Jeopardy in the Courtroom

Book excerpt: Using case studies ranging from the Salem Witch Hunt to the Little Rascals Day Care case to illustrate their argument, "Jeopardy in the Courtroom" draws from the vast corpus of scientific research to clarify what is most relevant for evaluating and understanding children's statements made in the legal arena. Bringing good sense to a topic that is as timely as it is controversial, Ceci and Bruck provide prevalence and incidence statistics on child abuse, provide theoretical overviews of memory and suggestibility, trace the history of research on suggestibility from the turn of the century to the present, explore the dynamics of structured and therapeutic interviews with children, examine the topic of recovery of repressed memories of early childhood abuse, evaluate the research regarding age differences in the reliability of children's reports, and propose general guidelines for interviewing children in a sensitive and professional manner. /// Written in lively, accessible language by acknowledged experts in the field, this book will be an invaluable guide for expert witnesses and all those who work with child witnesses, including therapists, social workers, law enforcement personnel, and lawyers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2004 APA, all rights reserved).