Question

if there is little to now forensic evidence and little to no other evidence supporting the children's claims, do you feel a child’s statement about a sexual assault should be enough evidence to convict? Should we continue to pass and promote child hearsay statutes? What are the concerns, if any, of using these statutes and the child’s statements in a court of law? Are there better ways you can think of to validate real accusations while making sure innocent people are not sent to prison, labeled child sex offenders, and put on the sex offender registry for life?

Answer 1

If there are little or no forensic evidence and little to no other evidence supporting the children's claims in sexual assault cases, a child’s statement alone shall not be enough evidence to convict because it is observed in many cases that children are having difficulties in disclosing the abuse or assault for various reasons like both initially or later in a forensic interview. The perpetrator is often a member of the child's immediate family or is otherwise close to the child, which can delay disclosure or prevent the child entirely from disclosing the abuse, often because the child fears that disclosure might break up the family. Moreover children who testify in these cases experience great emotional distress and trauma.

In my opinion we should continue with the promotion of child hearsay statute