CHILDRENS TESTIMONY - RESEARCH FINDINGS AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS

Traditionally the British legal system has taken a sceptical attitude toward the testimony of children, reflected in the competency requirem ent, the corroboration rule and the judicial caution. However, recent psychological research has suggested that children, properly interview ed, can provide invaluable testimony in securing convictions in cases of sexual or physical abuse. Research suggests that children's spontan eous accounts of events are generally accurate, and that suggestibilit y can be greatly reduced by appropriate questioning techniques. Partly as a result of such research, the legal hurdles surrounding children' s evidence have been dismantled and procedural innovations, such as th e use of the Videolink and videotaped interviews introduced. Empirical research demonstrates the success of the Videolink and a similar eval uation is planned for videotaped interviews. The latter has highlighte d the need for a new research agenda which would include the impact of biased or repeated questioning, and requests to children from abusers to lie or keep secrets.