Young Voices, Big Impact: The Role of Psychology in Child Witness Testimony

Every court of law works upon the statements and testimonies provided by the witnesses. There are many who don’t know the importance of testimony and may give it away in a light way, especially in the cases where children are the providers. It is very difficult to differentiate between reel and real for them and hence it becomes crucial to assess and evaluate the credibility of the statement provided. The Statement Validation Assessment (SVA) tests work upon the same fundament and maintain the admissibility of the statement in trial of the case. Due to many underlying factors such as external pressure, social pressure, influences, high level of suggestibility, and so on, a child’s testimony may vary from the reality and therefore, SVAs are conducted by forensic psychologists. This research paper delves into the aspect of the reliability and credibility of the testimony provided by a child, under a forensic lens. It discusses various legal provisions which make the testimony admissible under valid circumstances, the factors which affect the credibility level of the testimony of a child and various SVA Tests, which can be conducted by forensic psychologists, to measure the level of credibility and whether the so provided testimony should be admissible in the court in trial or not.