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The Competence and Reliability of a Witness in a Criminal Court: A Case Report

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Gisli H. Gudjonsson  and
John Gunn
Gisli H. Gudjonsson
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, South East Thames Interim Secure Unit, Bethlem Royal Hospital
John Gunn
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry; Joint Bethlem Maudsley Hospital
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Summary

This paper deals with an aspect of the law relating to the use of a mentally handicapped victim as a prosecution witness in a criminal trial. Here the particular question was of the victim's competence to act as a witness, and the likely reliability, or otherwise of her evidence. The results of psychological testing were found to provide guidelines by which the court could distinguish between areas of the reliable and the unreliable in her evidence.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 141 , Issue 6 , December 1982 , pp. 624 - 627
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1982 

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References

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