BAR REPORT - Capitol Report
State bar urges Supreme Court to eliminate child competency test; Proposed juror impartiality initiatives
April 05, 2021 at 08:02 AM
5 minute read
NJSBA urges Supreme Court to eliminate child competency test, signals concerns of unjust reliability
The New Jersey State Bar Association (NJSBA) urged the state Supreme Court to consider eliminating the proposed procedures for evaluating and assessing the competency of child witnesses, signaling concerns about its potential for unjustified confidence in an unreliable test. The letter sent to the Supreme Court was in response to a joint committee report from the Supreme Court Practice, Evidence Rules and Family Practice committees.
The report was developed in response to the Court's direction in State v. Bueso, 225 N.J. 193 (2016), which urged the development of model questions for assessing the competency of child witnesses. In Bueso, a five-year-old child alleged sexual abuse by a babysitter. The child was questioned in the trial court and was found competent to testify, but the appellate court disagreed. The Supreme Court upheld the determination of competency, but directed that "courts and counsel should develop the record on the question of competency by means of thorough and detailed questioning of the child witness."
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