The Nordic model of handling children’s testimonies

Abstract

Barnahus performs investigative interviewing of children. Implementation of Barnahus in the Nordic countries is based on legal scrutiny of the taking of statements from children and the strong Nordic tradition of protecting children from the burden of being involved in legal proceedings. Internationally, there are two parallel legal systems obtaining children’s testimonies. The first system is often referred to as “examinationin-chief ” or the “adversarial package”, and the second has been called the “Nordic model” (La Rooy et al. 2015; Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service 2016; Spencer and Lamb 2012). The aim of this chapter is to describe the development of the Nordic model for each of the Nordic countries.