January 1, 2008

Traumatic Testimony: Easing Stress on Testifying Children While Protecting the Confrontation Rights of the Accused

This paper by Claire Tluczek describes the unique difficulties of bringing child sexual abuse cases to trial. It focuses on the current constitutionally permissible steps the courts may take to protect child witnesses in such cases, and discusses balancing the potential infringement of the defendant's constitutional rights with the compelling interest of protecting child victims from further abuse. It reviews how the Supreme Court balances the different interests, the pros and cons of closed circuit television (CCTV) testimony, and the impact of the Maryland v. Craig decision on federal and Michigan law. Alternative solutions for protecting child witnesses are then proposed and include allowing all children to testify via closed-circuit television or allowing a support person to accompany the child while testifying.