When Children and the Elderly Are Victims: Balancing the Rights of the Accused Against Those of the Victim

Child sexual abuse prosecutions involve difficult societal issues as well as complex evidentiary and constitutional problems. The abusive act frequently occurs in private upon a young victim who proves an unpersuasive witness during a subsequent trial. Often only two eye witnesses exist, the victim and the accused, thus making the victim\u27s credibility a critical issue. Because of the nature of these prosecutions, there has been a special focus on the principles regulating the admissibility of evidence in child abuse cases. Balancing the due process and constitutional rights of the accused against the interests of both the child and society in these cases has been difficult for the judicial system and the legislature. Recently, similar concerns have arisen when the victim of a criminal act is an elderly person who suffers the frailties of age. These Symposium Comments address a series of related issues dealing with the admission of: (1) out-of-court statements of both the child and the elderly victim; (2) expert testimony explaining the victim\u27s conduct based on certain observed syndromes; and (3) prior acts of sexual misconduct