Historical Child Sexual Abuse Investigations: A Case for Law Reform

Abstract

Historical child sexual abuse investigations typically present with degraded evidence, which hinders successful prosecutions. However, the poor state of evidence in these cases is not merely a function of the passage of time, but also the result of unnecessary complexity and restrictions on investigative procedures. This is particularly true of the investigative procedures around police obtaining admissions and confessions. Admissions and confessions are among the most potent forms of evidence against an accused person, but they take on an even more important role in investigations where other evidence is degraded. This article argues that the common law prohibition on adverse inferences being drawn from the right to silence, and the exclusion of most sexual offences from the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 (Cth), should be reconsidered as important steps to obtaining more viable evidence for historical child sexual abuse cases.