suspect-Status and Corresponding Psychological Dissimilarities between Target Person and Distractors: An Experimental Study -- Misinformation Methodologies: Explaining the Effects of Errant Information -- Previous Knowledge and Delay in the Recall of Filmed Events -- Effects of Preparation on Internal and External Memories -- Experimentally Induced Person Mix-ups Through Media Exposure and Ways to Avoid Them -- Detecting Fact from Fallacy in Child and Adult Witness Accounts -- Is There Truth in the Eye of the Beholder? Causal Illusions in Children and Adults -- Part II: Interviewing -- From Denial to Admission in Police Questioning of Suspects -- Good Practice for Video Recorded Interviews with Child Witnesses for Use in Criminal Proceedings -- Information Enhancement and Credibility Assessment of Child Statements: The Impact of the Cognitive Interview Technique on Criteria-Based Content Analysis -- Enhancing Children's Eyewitness Testimony with the Cognitive Interview -- An Empirical Test of the Mnemonic Components of the Cognitive Interview -- The Cognitive Interview - Does it Work? -- Part III: Children in the Legal System -- The Development of Children's Understanding of Legal Principles -- Psychological Evaluation of Changes in Testimony Given by Sexually Abused Juveniles -- Expert Evidence in Child Sexual Abuse Criminal Cases in Canada and the United States.

Underpinnings. Developmental underpinnings of children's testimony / Karen J. Saywitz -- Cognitive underpinnings of children's testimony / Lynne Baker-Ward & Peter A. Ornstein -- Child protection concerns when questioning children / Marcus Page & Gretchen Precey -- Memory and interviewing. The development of autobiographical memory / Robyn Fivush -- Children's memories for repeated events / Martine Powell & Don Thomson -- Children's source monitoring / D. Stephen Lindsay -- The construction of false events in memory / Kathy Pezdek & Tiffany Hinz -- Children's suggestibility research: implications for the courtroom and the forensic interview / Stephen J. Ceci [and others] -- The effects of forensic interview practices on the quality of information provided by alleged victims of child abuse / Michael E. Lamb [and others] -- How and why do children respond to nonsensical questions? / Amanda Waterman, Mark Blades & Christopher Spencer -- Enhancing children's accounts: how useful are non-verbal techniques? / Margaret-Ellen Pipe, Karen Salmon & Gina K. Priestley -- Deception in children: a literature review and implications for children's testimony / Aldert Vrij -- Court issues. Innovative procedures for child witnesses / Judy Cashmore -- New measures and new challenges: children's experiences of the court process / Amanda Wade -- A German perspective on children's testimony / Günter Köhnken -- Child witnesses and the oath / Thomas D. Lyon -- Child witnesses' experiences post-court: effects of legal involvement / Robin S. Edelstein [and others] -- Persuading and controlling: the theory of cross-examination in relation to children / Emily Henderson -- What do judges know about young witnesses? / Joyce Plotnikoff & Richard Woolfson -- Young witnesses: still no justice / Barbara Esam -- Alternative perspectives on children's testimony. Methodological issues in the study of children's testimony / Brian R. Clifford -- A sociological approach to child witness research / Corinne Wattam -- Remembering the point: a feminist perspective on children's evidence / Liz Kelly.

Abstract: Recent research on past‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has highlighted the adverse consequences of trauma, not just for victims, but also for those who interact with them: vicarious traumatisation. British citizens are required to sit on juries, where they may be exposed to gruesome exhibits and harrowing testimony: can such experiences also lead to vicarious traumatisation? Previous studies have demonstrated that some jurors do suffer both short‐ and longer‐term trauma from jury service, both from hearing evidence and deliberation in the jury room. A first exploratory survey of British jurors confirms that a minority of jurors are so affected. The article calls for modifications to the current arbitrary allocation of jurors and for greater provision of information and guidance to minimise the negative consequences of an essential civic duty.

This article presents results from the first survey of stalking victims to be conducted in the United Kingdom. In‐depth questionnaire data are drawn on to investigate the course and nature of prolonged stalking in 95 self‐defined victims. Findings indicate a pattern of repeated intrusions, a high violence risk for both victims and their loved ones, a dearth of sources of support, and varied police response. Stalkers had higher socio‐economic status than most other criminals, were ex‐partners of the victim in under half of cases, and did not necessarily operate alone.

SUMMARY.This paper summarises recent attempts to safeguard children's welfare in the courtroom. Drawing on international research and practice developments, the paper compares programmes that prepare children for their role as witnesses with reforms designed toprotectchildren once they testify. Benefits and disadvantages associated with both approaches are highlighted, and the paper concludes that all professionals have a responsibility to promote children's welfare in the courtroom.

Abstract: Recent years have seen a growth in interest and concern for the child witness. The law has long acknowledged the special status of children's testimony and has implicitly assumed it to be less reliable than that of adults. However, recent psychological research casts doubt on the view that children are uniformly less accurate or competent than their adult peers in eyewitness tasks. Nor is there any clear experimental evidence that the memory of young people is necessarily more suggestible or malleable than that of adults. Given stimulus support, appropriate circumstances and sympathetic questioning, children may be able to provide valuable and reliable evidence in courts of law. However, if such testimony is to become commonplace, efforts must be made to adjust traditional courtroom procedure to the special needs of the child.

Children's Testimony offers a comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of issues relating to children's evidence. Starting with psychological underpinnings and child protection considerations, the reader is taken through a clearly structured and timely collection of chapters from internationally renowned contributors.Pointers for practitioners are clearly highlighted throughout and a unique, jargon-free glossary of psychological terms encountered in child witness research is included making this a highly practical text.* An accessible review of existing knowledge and preview of new and recent d