Report Suggests Changes in Legal System to Ease Ordeal of Children in Abuse Cases

Victims of child abuse must be given special consideration in the nation’s legal system so that they are not traumatized in helping to prosecute their attackers, a new report said Saturday.

In most cases, prosecutors and courts can make simple changes so that the experience will be less intimidating to children, said the report, based on a study by the National Institute of Justice, the Justice Department’s research agency.

To ease the burden of the pre-trial inquiry, authorities should videotape a child’s initial statement and conduct interviews through one-way glass, the report said. It also said that the courts should give scheduling priority to child-abuse cases.

“When children are victims, they are needlessly victimized by the system, which was created for adults,” James K. Stewart, director of the institute, said in an interview. “We have it within our power to reduce the victimization.”