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dc.contributor.authorWestera, Nina J
dc.contributor.authorPowell, Martine B
dc.contributor.authorZajac, Rachel
dc.contributor.authorGoodman-Delahunty, Jane
dc.date.accessioned2019-09-17T00:33:45Z
dc.date.available2019-09-17T00:33:45Z
dc.date.issued2019
dc.identifier.issn2202-5677
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10072/387378
dc.description.abstractIn the prosecution of child sexual offences, complainants’ accounts are the most important and sometimes the sole evidence. Police organisations around the world have taken steps to ensure that they interview children using evidence-based interview protocols, yet far less attention has been paid to the way children are interviewed in the courtroom. Here, we provide a snapshot of Australian criminal justice professionals’ views on the questions posed to child witnesses in court, and on the willingness of judges to intervene when questions are inappropriate. We interviewed judges, prosecutors, defence counsel, and witness assistance officers (N = 43) from four Australian jurisdictions. Participants generally agreed that questioning of child complainants—especially during cross-examination—remained problematic, and that judges did not consistently disallow inappropriate questions. Overall, these professionals did not perceive these problems to stem from a lack of rules and guidelines, but rather from problems implementing them. We consider potential ways forward.
dc.description.peerreviewedYes
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisherCharles Sturt University
dc.relation.ispartofpagefrom20
dc.relation.ispartofpageto41
dc.relation.ispartofissue1
dc.relation.ispartofjournalSalus Journal
dc.relation.ispartofvolume7
dc.subject.fieldofresearchCriminology
dc.subject.fieldofresearchCourts and sentencing
dc.subject.fieldofresearchOther human society
dc.subject.fieldofresearchForensic psychology
dc.subject.fieldofresearchApplied and developmental psychology
dc.subject.fieldofresearchcode4402
dc.subject.fieldofresearchcode440203
dc.subject.fieldofresearchcode4499
dc.subject.fieldofresearchcode520103
dc.subject.fieldofresearchcode5201
dc.subject.keywordsSocial Sciences
dc.subject.keywordsCriminology & Penology
dc.subject.keywordsCourtroom questioning
dc.subject.keywordsCross-examination
dc.subject.keywordsChild sexual abuse
dc.titleCourtroom Questioning of Child Sexual Abuse Complainants: Views of Australian Criminal Justice Professionals
dc.typeJournal article
dc.type.descriptionC1 - Articles
dcterms.bibliographicCitationWestera, NJ; Powell, MB; Zajac, R; Goodman-Delahunty, J, Courtroom Questioning of Child Sexual Abuse Complainants: Views of Australian Criminal Justice Professionals, Salus Journal, 2019, 7 (1), pp. 20-41
dcterms.licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/
dc.date.updated2019-09-17T00:29:57Z
dc.description.versionVersion of Record (VoR)
gro.rights.copyright© The Author(s) 2019. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-ND 3.0) License, which permits unrestricted distribution and reproduction in any medium, providing that the work is properly cited. You may not alter, transform, or build upon this work.
gro.hasfulltextFull Text
gro.griffith.authorPowell, Martine B.


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