Source: http://www.childrenslegalrightsjournal.com/childrenslegalrightsjournal/volume_35_issue_3?pg=14
Timestamp: 2019-04-24 15:57:24+00:00

Document:
There is not one single way to educate a child. Prosecutors must remember that every child is unique in his or her needs and personality. Taking time to prepare children for trial will help reduce their anxiety and stress, which is essential for victims to testify most accurately and articulately.103 Prosecutors must be attuned to the needs of their witnesses, and this cannot happen if the child does not trust the prosecutor.
Once a witness enters the courtroom, the formalities for the judicial system take over.
witness stand and the exit. When the child witness testifies, all eyes are fixed on the child.
Objections and asking for breaks are two common ways attorneys can bring reprieve to their witnesses. Forcing traumatized children to testify can be damaging to the children and against their best interests.104 Prosecutors should act in ways that reduce re-traumatization or traumatization in their child witnesses. While completely eliminating traumatic reactions is unrealistic, there are several options prosecutors should consider to reduce the negative effects of trial. Prosecutors can utilize support persons, support objects, and support dogs to provide direct support. Prosecutors can also use expert testimony to help explain a victim’s behavioral reactions to trauma.
100 Cowan, supra note 78, at 7.
103 Cunningham & Stevens, supra note 52, at 13.
105 42 U.S.C. § 5106c (2012).
106 See ARK. CODE ANN. § 16-43-1001(a)(1) (West 2015) (permitting testimony of a child by closed-circuit television); see COLO. REV. STAT. ANN. § 16-10-402(1)(a) (West 2015) (permitting the use of closed-circuit television for a child witness); see IOWA CODE ANN. § 915.38(1)(a), (b) (West 2015) (allowing child testimony to be taken in a room other than the courtroom and be televised by closed-circuit equipment for viewing in the courtroom); see MISS. CODE ANN. § 13-1-407(1) (West 2015) (permitting a trial court to order the videotaping of a child’s testimony in some circumstances).
107 Bradley D. McAuliff et al., Supporting Children in U.S. Legal Proceedings: Descriptive and Attitudinal Data from a National Survey of Victim/Witness Assistants, 19 PSYCHOL. PUB. POL’Y & L. 98, 99 (2013) (citing 18 U.S.C. § 3509 (2012)).
108 See NAT’LCTR. FORPROSECUTION OFCHILDABUSE, NAT’LDISTRICTATTORNEYSASS’N, NDAAPRESENCE OFSUPPORT PERSONS FOR CHILD WITNESSES COMPILATION (2010), available at http://www.ndaa.org/pdf/Presence%20of%20Support%20Persons%20for%20Child%20Witnesses%202010.pdf.

References: § 5106
 § 16
 § 16
 § 915
 § 13
 § 3509