SKILLS OF LAWYERS AND LEGAL CONSULTANTS WHEN ADVISING MINORS WHO ARE VICTIMS OF VIOLENCE

 
In cases involving minors, the victim is seen as a source of information, and this information must be accessible in the most accurate form. In addition, the victim must present information to the court or other responsible persons. Therefore, this information must be convincing to those in authority to resolve the case, that is, the information is reliable and the victim is telling the truth. However, when approaching minors, we often encounter some difficulties that need to be overcome: How accurate is the child's memory? Is the child able to accurately relate an event? Can the child imagine? Can suggestions be made to the child? How does the court environment affect the child's ability to communicate information?
Assessing information provided by children is a complex process, requiring an understanding of a number of different areas. In fact, experts have concluded that the quality of information provided by children depends on a number of factors: The child's capacity; The context in which information is exchanged; Some procedural issues (such as court proceedings); Skills of the person responsible for communicating with children; Communication skills with children are very important in exploiting information and advising children.
This article focuses on discussing the skills of lawyers when dealing with and advising minors who are victims of child abuse.
Before we look at the skills of lawyers in these cases, let us look at the root causes of child abuse . The causes of child abuse are complex, as there is no single cause of child abuse. Instead, there are many interconnected factors that promote child abuse, such as social norms [1], the subordinate status of children [2], and social pressure [3].
In Vietnam, in many families, violence is used as a means to establish male hierarchy and reinforce masculinity. Financial security, parental education, and issues such as alcohol or drug abuse all have an impact on violent behavior. Violent discipline is still (in some places) considered the accepted norm in the community. As a result, children will not speak up or seek help when experiencing domestic violence. According to national survey data on domestic violence in Vietnam: 3% of women have been sexually abused before the age of 15 , and in 2019 it was 4.4%.
When providing legal advice to minors who are victims of violence, lawyers need to have the following skills:
I. COMMUNICATION SKILLS WITH CHILDREN WHO ARE VICTIMS OF ABUSE
1. Language development will certainly have a certain impact on children's ability to recount events . Children can completely memorize, but they do not always have enough vocabulary to share those experiences. The level of language development can strongly affect the retrieval of information stored in memory. Language limitations will affect the recounting of events in the following aspects: The type of information children provide; The ability to connect pieces of information together; The level of detail of events children can provide; The inability to provide specific information. In which we should note that: Very young children often understand what is said to them, but do not have enough language skills to be able to respond in detail. In young children, the ability to understand is better than the ability to speak. The reason is that young children's vocabulary is very small, they often use gestures to support communication. Young children provide less information than older children, and the information will also be less specific. The younger the child, the more interrogation the communicator will have to engage in because the child will not automatically provide information. Communicating with children is a very complex task because it involves understanding the child's language development. In fact, a common problem in communication between adults and children is miscommunication. There are a number of language problems that cause difficulties for children, below are some of the language problems that hinder children: Vocabulary that is not appropriate for the child's development; Complex syntactic structures; Misunderstanding the child's speech; Introducing new information into the conversation; Communicative competence. Thus, to communicate effectively, it is necessary to understand the child's language, which means understanding how the child acquires vocabulary, and understanding which words will cause difficulties for the child.
In addition, it is necessary to understand the following "communication errors" of children in the process of communicating with adults:
(i) When children encounter words they do not understand, they can give one of the following three answers: “yes”, “I don't know”, or they will remain silent.
(ii) Children have their own way of understanding. Children tend to interpret words in their own way. The meaning of words may not be the same as that of adults.
(iii) Words that sound similar. When children do not understand a word, they tend to interpret it as meaning a word with a similar pronunciation. Therefore, it is necessary to carefully observe whether the child understands the word being used.
(iv) Correlative words (words whose meaning depends on something else): This is a difficult word for children. The reason comes from the use of relative words to describe the size and shape of people and things. These words have different meanings for children .
(v) Using words without fully understanding their meaning. This is especially true when talking about dates.
(vi) Expanding the meaning of words: children with limited vocabulary often break adult language rules or add actions/things for which they do not have words.
(vii) Limiting the meaning of words. Children often assign only part of the meaning that, according to the adult vocabulary, has a similar word.
(viii) Simple words can still be misunderstood. Children can give different meanings to common words.
(ix) Some other issues such as: Use of literal language; Time words; Before and after; Contrasting words; Acquaintance; Legal terms

2. Body parts and sexual terminology are obvious areas where children lack vocabulary.

Research has shown that the number of words for body parts that are understood and named increases with age. Some words are not fully understood until the child is over 6 years old. One of the biggest difficulties in collecting information about sexual abuse from children is that children who have not yet engaged in sexual activity do not understand what sex is. Children often use a general word to describe body parts. The listener will not understand which part they are talking about. Therefore, it is important to find out exactly which part the child is talking about. There are 3 ways to clarify: detailed anatomical model dolls; detailed anatomical drawings; functional descriptions of parts (note that this method does not apply to children under 8 years old).
Some sexual terms that are difficult for children: Describing touching; The word “entering”; Masturbation; Ejaculation; Erection; Condoms.
3. Attitudes, views and reactions to child abuse are a result of the social context in which an individual is raised . Therefore, it is important to examine attitudes and views regarding child abuse to assess whether they are accurate. This relates to how society responds to child victims. Common misconceptions include: Children who are abused will scream or try to run away; Children often lie, exaggerate or fantasize about the abuse; Victims will tell someone immediately after the abuse; Children will dislike and avoid the perpetrator after the abuse; Victims of sex crimes will have injuries; The most common form of abuse that children suffer is sexual abuse; Most sex crimes occur between people who do not know each other.

4. Build friendly relationships

In interactions between children and adults, children need to feel safe and secure; those interacting with children need to create enough friendliness so that children feel confident in the person they are communicating with. Interactors should demonstrate the following core values:
- Empathy- the ability to share and understand the emotions a child is experiencing.
- Respect - showing acceptance, kindness and concern for children (taking into account culture and differences).
- Be sincere- show honesty, without pretense and without defense, because children are very sensitive, they will quickly recognize dishonesty.

5. Some techniques to support the communication process with children

(i) How to use grammar structures:
- It is important to reduce the complexity of grammatical structures when talking to children.
- Questions should be asked as simply as possible, in a way that places the least cognitive demands on the child.
- Be aware that some grammatical structures are difficult for children to understand. Some structures listed below should be avoided:
+ Condensing information: is a technique used to put a lot of information into one question. This is done through the use of complex structures, which can cause confusion, especially for children.
+ Use of negative sentences: Legal language uses a lot of negative structures, and they are often used in special cases, to break up the content of the question. However, the use of negative structures can easily cause misunderstanding and confusion in communication. Therefore, negative structures should be avoided whenever possible and questions should always be asked in affirmative form.
+ Tag questions: are questions that turn a statement into a question by asking for confirmation of information, for example “Are you happy?”. Although in reality, even young children use this type of question, according to research, many children aged 12-14 still have difficulty understanding this type of question.
+ Multiple questions: The multiple question structure is asking several questions at the same time, for example “Don’t you remember? Did anyone wake up and see this?”. This type of question structure should not be used, but rather asking the child to provide information on each content by breaking the content into separate questions.
+ Use of pronouns: Pronouns have no meaning unless they are placed in a specific context of the event. For example, the question “Did she go to the store?” is meaningless unless the listener understands who “she” is. The ability to link pronouns to the word before or after is only possible in children around 10 years old. This suggests that lawyers should restate information instead of using pronouns, for example, “When your mother comes home, does your mother cook?” instead of “When she comes home, does your mother cook?”.
(ii) Listening Skills: Good listening makes children feel respected. There should be no discrimination. Listening requires genuine attention and empathy.
Some of the barriers that prevent us from active listening include: Pretending to pay attention; Not listening fully; Listening with prejudice; Hearing only what we want to hear; Reluctant to listen; Prematurely dismissing topics that seem uninteresting; Being critical of the communication; Being easily distracted.
To be a good listener when communicating with children, lawyers should: Be focused. Stay alert; Listen empathetically but remain neutral; Listen for main ideas/big ideas; Pay attention to the non-verbal expressions of the communicator.
Four steps of active listening: Listen - àSummarize -- àReview - àReorganize

II. CONSULTING FOR MINORS BEFORE COURT

Pre-trial counseling for children is part of the lawyer's preparation for court. It is a soft skills approach used to support children when they attend court, helping them to be able to give effective testimony in court, specifically: Helping children understand the legal process of a court; Helping children understand their role in the process of participating in court proceedings; Reducing children's anxiety when participating in court
Participation in court proceedings requires participants to: Be able to recall information fully and accurately and be able to communicate effectively; Be able to demonstrate understanding of the difference between truth and falsehood; Be able to understand questions from lawyers/litigants, other participants in the proceedings; clearly express when they do not understand; Be able to respond to leading questions. Meanwhile, children do not have the skills and knowledge to meet the requirements when participating in court. Children also do not understand or misunderstand the legal system and the participants in that system. These limitations give rise to fear, which can hinder them from giving testimony during the trial in court.
That is why it is important to prepare children for more effective participation in court proceedings. Preparing for court will help: address children's misconceptions about court; reduce fear and anxiety associated with giving testimony in court; promote truth-finding; support children's appearance to create sympathy; improve memory; improve understanding of questions/ability to express when questions are not understood; equip children with the ability to object/defend themselves against leading questions; provide information to help children understand court procedures.
Preparation for attending court will include tasks such as: Explaining to the child the court proceedings, their role in the court as well as that of other participants; Taking the child to visit the court in advance or using photos and court diagrams if visiting the court is difficult; Providing the child with stress reduction and anxiety management techniques; Discussing with the child's parents/caregivers ; Discussing with those involved in the court about any wishes the child may have ; Discussing and explaining to the child and the child's parents/caregivers the steps of the proceedings; Ensuring that logistical arrangements for the child's participation in the court are well prepared; Accompanying the child on the day of the court hearing ; Preparing the information the child needs to provide during the court hearing.
Preparing children for court helps ensure the quantity and quality of information they provide during the trial and optimizes their testimony. It also helps reduce the ambiguity of upcoming events and reduces their anxiety.

Some specific content needs to be explained and guided to children.

(i) Explain the child's role in the trial:
This helps children understand their importance in court. Therefore, they need to listen carefully to the questions, answer the questions as clearly as possible and tell the truth.
(ii) Why do people have to go to court?
This information will explain some basic aspects of the law to children. It is important not to overemphasize and not to give too much information to avoid confusing children.
You should systematize the things children should know: the presiding judge is neutral, what are the rights of the accused, what are the rights of the victim..., understand the issue of cross-examination...
(iii) What will the courtroom be like?
(iv) Who will attend the trial, where will they sit, and what will their roles be?
(v) How will the trial be conducted?
(vi) What is innocent and guilty:
(vii) Other information such as what will happen if the defendant is convicted, what the possible sentences will be, what might happen in the courtroom…
(viii) Skills for cross-examination
(ix) Legal terms
(i) Stress reduction techniques.
After all the above issues, it is necessary to ask the child about the pressures he or she is facing (such as anxiety...), and reassure the child that his or her fear of going to court can be controlled by calmly following the lawyer's instructions.