STRETCHING THE BLANKET - LEGAL REFORMS AFFECTING CHILD WITNESSES

The author presents an overview of the changes in the rules of evidenc e that now govern criminal prosecutions of child sexual abuse and civi l proceedings. The United Slates Supreme Court has issued six decision s that profoundly affect the receipt of children's testimony and exper t testimony assaying the reliability of children's reported experience s. These cases as well as the Michaels prosecution in New Jersey have been catalysts for reform, exposing the pretrial investigative process es as the critical determinant of the reliability of trial evidence fr om children. She concludes that the next frontier is the application o f social science research to the shaping of legislative standards and administrative guidelines aimed at minimizing the contamination of chi ldren's testimony during the pretrial staging of litigation.