MAKING CHILDREN INTO COMPETENT WITNESSES - REACTIONS TO THE AMICUS BRIEF IN-RE MICHAELS

In their amicus brief, M. Bruck and S. J. Ceci (1993/1995) highlight the many ways in which children's competence and informativeness can be undercut by incompetent investigative procedures and interview techniques. In this article, the authors discuss ways in which skilled interviewers, with realistic goals regarding the amount and quality of information that can be obtained from young informants, can instead enhance the quality of children's accounts. The discussion of these issues is informed by a review of the scholarly literatures on children's memory, communicative styles and skills, and suggestibility, as well as by field research on the usefulness of different interview strategies.