Witness Testimony in Sexual Cases

• Introduction


• Part I: Evidential perspectives


• 1: Witness testimony: Context, vulnerabilities and issues


• 2: Prosecuting sexual offences in England and Wales


• 3: Disclosure issues in the investigation and trial of allegations of sexual assault


• 4: Abuse of process and delayed prosecutions


• 5: Two Aspects of the Statutory restriction on introducing the complainant s sexual history


• 6: Bad Character provisions and their application to sexual offences


• 7: Expert evidence in trials of sexual offences


• 8: Defending serious sexual assault: Ethical and effective advocacy


• 9: Sexual allegations against medical professionals


• 10: Sexual allegations and evidence gathering in the family court


• 11: International case studies


• 12: Institutional abuse inquiries


• Part II: Investigative and scientific perspectives


• 13: Analysing and improving the testimony of vulnerable witnesses interviewed under the Achieving Best Evidence protocol.


• 14: Investigative practice


• 15: Providing for the needs of witnesses


• 16: Understanding what children say: Avoiding the pitfalls of child testimony


• 17: Forensic science, forensic medicine and sexual crime


• 18: The interpretation of clinical signs of sexual abuse in children


• 19: Child and adolescent sexual assault examinations: Good practice and key issues


• 20: Common psychiatric, psychological and learning disorders and treatment


• 21: Neurological memory disorders


• 22: Memory and reliability: Developments and controversial issues


• 23: How misconceptions about memory may undermine witness testimony


• 24: Pathological lying


• 25: Conclusion

Pamela Radcliffe was called to the Bar in 1979. Her practice has spanned both criminal (defending) and family jurisdictions, encompassing a broad range of complex and grave allegations, including serious sexual assault. Radcliffe's academic interest lies in the interface between psychology and the law, especially memory science and criminal justice issues associated with serious sexual allegations. She advocates an interdisciplinary approach towards professional legal education. Radcliffe is also interested in European justice models and comparative approaches towards the investigation and trial treatment of serious sexual crime. She is a Visiting Research Fellow with the International Centre for Research in Forensic Psychology at the University of Portsmouth. She has addressed criminal justice professionals, academics and charitable organisations on aspects of serious sexual crime and related criminal justice issues.


Gisli H Gudjonsson CBE is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society. He is a registered practitioner (clinical and forensic) with the Health Care Professions Council (HCPC). He is an Emeritus Professor of Forensic Psychology at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London and a Professor of Psychology at Reykjavik University. Prior to his retirement from King's College London on 1st January 2012 he was the Head of Forensic Psychology Services for the Lambeth Forensic Services and Medium Secure Unit at the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust (SLaM). He has as extensive experience as an expert witness in cases involving witness testimony and was a lay magistrate in Croydon between 1990-1999. Professor Gudjonsson has been awarded two lifetime achievement awards and was appointed CBE in 2011 for his contribution to clinical psychology. He is still active in conducting research and publishing academic papers relevant to psychology and law.


Anthony Heaton-Armstrong is a practising barrister and author of numerous published texts

Witness Testimony in Sexual Cases provides a wide-ranging and lucid analysis of the investigation and prosecution of sexual offenses. It is an invaluable source-book for legal practitioners, socio-legal scholars, criminology, law and psychology students ... In the light of a dramatic increase in prosecutions regarding historical sexual abuse, this book is also essential reading for prosecutors, defence lawyers and trial judges. Dr Kevin Felstead, British False Memory Society