especially vigilant in its insistence that children, as a class,
are not to be viewed as inherently suspect witnesses. We have
specifically held that [**19] age per se cannot render a witness
incompetent. State in re R.R., 79 N.J. 97 (1979). We declined to
require or allow, absent a strong showing of abnormality, psychological
testing of child-victims of sexual abuse as a predicate to a
determination of the credibility of the child-victim as a witness.
State v.  R.W., 104 N.J. 14, 514 A.2d 1287 (1986). We have also
recognized that under certain circumstances children's accounts of
sexual abuse can be highly reliable. State v. D.R., 109 N.J. 348,
360 (1988). Nevertheless, our common experience tells us that
children generate special concerns because of their vulnerability,
immaturity, and impressionability, and our laws have recognized
and attempted to accommodate those concerns, particularly in the
area of child sexual abuse. E.g., State v. Bethune, 121 N.J. 137,
143-44, 578 A.2d 364 (1990) (recognizing special vulnerability of
child-victims in "fresh-complaint" jurisprudence); D.R., supra,
109 N.J. at 360 (recognizing that child [**20] sexual-abuse victims,
whose victimizers are often members of family or household, are
particularly susceptible to pressure to recant prior to trial);
see also Evid. R. 803(c)(27)(b) (providing standards for determining
trustworthiness of child's out-of-court statement concerning sexual
abuse).
The broad question of whether children as a class are more or less
susceptible to suggestion than adults is one that we need not be
definitively answered in order to resolve the central issue in this
case. Our inquiry is much more focused. The issue we must determine
is whether the interview techniques used by the State in this case
were so coercive or suggestive that they had a capacity [*309] to
substantially distort the children's recollections of actual events
and thus compromise the reliability of the children's statements
and testimony based on their recollections.
We begin our analyses by noting, as did the Appellate Division,
that the "investigative interview" is a crucial, perhaps determinative,
moment in a child-sex-abuse case. 264 N.J. Super. at 622-23 (citing
Gail S. Goodman and Vicki S. Helgeson, Child Sexual Assault:
Children's Memory and the Law, [**21] 40 U. Miami L. Rev. 181, 195
(1985). A decision to prosecute a case of child sexual abuse often
hinges on the information elicited in the initial investigatory
interviews with alleged victims, carried out by social workers or
police investigators. Diana Younts, Evaluating and Admitting Expert
Opinion Testimony In Child Sexual Abuse Prosecutions, 41 Duke L.J.
691 (1991).
That an investigatory interview of a young child can be coercive
or suggestive and thus shape the child's responses is generally
accepted. If a child's recollection of events has been molded by
an interrogation, that influence undermines the reliability of the
child's responses as an accurate recollection of actual events.
A variety of factors bear on the kinds of interrogation that can
affect the reliability of a child's statements concerning sexual
abuse. We note that a fairly wide consensus exists among experts,
scholars, and practitioners concerning improper interrogation
techniques. They argue that among the factors that can undermine
the neutrality of an interview and create undue suggestiveness are
a lack of investigatory independence, the pursuit [**22] by the
interviewer of a preconceived notion of what has happened to the
child, the use of leading questions, and a lack of control for
outside influences on the child's statements, such as previous
conversations with parents or peers.  Younts, supra, 41 Duke L.J.
at 729-30, 730-31; see also, John E.B. Myers, The Child Witness:
Techniques for Direct Examination, Cross-Examination, and Impeachment,
18 Pac. L.J. 801, 889 (1987) (stating that factors that influence
child's suggestibility include: (1) whether interviewer believes
in presumption of guilt; (2) whether questions asked are [*310]
leading or non-leading; and (3) whether interviewer was trusted
authority figure).
The use of incessantly repeated questions also adds a manipulative
element to an interview. When a child is asked a question and gives
an answer, and the question is immediately asked again, the child's
normal reaction is to assume that the first answer was wrong or
displeasing to the adult questioner. See Debra A. Poole and Lawrence
T. White, Effects of question Repetition on Eyewitness Testimony
of Children and Adults, 27 Developmental Psychology, [**23] November
(1991) at 975. The insidious effects of repeated questioning are
even more pronounced when the questions themselves over time suggest
information to the children. Goodman and Helgeson, supra, 40 U.
Miami L. Rev. at 184-187.
The explicit vilification or criticism of the person charged with
wrongdoing is another factor that can induce a child to believe
abuse has occurred. Ibid.  Similarly, an interviewer's bias with
respect to a suspected person's guilt or innocence can have a marked
effect on the accuracy of a child's statements.  Goodman and
Helgeson, supra, 40 U. Miami L. Rev. at 195. The transmission of
suggestion can also be subtly communicated to children through more
obvious factors such as the interviewer's tone of voice, mild
threats, praise, cajoling, bribes and rewards, as well as resort
to peer pressure.
The Appellate Division recognized the considerable authority
supporting the deleterious impact improper interrogation can have
on a child's memory. 264 N.J.  Super. at 629-34. Other courts have
recognized that once tainted the distortion of the child's memory
is [**24] irremediable. See State v. Wright, 775 P.2d 1124, 1128
(Id. 1989) ("Once this tainting of memory has occurred, the problem
is irredeemable. That memory is, from then on, as real to the child
as any other."). The debilitating impact of improper interrogation
has even more pronounced effect among young children. Maryann King
and John C. Yuille, Suggestibility and the Child Witness, in
Children's Eyewitness Memory, 29 (Stephen J. Ceci et al. eds.,
1987) and [*311] Stephen J. Ceci, Age Differences in Suggestibility,
in Children's Eyewitness Memory 82 (Stephen J.  Ceci, et al. ed.,
1987).
The critical influence that can be existed by interview techniques
is also supported by the literature that generally addresses the
reliability of children's memories. Those studies stress the
importance of proper interview techniques as a predicate for
eliciting accurate and consistent recollection.  See, Gail S.
Goodman, et al., Optimizing Children's Testimony: Research and
Social Policy Issues Concerning Allegations of Child Sexual Abuse
in Child Abuse, Child Development, and Social Policy 1992, Dante
Cicchetti & Sheree L.  Toth (Eds.).
The conclusion [**25] that improper interrogations generate a
significant risk of corrupting the memories of young children is
confirmed by government and law enforcement agencies, which have
adopted standards for conducting interviews designed to overcome
the dangers stemming from the improper interrogation of young
children. The National Center for the Prosecution of Child Abuse,
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