性侵儿童案中被害人陈述可信度判断研究

Research on Victims’ Credibility in Sexual Assaults Cases Against Children

在性侵儿童案中,由于被害儿童身心特点,导致其作证能力和证言可信度常存在争议。但实际上年幼不是否认儿童作证能力的决定性因素。在性侵儿童案件中,要摒弃过度纠缠于对儿童作证能力的争议,将作证能力与证言可信度分开,肯定其作证能力,而着重判断证言可信度。通过对371份性侵儿童案件的裁判文书的分析可知,判断儿童被害人陈述可信度的因素与判断成年被害人陈述可信度的因素大致相同,同时实践中也结合儿童的特点提出了有针对性的考量因素。因此,对"童言"过于忌惮实无必要。在判断儿童被害人陈述可信度时,可以主要依靠判断被害人(证人)可信度的通常方法,同时更多地引入专家证人/辅助人帮助理解儿童行为和心理特点。这样将有助于解决儿童作证涉及的证明问题,更好地保护儿童权益。

In a sexual assault case,child victim’s competency and credibility are somewhat questionable due to child’s psychological and behavioral traits. In fact,age alone is not a compelling reason to deny witness’s competency. The real issue is child witness ’s credibility. To settle the dispute,first we should quit lingering on the matter of witness competency. Separating witness competency from credibility,and focusing on witness’s credibility. In order to know how defense impeaches victim’s credibility and what elements court consider,this research analyzed 371 sexual assault cases against children,and come to the conclusion that methods used to impeach child victim ’s credibility are very similar to those used to impeach adult victim. Meanwhile,special elements are also considered when impeaching child victim. Therefore,it is unnecessary to fear child ’s testimony too much. When judging the victim ’s credibility, we should mainly rely on those usual impeach methods;In the meantime,bringing in expert witness to help the court understand child victim better. Those methods will help solve current issues and protect child victims.