It is hard to tell if a child is telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Children may be mislead by their loved ones, prosecutors, or from their own fears, to commit perjury. Innocent people can be convicted, or the guilty could go free, if the child lies. Under certain circumstances, a child's testimony should not be allowed in court. .
As an example, "Bette Bottoms" "Barbie Doll" experiment and Steve Ceci's broken toy experiment--found that children would lie to protect their parent or other loved one, suppressing personally observed information that would implicate the adult from feared punishment or "trouble" (Front line 7). If a child is scared to tell what happened in fear, how can we believe what they say? Their opinions on the subject may change due to what their parents or caretaker tells them. Every child's emotions are different, some can handle pressure, while others crumble under it. An example that shows this is that some kids cannot take the stand due to their emotions. "Reported case decisions are filled with examples of children who are so emotionally overwhelmed that they become paralyzed in tears on the witness stand" (Front line 7). Children have great imaginations. Thoughts can do wonders for kids. Their thoughts can be very convincing to themselves so its hard to determine reality. "Fantasy presents difficulty for the legal system since the edges between imagination and reality can be very blurred when a child later attempts to reconstruct which is which" (Front line 15). .
In particular, the public and parents are the ones that want the children to testify. "Who could possibly disbelieve innocent children" (Front line 1)? They want justice to be done and as quickly as possible. "For such heinous crimes, the public demanded that justice be swift and severe" (Front line 1). They believe everything the child has to say.
