The Impact of the Federal Children's Justice Act and the Victims of Child Abuse Act Competency To provide trustworthy evidence to courts, the legal system requires that all witnesses who testify in court must be competent.
Some States impose a specific age requirement for child witnesses.
Under Federal law and in many States, all witnesses, even young children, are presumed competent to testify. The test for competency requires that the witnesses have sufficient intelligence, understanding, and ability to observe in order to recall and communicate information, comprehend the seriousness of taking an oath, and appreciate the necessity of telling the truth. When the witness is a child, the judge or attorneys may question the child in what is known as a voir dire process. Recent research has indicated that even very young children may have the memory skills needed to testify. 82 Children as young as 3 or 4 years of age have been able to recall past experiences and articulate them.