For over 20 years service dogs have been used to comfort child victims and witnesses, and the practice has become relatively common.
Dogs can have an incredible easing effect on a child. Diane Silman the head of the Ozark Foothills Child Advocacy Center in southern Missouri claimed one time,
"A four-year-old once remained engaged in an interview for about an hour, which is pretty amazing"
But now, this buddy buddy system may come to an end.
Of course, some frigg NYC lawyer has became the first in the nation to appeal his client's conviction of raping and impregnating a 15-year-old girl because a dog was used to comfort her during her testimony at trial. The sleaze ball lawyer claims,
"The stress witnesses feel when they have to testify at trial tends to undo falsehoods. Removing the stress deprives the defendant of a fair trial."
Right, cause we all know that dogs love to convince people to lie under oath. Ugh!
The judge's decision in the case will likely affect the courtroom use of the dogs nationwide.
[image via Image credit: Rosie, Kelly Shimoda for NYT]
Tags: boo, dog, incredible, interview, judge, law, service, service dog, ugh
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