TIME: Almanac 1993/TIME Almanac 1993.iso/time/030491/0304360.000

Text File | 1992-08-28 | 5.8 KB | 123 lines

                                                                                BEHAVIOR, Page 76

Why Children Lie in Court


New research shows how the power of suggestion can lead
youngsters to say things that send innocent adults to jail

By JEROME CRAMER/WASHINGTON


    The poignant scene is played out time and again in America's
courtrooms. A small, bewildered child sits in a witness chair,
being led by an attorney through shocking testimony. The
youngster speaks haltingly of unspeakable things done to him
or her by a stranger, a baby-sitter or even a parent. Could
such an innocent soul possibly be telling anything but the
truth?

    Most legal experts, child psychiatrists -- and juries --
have long thought that children rarely lie about sex-abuse
crimes on the witness stand. On the strength of that
assumption, many adults have been sent to jail for sexual abuse
or other charges, professing all the way that they are not
guilty. But evidence is mounting that children, particularly
those who have been extensively coached, give inaccurate
testimony far more often than previously imagined. Both research
studies and courtroom experience are causing many
psychiatrists to question their views of the reliability of
what comes from the mouths of babes.

    A stunning piece of evidence came late last year when a
California appeals court overturned the convictions of three
men and four women for molesting 10 children. The adults had
maintained their innocence but were sentenced to a combined
total of 2,619 years in prison. The case fell apart, and the
adults were freed when three of the children later recanted
their testimony and the state attorney general's office
criticized the way prosecutors had allegedly manipulated the
children's testimony.

    Recent research has shown how easy it is for youngsters to
stray unwittingly from the truth. Psychologists Karen Saywitz
of Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and Gail Goodman of the State
University of New York at Buffalo interviewed 72 girls, ages
5 and 7, about routine medical procedures they had received.
Half were given full examinations, including anal and vaginal
checks, and the rest were given just general physicals. When
the first group was asked a broad question about what had
happened, only eight mentioned the vaginal examinations, and
when the children were shown anatomically correct dolls, six
pointed to the vaginal area. But of the girls who received only
a general checkup, three claimed they had also had vaginal or
anal exams. One child even reported that "the doctor did it
with a stick."

    Child-custody disputes are often the trigger for youngsters'
unwitting lies. Suspicions can cause parents to launch what
legal scholar Douglas Besharov of Washington's American
Enterprise Institute calls "the atomic bomb of child-custody
fights, the charge of sex abuse." In these stressful
situations, children quickly discover what adults want to hear
and can offer lies or distortions in order to please an anxious
parent or social worker. A study conducted by the American
Academy of Child Psychiatry found that in custody disputes
involving charges of sex abuse, as many as 36% of the
allegations were later proved to be untrue.

    Research by psychologist Alison Clarke-Stewart of the
University of California at Irvine illustrates how easily
adults can sway children's perceptions. In that study 75 five-
and six-year-old children were asked to watch a man clean up
a room. During that time, he picked up and cleaned a doll.
Later an interviewer told the children she thought the man had
been playing with the doll. When first questioned, 25% of the
kids said the man had played with the doll, and the rest said
he had cleaned it. The interviewer then told the children she
was certain that the man had been playing with, not cleaning,
the doll. In the end, all but two children accepted the
interviewer's story as the truth.

    Misleading questions by adults can cause children not just
to lie but also to believe their falsehoods. Besharov cites the
case of a three-year-old who told a social worker a story about
a piece of candy being dropped into her underpants. After
interviews by various child-protection workers, the story
evolved into a tale that a candle had been inserted into the
child's vagina. It took months of further interviews to
discover that the original story had been correct.

    The current methods for obtaining evidence in sex-abuse
cases -- direct questioning and the use of dolls with sex
organs -- are under fire. "Kids can be fed ideas they quickly
come to believe are true, and these dolls are highly
suggestive," says Lenore Terr, a professor of psychology at the
University of California at San Francisco. For example, some
of the dolls lack hands and have only painted eyes, yet they
have highly explicit genital areas. Terr stresses that normally
inquisitive children who play with these dolls can mistakenly
be suspected of having been abused.

    The controversy is sure to escalate this spring, when the
American Psychological Association publishes a book called The
Suggestibility of Children's Recollections, in which several
experts question the truthfulness of kids' testimony. The
A.P.A. will not allow outsiders an advance look, but a
psychologist involved in the project says the book shows that
"there are definite limits to our knowledge about whether
children are telling the truth."

    What these researchers and others are finding is that truth
for a child can be blurred, especially in periods of stress,
such as during a trial. To protect children from sex crimes --
and adults from unfounded accusations -- child-welfare workers
and prosecutors will have to take special care when searching
for the truth.