The Construction of Children's Credibility in Judgements of Child Sexual Abuse

Abstract

This study is concerned with how judges identify and assess children's credibility in court judgements about sexual abuse. It is especially concerned with cases where those accused plead innocent. Two themes on credibility run through the judgements: the children's personal characters and narrative styles. The judges, in their descriptions of the children, set the scene and predispose readers to have certain responses towards the children before they issue definite conclusions about the children's credibility. Further, evidence of credibility is at times re-constructed from impressions of the children's behavioural competence. Hence credibility is based on descriptions of individual moral standing rather than on certain scientifically accepted elements in the interview that limit or enhance the believability of a case.