The law recognizes that stereotypes about sexual assault complainants may lead some of you
to question [complaining witness’s] credibility based solely on the fact that [he or she] did not
complain about the alleged abuse sooner. You may not automatically conclude that [complaining
witness’s] testimony is untruthful based only on [his or her] silence/delayed disclosure. Rather, you
may consider the silence/delayed disclosure along with all of the other evidence including
[complaining witness’s] explanation for his/her silence/delayed disclosure when you decide how
much weight to afford to [complaining witness’s] testimony.
1
This charge should be used when there is no Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome
testimony. State v. P.H., 178 N.J. 378 (2004).
