Allegations Of Child Sexual Abuse Research Articles

Pronoun Anaphora and Children's Developing Abilities to Backward Reference in Criminal Cases of Alleged Child Sexual Abuse

ABSTRACTIn child sexual abuse (CSA) testimony, attorneys may ask children questions containing pronoun anaphora (e.g., “Where was your Dad?” “What did he do?” he is a pronoun anaphora for referent, Dad). To answer these questions, children must recall the pronoun's referent and appropriate answer to the question. This may be too complex a cognitive task for young children, especially when there are multiple question‐and‐answer (Q–A) turns between the referent and pronoun, leading to misunderstanding. We examined Q–A pairs containing pronouns in 40 CSA testimonies of 5 to 10‐year‐olds. Many attorneys' questions (24%) contained pronouns. Attorneys averaged 4.11 Q–A turns between the referent and pronoun. With each additional Q–A turn, the likelihood of misunderstanding increased. Children's age was also associated with a significant decrease in misunderstanding, meaning older children exhibited fewer misunderstandings. To reduce misunderstanding, those questioning children should clarify the referent quickly when their question contains pronoun anaphora.

Judges and lawyers’ beliefs in repression and dissociative amnesia may imperil justice: further guidance required

ABSTRACT This article examines continuing misunderstanding about memory function especially for trauma, across three UK samples (N = 717). Delayed allegations of child sexual and physical abuse are prevalent in Western legal systems and often rely upon uncorroborated memory testimony to prove guilt. U.K. legal professionals and jurors typically assess the reliability of such memory recall via common sense, yet decades of scientific research show common sense beliefs often conflict with science. Recent international surveys show controversial notions of repression and accurate memory recovery remain strongly endorsed. In historical cases, these notions may lead to wrongful convictions. The current study surveyed the U.K. public, lawyers, and mental health professionals’ beliefs about repression, dissociative amnesia and false memories. Study findings give unique data on judges’ and barristers’ beliefs. Overall, the study findings reinforce international scientists’ concerns of a science – knowledge-gap. Repression was strongly endorsed by lay, legal and clinical participants (> 78%) as was dissociative amnesia (> 87%). Moreover, suboptimal professional legal education and juror guidance may increase misunderstanding. Correcting beliefs about memory function, and extending the contribution of memory science in the courtroom remains an important quest for cognitive scientists.

Attorneys' Questions About Time in Criminal Cases of Alleged Child Sexual Abuse.

In cases of alleged child sexual abuse, information about the timing of events is often needed. However, published developmental laboratory research has demonstrated that children struggle to provide accurate and reliable testimony about time and there is currently a lack of field research examining how attorneys actually question child witnesses about time in court. The current study analyzed 130 trial transcripts from cases of alleged child sexual abuse containing a child witness between the ages of 5-17years old to determine the frequency, style, and content of attorneys' questions and child responses about time. We found that attorneys primarily ask closed-ended temporal location questions (i.e., asking when an event took place using a temporal construct such as day, month, and year) to child witnesses. Additionally, children, of all ages, rarely said "I don't know" or expressed uncertainty in response to temporal questions. These findings are concerning as researchers find that children tend to struggle with temporally locating past events.

Longitudinal predictors of children's self-blame appraisals among military families reported for family violence

BackgroundAlthough children's self-blame appraisals are recognized as important sequelae of child victimization that contribute to subsequent adjustment problems, little is known about the factors that predict their development and longitudinal course. ObjectiveThe current study examines the stability and longitudinal predictors of children's self-blame appraisals among a sample of children reported for family violence. Participants and settingChildren (N = 195; 63 % female) aged 7 to 17 years (Mage = 12.17) were recruited as part of a longitudinal assessment of families referred to the United States Navy's Family Advocacy Program due to allegations of child physical abuse, sexual abuse, or intimate partner violence. MethodsChildren completed assessments on self-blame at 3 time points (baseline, 9–12 months, and 18–24 months) and baseline measures of their victimization experience, caregiver-child conflict, and depression. ResultsIn univariate analyses, victimization that involved injury (r = 0.29, p < .001), the number of perpetrators (r = 0.23, p = .001), the number of victimization types (r = 0.32, p < .001), caregiver-child conflict (r = 0.36, p < .001), and depression (r = 0.39, p < .001) were each positively associated with baseline self-blame. When examined in a single longitudinal multilevel model, results indicated only caregiver-child conflict (b = 0.08, p = .007) and baseline depression (b = 0.06, p = .013) predicted increases in self-blame. ConclusionFindings suggest clinicians and researchers may consider assessment of victimization characteristics, caregiver-child relationships, and depression symptoms to identify children most at risk for developing self-blame appraisals.

성폭력 피해 의심 아동 조사 시 NICHD 수사적 면담 프로토콜의 실질적 단계 이행 실태

TThe aim of this study was to investigate whether the substantive interview phase of the NICHD investigative interview protocol was properly implemented in the forensic interview of alleged child sexual abuse. To this end, 30 transcript of children aged 5 to 15 years who were independently interviewed by police officer and the interview expert were analyzed. As a result, the difference between the groups in the amount of questions and details was not significant. The police group used direct questions, option-posing, and suggestive questions significantly more than the expert group. The children reported significantly more information through suggestive questions in police officer interview, but significantly more information through invitations in expert interview. The expert group mainly used invitations in the beginning, gradually increasing the amount of direct questions, but still frequently used invitations and facilitation until the end. In contrast, the police group frequently used direct questions from the beginning, gradually increasing the amount, and rarely used invitations and facilitation toward the end.

Describing Coercion in the Courtroom: The Influence of Language and Maltreatment Severity on Jurors' Perceptions of Child Witnesses.

Regardless of compliance to coercion by an alleged perpetrator, child maltreatment is abuse in any form. However, the extent to which coercion is described as an obligation (mandatory compliance) or permission (optional compliance) is legally relevant. The present investigation examined how attorneys question children about coercion and how children describe coercion in courtroom investigations of alleged child sexual abuse, and whether such language influences jurors' perceptions of children's testimony. Study 1 assessed 64 transcripts of children's testimonies and revealed that both attorneys and children use coercive language. Problematically, terms of permission were used when describing sexual abuse, potentially implying compliance was optional. Study 2 presented 160 adults with transcript excerpts, varied by coercive language (obligation or permission) and maltreatment type (sexual abuse or punishment). Coercive language influenced perceptions of coercion and whether the adult was to blame. Maltreatment type influenced perceptions of severity, credibility, and verdict. Overall, coercive language and maltreatment type influence perceptions of how the event unfolded.

Developmental Considerations in How Defense Attorneys Employ Child Sexual Abuse and Rape Myths When Questioning Alleged Victims of Child Sexual Abuse.

Myths and misconceptions surrounding the nature of sexual assault play a role in shaping the perceptions of victims as credible and perpetrators as culpable. Defense attorneys often capitalize on myths in court as an element of their defense strategies. Researchers have established that myths about both rape generally, and child sexual abuse (CSA) specifically, appear with regularity in criminal trials of children who have made an allegation of CSA. Yet no work has systematically and quantitatively examined the impact of a child's age on the probability that attorneys will ask a myth-consistent question in criminal trials of CSA. In the current study, we examine 6,384 lines of questioning across 134 criminal trials of CSA to assess whether defense attorneys employ developmentally sensitive strategies when asking children questions that draw upon myths about sexual violence (CSA myths: disclosure myths, extent of harm, a child's positive relationship with their perpetrator, and the presence of witnesses; Rape myths: force and resistance, motives to lie, victim precipitation, and character issues). We found that attorneys did not vary their use of CSA myths by the age of the child. However, the probability that a child would receive a rape myth-consistent line of questioning, increased with a child's age. This work suggests that attorneys are, at times, strategic in their use of myths and employ these adult rape myths in ways that are plausible, purposeful, and likely impactful. The strategic use of these questions may acknowledge young children's limited development but may place too great a demand on older children's developmental capacities. Prosecutors should be prepared to counterquestion these myths in redirect examination.

The use of alternative scenarios in assessing the reliability of victims’ statements

ABSTRACT The use of alternative scenarios has been advocated as a method to mitigate bias when evaluating the reliability of testimonies. In two experiments, undergraduate students acted as expert witnesses when reading an alleged child sexual abuse case file and evaluated the reliability of the statements. In the first experiment, a subgroup of participants were encouraged to think about alternative scenarios (i.e. the statements are fabricated) when evaluating statements (N = 150). Contrary to our expectations, these participants were not more skeptical about the reliability of the alleged victim’s testimony than the control participants. In the second experiment (N = 205), we tested whether scenario-thinking protected against context effects (i.e. the unintended influence of irrelevant information) from a defense lawyer or prosecutor. We found no support that being sensitized to alternative scenarios made participants more skeptical of the reliability of testimonies. However, when we performed an internal joint analysis of Experiments 1 and 2, we did find some evidence that considering alternative scenarios made participants more skeptical of the suspect’s guilt than those in the control group. We discuss the use of alternative scenarios in expert witness work and potential ways to empirically test the alternative scenario approach in the future.

The ‘most maligned’ witness in the Christopher Dawson case: Gender, power, media and legal culture in the digitally distributed live-streamed court

This article analyses the cultural construction of gender in a highly mediated, globally publicised Australian murder trial. Using the tools of multimodal socio-linguistic analysis, it interrogates the construction of a key female witness – known by the legal pseudonym ‘JC’ – in the physical, digitally distributed and livestreamed courtroom and subsequently through the media sphere, including in newspapers, magazines, podcasts, television and social media. It surfaces a victimblaming narrative in relation to alleged child sexual abuse that was an underlying theme in pretrial reporting, a central feature of the defence’s courtroom strategy and cross examination, and subsequently a dominant focus of the mainstream media’s trial coverage. It traces the emergence of a counter-discourse on social media largely propelled by contributors self-identifying as young women, and the radical reframing of the media narrative in response to the court’s verdict. The article also contextualises its findings against a background in which media technologies and media logics are dramatically reshaping the court’s practices and procedures in relation to ‘open justice’, as evidenced by the operation of the virtual media gallery and publicly livestreamed verdict. It concludes that the hyper-gendered narratives that framed the case are not new. Instead, media technologies – including the court’s livestream, and the public’s use of interactive media platforms – have brought new visibility to a longstanding socio-cultural problem. In Australia, R v Christopher Michael Dawson has been widely celebrated as a step forward for gender equality and the treatment of domestic and sexual abuse by and in the media and the legal system. This analysis demonstrates that in reality change is marginal and uneven.

Alleged child sexual abuse in Alexandria Governorate, Egypt, in 2020

Alleged child sexual abuse in Alexandria Governorate, Egypt, in 2020

Allegations of child sexual abuse in the Family Court of Australia: Response to Parkinson

AbstractIn this article, we respond to commentary by Patrick Parkinson on our research into allegations of child sexual abuse in the Family Court of Australia (both published in AJSI, vol 56, 2021). Parkinson's primary focus was on two of our key findings: (a) that the child was deemed to be at an unacceptable risk of harm in only 12 per cent of fully contested cases; and (b) that in only 14 per cent of the fully contested cases were the allegations coded as being believed. Parkinson suggested that the fully contested cases are disproportionately those in which police, child protection department staff or independent evaluators have been unable to reach a clear view; and that typically these cases involve children under 7 years old. He concluded that the Family Court was in the “too hard basket” of the child protection system and that our findings were not necessarily indicative of systemic failure. We think both suggestions, as well as the “too hard basket” conclusion, are problematic and explain why. Parkinson's comments have stimulated us to reflect on how Australian family courts are managing this important and complex area of decision‐making and what changes may be required into the future.

Clinical and Forensic Interviews in Child Sexual Abuse Allegations in South Africa: Literary Reflections on the Roles of Practitioners

Very few universities in South Africa offer postgraduate training on forensic social work, hampering the ability of social workers to conduct forensic interviews. This article is birthed by concerns raised by professionals (in particular, social workers) regarding their roles during the interviews with children alleged to be sexually abused. Professionals from across disciplines such as social workers, mental health practitioners, police officers and psychologists are involved in interviews with child victims of sexual abuse. In this conceptual article, we argue that each of these professionals must be vigilant about their roles and responsibilities when interviewing victims of child sexual abuse because if they conduct forensic interviews without proper knowledge of doing so, the prosecution and conviction of perpetrators might be compromised. The focus of this article is within the context of social work with an attempt to differentiate between the roles of forensic social workers and clinical social workers dealing with child sexual abuse allegations in South Africa. Forensic social work training and practice in South Africa is still a developing field of specialisation which requires experts to have generic social work interviewing skills. There have not been studies in South Africa that intensively focus on the difference between clinical and forensic interviews. We conducted an extensive and integrative review of literature as a research method to pursue the purpose of this article.

Synthesizing a Talking Child Avatar to Train Interviewers Working with Maltreated Children

When responding to allegations of child sexual, physical, and psychological abuse, Child Protection Service (CPS) workers and police personnel need to elicit detailed and accurate accounts of the abuse to assist in decision-making and prosecution. Current research emphasizes the importance of the interviewer’s ability to follow empirically based guidelines. In doing so, it is essential to implement economical and scientific training courses for interviewers. Due to recent advances in artificial intelligence, we propose to generate a realistic and interactive child avatar, aiming to mimic a child. Our ongoing research involves the integration and interaction of different components with each other, including how to handle the language, auditory, emotional, and visual components of the avatar. This paper presents three subjective studies that investigate and compare various state-of-the-art methods for implementing multiple aspects of the child avatar. The first user study evaluates the whole system and shows that the system is well received by the expert and highlights the importance of its realism. The second user study investigates the emotional component and how it can be integrated with video and audio, and the third user study investigates realism in the auditory and visual components of the avatar created by different methods. The insights and feedback from these studies have contributed to the refined and improved architecture of the child avatar system which we present here.

Myths and Misunderstandings About Child Sexual Abuse in Criminal Investigations.

Researchers have established that rape myths shape perceptions of victims and perpetrators in criminal cases. Researchers have devoted less attention to exploring the impact of child sexual abuse (CSA) myths in court. While we know that jurors believe myths and misconceptions about the nature of CSA, no work has explored how these myths appear during the prosecution of CSA cases. The purpose of the present investigation was to assess how defense attorneys apply myths more specific to CSA in the questioning of children testifying about alleged CSA. The present study compliments and expands upon a previous study by St. George and colleagues (2021a), where authors examined the use of rape myths in the questioning of children making allegations of CSA. In the current study, we examined testimonies of 122 children testifying in criminal cases of alleged CSA in the United States. We qualitatively coded 6,384 lines of questioning for references to CSA-focused myths related to the disclosure process, witnesses and privacy issues, assumptions of harm, and the child's positive relationship with the perpetrator. These myths were common, occurring in over 10% of defense attorneys' lines of questioning. Disclosure issues were the most frequent, followed by witness and privacy issues, assumptions of harm, and the child's positive relationship with their perpetrator. In many cases, attorneys employed different strategies across child's age to highlight these myths. These findings compliment those of prior work suggesting that CSA myths, much like rape myths, are appearing with regularity. Defense attorneys are likely capitalizing on jurors' misconceptions to undermine children's believability.

Cross-Sectional Study and Descriptive Statistical Analysis During a Period of Time of One Year Extending From the Beginning of January to the End of December 2020 of Alleged Child Sexual Abuse Cases in Cairo Governorate in Egypt

Cross-Sectional Study and Descriptive Statistical Analysis During a Period of Time of One Year Extending From the Beginning of January to the End of December 2020 of Alleged Child Sexual Abuse Cases in Cairo Governorate in Egypt

The Prevalence of Sexual Grooming Behaviors in a Large Sample of Clergy.

Following the exposure of child sexual abuse (CSA) within the U.S. Catholic Church, it was postulated that many of these cases went unreported because sexual grooming was involved. The present study examined the prevalence of sexual grooming behaviors of clergy through the lens of the content-validated Sexual Grooming Model (SGM). The study used archival data from a victim survey of 10,667 cases of alleged CSA within the U.S. Catholic Church. Results revealed the accused clergy frequently used tactics in the gaining access and isolation, trust development, and desensitization stages of the SGM. From the limited data available for the victim selection and post-abuse maintenance stages, the findings showed these tactics were relatively less common. Overall, clergy who were alleged to have committed CSA used tactics consistent with sexual grooming in general, although there were unique aspects of sexual grooming given their institutional role and position.

‘What am I Bringing into the Room?’ Perception and Management of Interviewer Bias in Child Sexual Abuse Interviews: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

Several high‐profile cases in the USA in the 1980s and 1990s revealed the impact that interviewer bias can have on children's accounts of child sexual abuse (CSA). Since then, researchers and practitioners have explored techniques to address this, leading to refined interviewing techniques, greater understanding of suggestibility and memory, and the development of best practice guidelines. However, a gap remains in understanding how professionals themselves manage their interviewer bias. This interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) examines professionals' perceptions and management of interviewer bias when assessing CSA allegations. Eight professionals across social work, clinical/counselling psychology and psychiatry employed in specialist services across Ireland participated in semi‐structured interviews to explore this question. Ethical approval was obtained from the relevant university and the first author's organisational panel. IPA identified three superordinate themes: Quality Assurance; Collaborative Approach; and Professional Identity ‐ Personal Self. The professionals considered interviewer bias to have potentially detrimental impacts upon both the interview process and possible outcomes. They move from a definition of bias related specifically to a priori beliefs to a definition in which bias is a more dynamic process. A multidisciplinary approach alongside the constant reviewing of practice is considered essential to ensuring a high standard of practice, accountability and integrity of assessments.‘This interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) examines professionals' perceptions and management of interviewer bias when assessing CSA allegations’Key Practitioner Messages Interviewer bias is dynamic and can develop at any stage of an intervention thus potentially affecting outcomes. Investigative interview protocols/guidance provide security for practitioners who make significant decisions regarding alleged CSA. Professionals view multidisciplinary teamwork and co‐working as essential to maintaining the integrity of their assessments. Practitioners are encouraged to reflect on their potential biases in a conscious manner, by thinking explicitly about information, maintaining a neutral stance, questioning and testing information, and seeking alternative explanations.

PARENTAL ALIENATION: A SIMPLE BUT POTENTIALLY HARMFUL AND POORLY SUPPORTED EXPLANATION FOR THE COMPLEX PROBLEM OF PARENT CONTACT RESISTANCE/REFUSAL

This session aims to interrogate the concept of parental alienation (PA) as the cause of contact resistance/refusal in divorce and custody disputes. This panel will examine the history and etiology of PA and its variants; discuss its acceptance in the legal, mental health, and scientific communities; propose a methodology for determining the cause(s) of child contact resistance/refusal; and describe some of the negative consequences of a “diagnosis” of PA. PA was first proposed as “parental alienation syndrome” (PAS) by child and adolescent psychiatrist Richard Gardner in the late 1980s as a defense/explanation for allegations of child sexual abuse between separated parents. Lack of scientific validation led to rejection of PAS by courts. Attempts to have a similar construct, parental alienation disorder (PAD), included in the DSM-5 failed as did recent efforts to get PA terminology into the ICD-11. The session will describe the lack of agreed-upon and validated definitions, whether the locus of the problem is with the parent, the child, or both, and treatment programs that include separation of children from their preferred parents, as well as expensive reprogramming camps with significant possible harms and limited evidence of efficacy. Determining the cause(s) of contact resistance/refusal is a complex undertaking for which one evaluator’s approach based upon decades of work is examined. Efforts to buttress PA include declaring it is a form of child abuse. Limitations and flaws in existing research on PA and the legal challenges and appellate cases addressing PA are presented and discussed. PA is an overly simplified and potentially harmful proposed explanation for the complex problem of contact resistance/refusal following separation and divorce.

Statement from the Family Court of Australia in response to the paper, Allegations of child sexual abuse: an empirical analysis of published judgments from the Family Court of Australia 2012–2019, by Nola Webb, Lawrence Moloney, Bruce Smyth and Robyn Murphy

Australian Journal of Social IssuesVolume 56, Issue 3 p. 358-358 COMMENTARY Statement from the Family Court of Australia in response to the paper, Allegations of child sexual abuse: an empirical analysis of published judgments from the Family Court of Australia 2012–2019, by Nola Webb, Lawrence Moloney, Bruce Smyth and Robyn Murphy Family Court of Australia, Family Court of AustraliaSearch for more papers by this author Family Court of Australia, Family Court of AustraliaSearch for more papers by this author First published: 22 August 2021 https://doi.org/10.1002/ajs4.175 [Correction added on [31 August 2021] after first online publication: The spelling of Nola Webb was corrected and an additional author name Robyn Murphy was added to the article title.] Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume56, Issue3September 2021Pages 358-358 RelatedInformation

Commentary on Allegations of child sexual abuse: An empirical analysis of published judgements from the Family Court of Australia 2012–2019

AbstractThis commentary responds to Webb et al.’s (Australian Journal of Social Issues, 2021) study of published judgements of allegations of child sexual abuse from the Family Court of Australia 2012–2019. The study offers important empirical data to inform critical debates about the challenges associated with legal decision making about children alleged to be at risk of sexual harm in the context of parental separation. The research findings form the outcomes of 521 published judgements highlight that more needs to be known about how to respond to alleged sexual harm, raised by a parent, to assist the court in identifying factors attached to cases and what are effective responses.