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CHILD TESTIMONY IN A CHILD ABUSE CASE Child abuse is a serious crime; this is a known fact. However, are children always a reliable source of information? Some experts do not think so. The criminal process of a child abuse case is a critical issue, and in some cases, the testimony of a child should be doubted. Child abuse generally refers to the mistreatment of a child by a parent or other adult. It includes …

…coercive and highly suggestive” methods of interviewing the children. In recent studies, children made errors in reporting details of what they had seen in the studies. The errors were caused by suggestive questioning by an interviewer. The studies indicate that children can be led by a persistent interviewer to change descriptions of events. All of these studies address what has been and will continue to be a critical issue in the investigations of child abuse.