Argues that a reevaluation of our views on the use of children as courtroom witnesses is needed because of the new attention being drawn to child abuse and recent research findings concerning cognitive development. Introduces a series of articles addressing these questions. (KH)

Discusses ideas for future research on child witnesses in relation to children's ability to provide accurate testimony; emotional trauma likely to be experienced by child witnesses; and the perceived credibility of children's testimony. Proposes improvements for legal and psychological practice. (Author/KH)

Examines common assumptions about children's memory and discusses their implications for legal practice. Asserts that, while research has shown that children recall less than adults, there is little evidence for other deficits in children's memory. Describes research suggesting that children may have difficulty with some, but not all,…

Describes the experiences of children who have witnessed the homicide of a parent and are then legally compelled to tell what they have seen. Reviews issues arising from police questioning, qualification procedures, testimony in open court, and defendant sentencing. Recommends providing young witnesses with counseling to help them cope with…

Reviews literature on the reliability of children as courtroom witnesses. Analyzes past and present laws governing the acceptability of children's testimony. Discusses psychological research that has challenged the view that children are more suggestible than adults. Gives special attention to studies made in the early 1900s. (KH)

Reviews current hypotheses and investigations concerning helping behavior, addressing the role of normative and situationally specific rules, the impact of affect, and the subject variables associated with the elicitation of children's helping behavior. (Author/JM)

Research on children injured inadvertently has generally led to the notion of accident proneness. This does not lead to the creation of preventive strategies. Longitudinal research is proposed for studying the behaviors of children in conjunction with their injury history. Developmental psychological characteristics are important considerations in…