Invisible Eyes in Closed Homes: Reimagining Child Witnesses as Evidentiary Narrators in Domestic Violence Adjudication

Abstract

Domestic violence adjudication operates within an evidentiary paradox. While such violence predominantly unfolds within the privacy of the home—away from independent witnesses—the legal process continues to rely almost exclusively on the testimony of the adult victim, treating children present in the household as peripheral or incidental actors. This article argues that children who witness domestic violence constitute an overlooked yet crucial category of evidentiary narrators whose systematic exclusion results in incomplete truth-finding and diluted justice.