Interviewing children in assault investigations is tough, sensitive task
"Dealing with children is an entirely different thing," said Nancy Hagan, Alliance executive director. "You have to get at the truth differently."Forensic interviewing became a must after high-profile cases in the 1980s in which molestation suspects were set free because children's testimony was deemed unreliable.
Most infamous was the McMartin Daycare case in Los Angeles, where critics said overzealous prosecutors and poorly trained social workers led children, possibly inadvertently, into saying that they were abused. More than a dozen guilty verdicts in similar cases have been overturned, according to news reports.
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