PSYC 376 Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Child Sexual Abuse, American Jurisprudence, Adverse Inference
19 Apr 2017
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Unit 1: history of children and the law. Describe the first recorded case in american jurisprudence involving children as witnesses and discuss its implications. The salem witch trials (1) were the first recorded case in american jurisprudence of children as witnesses. During the final decade of the 1600s, 19 defendants in salem massachusetts were convicted of being witches and put to death. A dozen others admitted their participation in witchcraft and begged for mercy. (1 pt for description of the case). Van tongeren (arvey and dauns (cid:523)(cid:884)(cid:882)(cid:882)(cid:883)(cid:524) stated that (cid:498)[b]efore (cid:883)(cid:891)(cid:890)(cid:884), sexual offences involving children were virtually impossible to prosecute to conviction(cid:499) p (cid:883)(cid:886)(cid:890)(cid:524). Describe the three primary obstacles to successful prosecution of cases involving sexual offences against children. Attitudinal barrier (1): a pervasive belief that the evidence of children is inherently unreliable, particularly in allegations of sexual assault. (1)
