Psychological Research On Standardization Of Child Witness's Interrogation Procedure

Child witnesses are minors under the age of 18 who have the capacity to provide relevant information to judiciary authorities in accordance with the law.Witnesses are divided into broad sense and narrow sense.This study uses a broad definition on child witnesses,which includes child victims In judicial practice,the victims or witnesses of many crime cases are children,therefore child testimony is an indispensable and important source of court evidence or case investigation clues.Consequently,it is an very important subject in judicial psychology to improve the reliability of children's testimony fundamentally by assessing children's ability to testify,optimizing the method of collecting children's testimony and examine the authenticity of children's testimony,At the same time,due to the immaturity of children's physical and mental development and their lacking of capacity on self-protecting and self-regulating,they are often subjected to huge psychological shocks in the course of the case.It is also a hot issue about how to strengthen psychological protection in the judicial process,especially in the process of investigating and questioning,alleviate the anxiety of child witnesses,reduce the negative impact of post-traumatic stress disorder,and avoid the secondary harm of judicial procedures to children,concerned in academic circles and all sectors of society.This research which adopts the case analysis method,has analyzed systematicly 30 cases coming from criminal cases investigated by the public security organ.In this research,we attempts to summarize the questions existing in inquiry procedures,the interrogation methods,etc.aspect in the public security organ in the process of child witness interrogation.On the basis of the summary of previous research results and the existing rules of interrogation procedure of,suggestions are put forward on the standardizing design of child witness interrogation procedures in the public security organs.The research results show that:At present,there are the following problems in the process of questioning to child witnesses in China: insufficient preparation for questioning;places of inquiry do not accord with the characteristics of children;interrogators are not professional;interrogation processes are too long;the rate of secondary questioning is high;lack of follow-up services and so on.The problems of child witnesses' interrogation methods are mainly reflected in:unscientific interrogation methods;more suggestive questions;low application rate ofinterrogation technology,etc.Recommendations for standardization in child witness questioning: strengthening theoretical research and institutional development of child witness questioning standardization;speeding up the development of operational standards for child witness questioning processes and methods;reinforcing training in standardized operation and methodological techniques for child witness questioning.