Child Abuse & Child Witness Testimony

Question 1

What article was a major factor in all 50 states mandating child abuse reporting in 1966, followed by the passage of the 1974 Child Abuse Treatment and Prevention Act?

Answer 1

Henry Kemp’s “The Battered Child Syndrome” in 1962

Question 2

What is the most commonly referred form of child abuse?

Answer 2

Neglect

Question 3

Most common type of child abuse injury

Answer 3

Skin injury

Question 4

Most common cause of death from child abuse

Answer 4

Neurologic injury

Question 5

Level of suspicion required for reporting of child abuse

Answer 5

Reason to believe (and it must be a good faith effort)

Question 6

Landeros v Flood holding

Answer 6

Doctors are expected to report child abuse

Question 7

Deshaney v Winnebago County DSS

Answer 7

There is no duty for social services to protect a child unless the child is placed in social services custody

Question 8

Standard of proof for terminating parental rights

Answer 8

Clear and convincing evidence (from Santoski v Kramer)

Question 9

Santoski v Kramer holding

Answer 9

The standard of proof for terminating parental rights is Clear and Convincing evidence

Question 10

3 components of memory

Answer 10

Encoding, storage, retrieval

Question 11

Which component of memory is most affected by bad interviewing techniques

Answer 11

Retrieval

Question 12

Most common recall error a preschooler might make?

Answer 12

Error of omission

Question 13

Types of recall errors

Answer 13

Errors of omission (leaving things out) & errors if commission (adding false details)

Question 14

McMartin techniques

Answer 14

Suggestive leading, asked and answered, inviting speculation, “other people”, positive & negative consequences

Question 15

Manny Morales study of susceptibility results

Answer 15

66 kids in daycare, Manny comes in with silly hat, reads a book, puts a sticker on hand, gives cupcake. Bad techniques lead to false reports within a matter of minutes. Social reinforcement is more powerful than suggestive questioning, and the combo is even more powerful. Once you get a kid into a yes paradigm, they’re more likely to say yes to subsequent questions.

Question 16

Which Amendment includes the Right to Confrontation?

Answer 16

6th

Question 17

Do you have the 6th Amendment right to confront an accuser who is a child?

Answer 17

If there is a showing that coming to court would cause undue distress to the child, other mechanisms for their testimony can be explored

Question 18

children’s competency to testify

Answer 18

Under English Common Law, children <7yo were not allowed to testify.
Rule 601 of the FRE abolished the special requirement that children be shown to be competent to testify. Provides that “every person is competent to be a witness except as otherwise provided in these rules…”
1. Sufficient intelligence, understanding, and ability to observe, recall, and communicate events.
2. An ability to comprehend the seriousness of an oath.
3. Appreciation of the necessity to tell the truth.

Question 19

People v Stritzinger

Answer 19

California Supreme Court, 1983
Defendant’s 6A rights were violated by allowing the AV not to testify based solely on mom’s testimony re: the effect of her dtr’s mental state, so the AV’s preliminary hearing testimony was erroneously admitted.
The therapist was under no statutory obligation to report info learned from Mr. Stritzinger after she had already reported the alleged abuse.
Facts: Mr. Stritzinger sexually abused his 13yo stepdaughter, she went to counseling and told her therapist, who immediately reported it. The therapist then learned add’l info from Stritzinger himself, which a sheriff told her was no longer privileged so she revealed.

Question 20

Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980 (AACWA)

Answer 20

Goal: to decrease the # of children in foster care.
Required states to make “reasonable efforts” to reunite children w/their biological families.

Question 21

Adoption and Safe Families Act

Answer 21

passed in 1997 to address problems with the AACWA.
Delineates factors for terminating parental rights when reasonable efforts by the State have failed to ameliorate the conditions and/or parental behaviors that led to State interventions.

Question 22

Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act

Answer 22

created the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect