Citation

Quas JA, Wallin AR, Horwitz B, Davis E, Lyon TD. Behav. Sci. Law 2009; 27(1): 97-117.

Affiliation

University of California, Irvine, 92697, USA. jquas@uci.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/bsl.836

PMID

19156680

PMCID

PMC2856467

Abstract

Little is known about the extent to which maltreated children understand what is happening during their participation in court proceedings, despite large numbers of children coming into contact with the legal system as victims of maltreatment. In the present study, maltreated 4- to 15-year-olds were interviewed about their understanding of dependency court on the day of their scheduled court visit. Their feelings about attending their hearings were also assessed, and after their hearing, their understanding of the decisions was examined. Age-related improvements in children's understanding emerged. Also, children who were more knowledgeable about the legal system were less distressed about attending their hearings, as were younger children who had been in the system a longer time. Finally, a majority of children lacked full or accurate understanding of what actually happened during their hearings. Findings have implications for children's participation in legal proceedings and the development of interventions to facilitate children's legal understanding.

Language: en