Panel on Protection of Children in Court Urged

Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp called Tuesday for the creation of a state commission to study ways of minimizing the psychological harm suffered by child abuse victims who testify in court proceedings.

“There is no reason that the trauma inflicted on children by our legal system should be worse than that inflicted by their abusers,” Van de Kamp told reporters at a Capitol press conference.

Van de Kamp said that reported cases of child abuse in California rose 113% last year, faster than anywhere else in the nation. However, he pointed out that recent studies show the actual number of cases of abuse may be dropping.

“The good news is that the wave of public concern that has boosted child abuse reports may also be cutting the true number of actual incidents,” he said, while emphasizing “we’re a long, long way from solving the problem.”

The Democratic attorney general, who is running for reelection, said he is concerned that the demands of repeated questioning and testifying in court can further scar victims of abuse.

He cited one Sacramento case in which a 5-year-old girl was questioned by 24 different adults, most of them strangers. In another case, a boy placed in a shelter after alleged abuse by his parents told authorities he believed he had been arrested, Van de Kamp said.

Van de Kamp noted that many steps already have been taken to improve the judicial process for children, such as highly publicized legislation last year that allows some children to testify via closed circuit television.

But he called for legislation to create a 19-member commission to recommend ways to eliminate repetitive interviews and coordinate related court proceedings. The panel would also make recommendations for a court pilot project to test the effectiveness of its findings.

The commission proposal is contained in a bill carried by Sen. Nicholas C. Petris (D-Oakland).