California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Stewart, 181 Cal.App.3d 300, 226 Cal.Rptr. 252 (Cal. App. 1986):
In cases involving sex crimes against minors, the victim's complaint regarding those crimes as to their nature and time will often be inexact due to the victim's distress, embarrassment or lack of sophistication and knowledge concerning the sexual acts which occurred. As a result, discrepancies may arise between the victim's fresh complaint and testimony at trial. Defendant argues that these discrepancies should preclude the admissibility of the complaint. We disagree. As long as the complaint can be reasonably interpreted as relating to the charged acts (see People v. Burton, supra, 55 Cal.2d at p. 351, 11 Cal.Rptr. 65, 359 P.2d 433) any such discrepancies affect the weight and not the admissibility of that complaint.
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