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40 U. Miami L. Rev. 245 (1985-1986)
The Competency Requirement for the Child Victim of Sexual Abuse: Must We Abandon It

handle is hein.journals/umialr40 and id is 259 raw text is: The Competency Requirement For The
Child Victim Of Sexual Abuse: Must We
Abandon It?
I.  INTRODUCTION  ........ ...... .. .................................. .  245
II.  H ISTORICAL  BACKGROUND  .. ..  ............................ ...........  248
II .  STATUTORY  REQUIREMENTS  ...............................................  252
IV. APPLICATION OF THE DIFFERENT STATUTORY SCHEMES ........................ 257
A.   The  Substantive  Impact ............................................  257
B .  Procedural  Issues  ..................................................  262
1.  THE  VOIR  DIRE  ......................  6......... ..................  2
2.  TH E  OATH  ......................................................  266
a. Jurisdictions Not Patterned After the Federal Rule ........... 266
b. Jurisdictions Patterned After the Federal Rule ................ 269
3.  TIMING  OF  OBJECTIONS  ...........................................  270
4.  PROCEDURE  ON  REVIEW  ..........................................  271
V.  LEGISLATIVE  TRENDS  IN  THE  LAW  .........................................  273
VI. PROPOSALS FOR REFORMING THE COMPETENCY REQUIREMENT .................. 278
V II.  C ONCLUSION  ............................................................  283
I. INTRODUCTION
The issue of witness competency never arises in an average
criminal trial. In child sexual abuse' trials, however, witness com-
petency is often a central issue. The only eyewitness is usually a
child of tender years, therefore the child's testimony is usually crit-
ical to the state's case against the aleged abuser.2 As one commen-
tator observed, [i]n abuse cases, the eyewitness testimony of the
youngster involved may be the only direct link between the child
and the offender; any other evidence is generally circumstantial
physical evidence that indicates only that abuse was committed.'
In child sexual abuse trials, as in all criminal trials, there are
two competing interests: the interest of the state to convict guilty
1. This comment uses the term sexual abuse as a generic term encompassing allega-
tions of any type of sexual activity with children by adults. This category includes various
crimes: incest, sodomy, indecent liberties, molestation, sexual intercourse with an underaged
child, oral or anal sex, indecent assault and lewd and lascivious acts. For a comprehensive
analysis of what each state defines as criminal sexual activity with children, see Kocen &
Bulkley, Analysis of Criminal Child Sex Offense Statutes, in CHILD SRxUAL ABUSE AND Ts
LAW 1 (J. Bulkley ed. 1984).
2. State v. Gilbert, 109 Wis. 2d 501, 516, 326 N.W.2d 744, 751 (1982).
3. Id. (citing Meyers, When Children Take the Stand, 11:1 STUDENT LAW. 14, 15 (Sept.
1982)).

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