As someone who has a little knowledge and experience concerning this subject matter (www.abuse-excuse.com/ae_vita.html), and who has appeared on Dr. Phil's show, let me say that we don't decide if these allegations are true or false by reading tarot cards or tea leaves. In fact, polygraphs, while they can be persuasive to police officers in cases of criminal interference, for the most part are legally inadmissible in court. Their results vary widely dependent upon the polygraph examiner (should be DODPI certified) and the type of test (lafayette v. axciton).
Children as young as 3 & 1/2 can give salient details of molestation. Children this young do have the cognitive capacity to distinguish truth from lie. In addition, children this young can be very suggestible and impressionable, and they can be easily conditioned, indoctrinated, brainwashed, poisoned and coached to say things that please their interviewer.
Especially, if the interview is suggestive and leading and is not conducted in a structured manner. A parent who is alienating a child from another parent, wielding that child as ammunition (e.g. in a contentious custody battle), or a professional who is not privy to sound forensic child interview techniques, could use scripting, guided imagery, stereotype induction, closed-ended questions, anatomical dolls, puppets drawings, toys, cake, or candy or other means of positive reniforcement to unilaterally cajole a child into saying things that are not true.
Dr. Stephen Ceci's book - Jeopardy in the Courtroom - is the seminal book in this area of child suggestibility- as he conducted scores of scientific studies to prove that young kids can be easily manipulated. The first and foremost indicator that points to a reliable and valid child outcry or disclosure of sexual abuse is a contemporaneous or spontaneous report from the alleged child victim. Any possible contaminant such as divorce, custody battle, parental discord, therapy, et al, can influence the reliability, credibility, and validity of the child's fresh complaint.
