Best Practices for Child Friendly Courtrooms
Many children find the courtroom experience intimidating and this intimidation can create stress in child victims. Under these circumstances, a child can be a poor witness, and the process of navigating the criminal and civil justice system can compound a child’s trauma.
Judges are responsible for managing cases in which the most vulnerable victims are called upon to give evidence of their victimization. The weighty responsible of the judiciary is easy to recognize - the rights of the accused must be protected while balanced against the rights and needs of these child victims. There are many court practices in that have been instituted by Texas judges to make the courtroom experience easier for child victims of abuse or neglect but there has been no statewide effort to compile these into a guide of best practices. Additionally, many judges need guidance on the practices that can be instituted in their courtrooms to assist children while at the same time maintaining fairness for the accused.
The Children’s Justice Act program is partnering with Children’s Advocacy Centers of Texas to create a resource guide for members of the judiciary that gives information on best practices for court orientation programs for child victims and their supportive caregivers, ideas on how to make courts for environmentally friendly for children, and legal issues surrounding these topics. This resource guide will serve as an important first step to developing a replicable training on child-friendly courts that can be used for the judiciary and will bring together the multidisciplinary professionals involved in cases of child abuse and neglect in the development of this important curriculum.
The development of a resource guide on the best practices of the judges relating to children in court addresses Task Force recommendation to reform state laws and create and/or expand programs that ensure all children and youth have continuing access to advocacy and the judicial system.
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