Document Type
Working Paper
Publication Date
11-14-2012
SSRN Discipline
Legal Scholarship Network; Criminal Law & Procedure eJournals; Social Insurance Research Network; Law School Research Papers - Legal Studies; Law & Society eJournals; Law & Society: Public Law eJournals; LSN Subject Matter eJournals; Cognitive Science Network
Abstract
In criminal cases prosecutors often compound the trauma child witnesses endure That secondary traumatization "” the intimidation and disregard of child witnesses by authorities "” threatens the integrity of the entire criminal justice system While unfortunate perhaps secondary traumatization of child witnesses by prosecutors is inevitable because prosecutors have multiple duties to juggle besides attending to the child Prosecutors must protect society and even respect the rights of the accused Fulfilling these other prosecutorial duties might conflict with the needs and wishes of the child witnesses Because prosecutors have multiple roles and responsibilities which they interpret differently and because the Supreme Court has recently made prosecuting crimes against children more difficult the potential for prosecutors to mistreat their complaining child witnesses even unwittingly has increased To combat this problem child witnesses need lawyers The need for independent counsel with clearly defined roles for representing child witnesses in criminal cases is timely and for children's rights advocates it is the "next frontier"
Recommended Citation
Tanya A. Cooper,
Sacrificing the Child to Convict the Defendant: Secondary Traumatization of Child Witnesses by Prosecutors, Their Inherent Conflict of Interest, and the Need for Child Witness Counsel,
(2012).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.ua.edu/fac_working_papers/403