PROTECTING CHILD WITNESSES: NEW DEVELOPMENTS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR SOCIAL WORKERS

Protecting child witnesses in sexual abuse cases.

New developments in understanding cardiovascular disease and the implications for social work.

Cardiovascular disease is now viewed as an inflammatory disease. An index of chronic inflammation (viz., C-Reactive Protein) is as good a predictor of heart attacks as are fats in blood. The data suggest that stressful events are so closely associated with chronic inflammatory states, that the body's stress response can be viewed as an inflammatory state. This paper summarizes and explains the ...

New Social Workers Group

Inconsistent findings for the eyes closed effect in children: the implications for interviewing child witnesses

A child who alleges that they have been the victim of a crime will be interviewed by police officers. During a police interview it is important that the interviewer obtains the most accurate testimony possible from the child. Previous studies have shown that if children have their eyes closed during an interview they sometimes report more correct information. This paper includes two studies. In...

Child Witnesses and the Confrontation Clause.

After the Supreme Court's ruling in Crawford v. Washington that a criminal defendant's right to confront the witnesses against him is violated by the admission of testimonial hearsay that has not been cross-examined, lower courts have overturned convictions in which hearsay from children was admitted after child witnesses were either unwilling or unable to testify. A review of social scientific...