Karen Saywitz Legacy Award
Annually, CAPSAC presents an award to honor the legacy of Karen J. Saywitz, a pioneer in the scientific study of child forensic interviewing and a devoted advocate for children and families, whose work was designed to identify the most appropriate questions for eliciting essential information from children without increasing error.
CURRENT RECIPIENT
2024 Bette Bottoms, Ph.D. is the current recipient of the Karen Saywitz Award. She provided a brief lecture on the ways Karen influenced her and her own professional contributions to the field of children maltreatment. Her research centered around children, psychology and the law, with the goal of advancing basic psychological knowledge, improving the lives of children, and making the legal system more just for children.
PAST RECIPIENTS
2023 Jodi Quas, Ph.D. was the recipient of CAPSAC’s Karen Saywitz Award and presented a lecture titled “The value of rapport and support on children’sdisclosures, reporting, and relationships.”
2022 Tom Lyon, JD, Ph.D. was the recipient of CAPSAC’s Karen Saywitz Legacy Award and presented a lecture titled “Happy Mediums in Child Interviewing” to explore how the field has moved toward identifying the right balance between questions that are too specific and too broad.
2021 Gail Goodman, Ph.D. was the recipient of CAPSAC’s Karen J Saywitz Award. Dr Goodman was one of Dr Saywitz’s earliest and longest collaborators, who presented a lecture titled, "Interviewing Children and Adults about Childhood Traumatic Touch: A Tribute to Dr. Karen J. Saywitz".