CHILDREN AND THE COURTS IN CANADA

Significant legislation was passed by the Canadian government in 1988 and 1993 to improve the handling of cases involving child victims of s exual abuse. These changes were expected to bring about more successfu l prosecutions, better protection for children, and less traumatic cou rt experiences. Despite the improvements, the potential for secondary victimization of child victims in court increased. The need to properl y prepare children to give evidence was highlighted. In response, the Canadian government funded two pilot projects on court preparation for child witnesses. This article describes one of these, the Child Witne ss Project at the London Family Court Clinic, which was the first cour t preparation program to formally evaluate the benefits of offering in dividual sessions of stress reduction and education to child witnesses as part of a court preparation protocol. The authors also offer recom mendations for further reforms in the area of child sexual abuse prose cution.