Abstract
BackgroundChild sexual abuse, being most of the time a hidden crime that is kept lifelong undisclosed, was found to have strong influence on the victim. Unless a hard evidence (physical evidence, eyewitness, perpetrator confession) was present, decision on the case will depend solely on the child’s account. In spite of efforts to get accurate information, children tend to mix events they have experienced with those seen on TV, heard in a story or even introduced by others while questioning about the event. Source monitoring error is the error in tagging information to its source and is a problem faced when interviewing very young children and when repeatedly rehearsing a false event. In Saudi Arabia, awareness programs were initiated and were distributed widely to educate families about consequences of abuse and the available facilities to seek if needed. These programs took part in social campaigns at malls, schools and media. Parents became more aware of the problem and concerned parents even took part in educating their children about self protection. Knowing that formal sexual health education is deficient in Saudi Arabia and in other Arab countries can put such programs in challenge.Case presentationIn this paper, two cases are presented of child sexual abuse allegations that raised the issue of source monitoring errors in children with over concerned mothers. The mothers admitted the fact that they are giving extensive detailed teaching to their girls about the sexual abuse. The possibilities of having source monitoring errors are discussed while highlighting the protocols of forensic interview and methods to minimize source monitoring errors.ConclusionTeaching self protection against sexual abuse could be the first introduction of sexual issues to children and hence could lead to source monitoring errors and false allegation of child sexual assault.
Highlights
Child sexual abuse, being most of the time a hidden crime that is kept lifelong undisclosed, was found to have strong influence on the victim
Teaching self protection against sexual abuse could be the first introduction of sexual issues to children and could lead to source monitoring errors and false allegation of child sexual assault
This study was conducted in several countries and in Saudi Arabia it revealed that adverse childhood experiences (ACE) increased the risk to hypertension, diabetes mellitus, psychological disease, and dysfunctional lives (Almuneef et al, 2014)
Summary
These two cases could be the ringing bell to draw our attention to the possibility of having source monitoring errors as a result of introduction of sexual education in the wrong way. Actions should be taken to raise awareness about the problem of receiving education about protection from sexual assault from persons with no background on the proper delivery of such information. Community-based awareness programs should be initiated to educate parents about the proper way of teaching their kids and getting information, and how to do this if the mother is a victim of child sexual abuse. Until we have a national study that could reveal the presence and the magnitude of this problem (source monitoring errors as a result of false delivery of sexual assault protection programs), these two cases will remain an example for each professional conducting forensic interviews to be broad minded and allow other explanations for any story that is heard from a child. Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
