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69 S. Cal. L. Rev. 2117 (1995-1996)
Assessing the Reliability of Child Testimony in Sexual Abuse Cases

handle is hein.journals/scal69 and id is 2133 raw text is: NOTES ASSESSING THE RELIABILITY OF CHILD TESTIMONY IN SEXUAL ABUSE CASES DANA D. ANDERSON* INTRODUCTION It would have been difficult not to notice that what was once an unspeakable and all-but-ignored crime-child sexual abuse-rose to the forefront of America's woes in the 1980s. In 1983, the McMartin Preschool case in Manhattan Beach, California, catapulted the issue onto the front page of newspapers across the country and into the worried minds of parents everywhere. Close on its heels, a spate of similar mass ritual-abuse cases surfaced in various parts of the coun- try, raising serious questions about entrusting children to the care of teachers and day-care workers, even in small-town USA. Fortunately, both professionals and the American justice system alike finally took the reality of child sexual abuse seriously. Unfortunately, the hysteria and the irresponsible policies and practices surrounding child abuse investigations of the last decade have been less beneficial. Ironically, many of the convictions of day-care professionals so widely hailed in the 1980s have since been harshly criticized (not to mention overturned) by appellate courts for the techniques used to garner them.' In 1993, Margaret Kelly Michaels' widely publicized conviction for molesting twenty preschool children was overturned on * Class of 1997, University of Southern California Law School; B.A. 1991, Connecticut College. I would like to thank professor Thomas Lyon for his invaluable insight and suggestions. 1. Of the 30 cases that went to trial in the 1980s, more than half of the judgments of juries and prosecutors would later be overturned by appeals judges. Ed Hayward & Tom Mashberg, Upheaval in '80s Put the Spotlight on Child Abuse, BOSTON HERALD, Dec. 3,1995, at Al. 2117

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