Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome Research Articles

Opposite sides of the same coin: syndrome evidence, child abuse and the wrongful conviction of Peter Hugh McGregor Ellis

Introduction of evidence relating to the now-discredited behavioural-science syndrome known as ‘child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome’ in R v Ellis demonstrates the danger of syndrome reasoning in judicial fact finding. Comparable syndrome evidence is still used in the Family Court in the form of ‘parental alienation syndrome’. Ellis should sound the death knell for all forensic applications of unreliable syndrome reasoning in the courts.

The effects of evidence-based expert testimony on perceptions of child sexual abuse involving recantation

Child sexual abuse (CSA) cases involving recantation invoke concerns about children's reliability. Expert testimony can help explain the complexities of these cases. Experts have historically relied on Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome (CSAAS), yet this is not science-based. In a CSA case involving recantation, how would evidence-based testimony affect perceptions of child credibility when compared to CSAAS? Across 2 studies, we test the effects of expert testimony based on evidence-based science, nonscientific evidence, and experience-based evidence on outcomes in CSA cases involving recantation. Evidence-based testimony led to higher perceptions of credibility and scientific rigor of the evidence when compared to CSAAS testimony. Evidence-based testimony also led to more guilty verdicts when compared to the control. In sum, jurors had some ability to detect evidence strength, such that evidence-based expert testimony was superior to CSAAS testimony in many respects, and consistently superior to experience-based testimony in these cases.

The effects of evidence-based expert testimony on perceptions of child sexual abuse involving recantation.

Child sexual abuse (CSA) cases involving recantation invoke concerns about children’s reliability. Expert testimony can help explain the complexities of these cases. Experts have historically relied on Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome (CSAAS), yet this is not science-based. In a CSA case involving recantation, how would evidence-based testimony affect perceptions of child credibility when compared to CSAAS? Across 2 studies, we test the effects of expert testimony based on evidence-based science, nonscientific evidence, and experience-based evidence on outcomes in CSA cases involving recantation. Evidence-based testimony led to higher perceptions of credibility and scientific rigor of the evidence when compared to CSAAS testimony. Evidence-based testimony also led to more guilty verdicts when compared to the control. In sum, jurors had some ability to detect evidence strength, such that evidence-based expert testimony was superior to CSAAS testimony in many respects, and consistently superior to experience-based testimony in these cases.

Analyzing the scientific foundation of Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome: A reply to Lyon et al.

The issue before the New Jersey Supreme Court in the Frye hearing New Jersey v. J.L.G. (2018) was whether the scientific community agreed that Summit's (1983) Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome rested on a firm scientific foundation. Lyon et al. (this issue) critique our approach to describing child sexual abuse disclosure, which involved extrapolating rates from children who came to the attention of authorities. Lyon et al. claim that our conclusions are marred by sampling biases resulting from what they term the ground truth problem, suspicion bias and substantiation bias. The points Lyon et al. claim we "fell victim to" were the very points we acknowledge are inherent difficulties in estimating the extent to which children will come forward to tell others about sexual maltreatment. Lyon et al. offer an alternative solution to the inherent difficulties in studying a difficult-to-identify population, relying in large part on 21 papers published mostly in the 1960s and 1970s. We argue that the method they propose has more flaws than the one it is intended to replace. Points of agreement and disagreement, along with suggestions for future research, are discussed. Moving forward, we argue that studies are needed that embrace both validity and generalizability in order to foster data-driven theories rather than invoking the intuitive suppositions of Summit's (1983) syndromal evidence.

A Theoretical Foundation for Understanding Clergy-Perpetrated Sexual Abuse

ABSTRACT Incorporating elements from broadband theories of psychological adaptation to extreme adversity, including Summit's (1983) Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome, Finkelhor and Browne's (1986) Traumagenic Dynamics Model of sexual abuse, and Pyszczynski and colleagues' (1997) Terror Management Theory, this paper proposes a unified theoretical model of clergy-perpetrated sexual abuse for future research. The model conceptualizes clergy-perpetrated sexual abuse as the convergence of interactive processes between the clergy-perpetrator, the parishioner-survivor, and the religious community.

Review of the contemporary literature on how children report sexual abuse to others: Findings, methodological issues, and implications for forensic interviewers

Methods used during forensic interviews with children are driven by beliefs about how children recall and report child sexual abuse (CSA) to others. Summit (1983) proposed a theory (Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome) contending that, due to the specific traumatic characteristics of CSA, children will often delay disclosing abuse or altogether fail to disclose during childhood, deny abuse when asked, and often recant abuse allegations. His theory has had a tremendous impact on the field of CSA forensic evaluations, despite its dearth of empirical support. In this paper, we review and critique the contemporary literature from two main sources: retrospective accounts from adults reporting CSA experiences and studies of children undergoing forensic evaluation for CSA. We conclude that data support the notion that children often delay abuse disclosure, but that among valid abuse cases undergoing forensic evaluation, denial and recantation are not common. Methodological issues and implications for forensic interviewers are discussed.

Disclosure of Child Sexual Abuse: What Does the Research Tell Us About the Ways That Children Tell?

The empirical basis for the child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome (CSAAS), a theoretical model that posits that sexually abused children frequently display secrecy, tentative disclosures, and retractions of abuse statements was reviewed. Two data sources were evaluated: retrospective studies of adults’ reports of having been abused as children and concurrent or chart-review studies of children undergoing evaluation or treatment for sexual abuse. The evidence indicates that the majority of abused children do not reveal abuse during childhood. However, the evidence fails to support the notion that denials, tentative disclosures, and recantations characterize the disclosure patterns of children with validated histories of sexual abuse. These results are discussed in terms of their implications governing the admissibility of expert testimony on CSAAS. Although it is widely acknowledged that the sexual assault of children is a major societal concern, it is not known how many children are victims of sexual abuse in the United States (Ceci & Friedman, 2000). There are two major reasons for this lack of data. First, present estimates of the incidence of child sexual abuse (CSA) are primarily based on reports received and validated by child protection agencies. These figures, however, do not reflect the number of unreported cases or the number of cases reported to other types of agencies (e.g., sheriff’s offices) and professionals (e.g., mental health diversion programs). Second, the accuracy of diagnosis of CSA is often difficult because definitive medical or physical evidence is lacking or inconclusive in the vast majority of cases (Bays & Chadwick, 1993; Berenson, Heger, & Andrews, 1991), and because there are no gold standard psychological symptoms specific to sexual abuse (Kendall-Tacket, Williams, & Finkelhor, 1993; Poole & Lindsay, 1998; J. M. Wood & Wright, 1995). Given these limitations of medical and psychological evidence, children’s statements typically represent the central evidence for judging the occurrence of

School Professionals' Attributions of Blame for Child Sexual Abuse

This article reports the results of two studies comparing school professionals' attributions of blame to a child victim, a father/perpetrator, and a nonparticipating mother in hypothetical vignettes of father–daughter incest. Vignettes depicted a 10-year-old female responding in an encouraging, passive, or resistant manner to her father's sexual advances. Results from both studies indicate that participants assigned significantly more blame to encouraging victims than to passive and resistant victims. All professional groups (i.e., school psychologists, teachers, school counselors, and principals) assigned some degree of blame to the child victim and nonparticipating mother, and they assigned very much or total blame to the father. Participants with less traditional gender role attitudes assigned less blame to the child. In Study 2, participants who reported a personal history of child sexual abuse (CSA) attributed less blame to the child, and participants who assigned some level of blame to the child were older and had received less hours of formal course training in CSA compared with participants who assigned no blame. The results of these studies support the need to educate school professionals about the child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome and the importance of not attributing blame to child victims regardless of their behavioral presentation.

Expert testimony in child sexual abuse trials: the admissibility of psychological science

The authors describe a research programme investigating whether psychological evidence about child sexual abuse and child witnesses meets several criteria for admissibility in US courts: (a) general acceptance within the scientific community, (b) helpfulness to the jury, and (c) whether its probative value outweighs its prejudicial value. Responses from a survey of child sexual abuse experts suggest that they agree about the research findings in three areas: the demographic characteristics of sexually abused children, child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome (Summit, 1983), and children's cognitive capabilities. Survey responses from college students and community members indicate that they may be especially helped by expert testimony on children's memory. Laypersons may also benefit from a discussion of the paucity of research on offender characteristics and the wide variety of responses to sexual victimization. Data from a survey and a trial simulation suggest that expert testimony on child sexual abuse will not be prejudicial to the defendant. Implications for expert witnesses are discussed. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Language: en

Influential papers in child abuse

A survey was conducted among professionals expert in the field of child protection to determine which papers or book chapters they felt had been the most influential. From their responses, a list of the 50 most mentioned papers and chapters was compiled. This list was sent to a large group of child protection professionals with the request that they rank the 15 publications which they considered most important. To compare the views of child protection professionals with the number of times these publications had been cited in the literature, a citation search was carried out. Kempe, Silverman, Steele, Droegemuller, and Silver's (1962) paper “The Battered Child Syndrome” and Summit's (1983) paper “The Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome” received the highest ranking from the professionals. “The Battered Child Syndrome” also achieved the highest ranking in the citation search. Although there were a number of discrepancies between the professional rankings and the citation search, eight papers appeared in the top 15 rankings achieved by the professional survey and the citation search. Such a review of the influence of child abuse literature has limitations, although it does help to show which papers appear to have had an important and lasting influence.

Child sexual abuse accommodation evidence: the travails of counterintuitive evidence in Australia and New Zealand.

The author advances a taxonomy of expert evidence in relation to the responses of sexually abused children to their assaults. He analyses a series of Australian and New Zealand cases in the context of Summit's publicly stated recent views on the use to which Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome ("CSAAS") can be put. He argues that expert evidence that goes further than dispelling myths or disabusing triers of fact of misperceptions generally held within the community should not be permitted. He contends that CSAAS is an illegitimate description of such information and that such "syndrome evidence" should not be permitted, particularly before juries. He maintains, moreover, that further rigour will be (and should be) required of prosecutors and mental health professionals alike if such counterintuitive evidence is to be admitted. This will entail proof of the existence of community misunderstanding of the phenomenon, establishment that the field of expertise from which child sexual abuse accommodation evidence emanates is sufficient for the purpose, as well as proof of the expert's expertise in the field. However, he argues against abandoning attempts to use counterintuitive evidence merely on the basis of a number of adverse Australasian determinations, whose reasoning is dependent on the quality of the evidence hitherto advanced and the overly limited perceptions of the evidential framework within which such evidence should be evaluated.

Child sexual abuse accommodation evidence: the travails of counterintuitive evidence in Australia and New Zealand

The author advances a taxonomy of expert evidence in relation to the responses of sexually abused children to their assaults. He analyses a series of Australian and New Zealand cases in the context of Summit's publicly stated recent views on the use to which Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome (“CSAAS”) can be put. He argues that expert evidence that goes further than dispelling myths or disabusing triers of fact of misperceptions generally held within the community should not be permitted. He contends that CSAAS is an illegitimate description of such information and that such “syndrome evidence” should not be permitted, particularly before juries. He maintains, moreover, that further rigour will be (and should be) required of prosecutors and mental health professionals alike if such counterintuitive evidence is to be admitted. This will entail proof of the existence of community misunderstanding of the phenomenon, establishment that the field of expertise from which child sexual abuse accommodation evidence emanates is sufficient for the purpose, as well as proof of the expert's expertise in the field. However, he argues against abandoning attempts to use counterintuitive evidence merely on the basis of a number of adverse Australasian determinations, whose reasoning is dependent on the quality of the evidence hitherto advanced and the overly limited perceptions of the evidential framework within which such evidence should be evaluated. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

How do children tell? The disclosure process in child sexual abuse

Children's disclosure of sexual abuse has been described as a quasi-developmental process that includes stages of denial, reluctance, disclosure, recantation, and reaffirmation (Sorenson & Snow, 1991, Summit, 1983). It has been reported that nearly 75% of sexual abuse victims initially deny abuse, and that nearly 25% eventually recant their allegations (Sorenson & Snow, 1991). The present study examined disclosures in 234 sexual abuse cases validated by Protective Services in El Paso, Texas. Denial of abuse occurred in 6% of cases, and recantation in 4% of cases in which a child had already disclosed abuse. Four of the eight victims who recanted appeared to do so in response to pressure from a caretaker. The Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome described by Summit (1983) seems to be infrequent among the types of cases seen by child protection agencies. The present findings do not support the view that disclosure is a quasi-developmental process that follows sequential stages.

A Social Exchange Explanation for the Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome

Social exchange framework is applied to Summit's Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome, which describes a common pattern of interaction and response among child victims of sexual abuse, their caretakers, and the adult offenders. Using the principles of cost and rewards, an analysis is made of the five components of the syndrome: (a) secrecy; (b) helplessness; (c) entrapment and accommodation; (d) delayed, conflicted, and unconvincing disclosure; and (e) retraction. Exchange principles show that all components reflect the least unprofitable of the limited options perceived by victims. Analysis of the syndrome demonstrates the applicability of the exchange perspective for this aspect of child sexual abuse and encourages its use with other aspects of family violence.

The Rehabilitation of the Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome in Trial Courts in Kentucky

This article attempts to reconcile the position of Kentucky law in regard to the CSAAS with that of Dr. Roland Summit's views as outlined in his previous articles. Our goal is to show that the CSAAS may still be admissible evidence, if properly presented in Kentucky Trial Courts. In doing this, I have given an outline of Kentucky's brief legal history concerning this issue.

Response to the "Abuse of the Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome"

Response to the "Abuse of the Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome"

Abuse of the Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome

No abstract available for this article.

The Rehabilitation of the Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome in Trial Courts in Kentucky

The Rehabilitation of the Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome in Trial Courts in Kentucky

Expert witnesses in child abuse cases

AbstractThis article discusses the need for expert testimony and the criteria for admissibility of such testimony in child abuse cases. It addresses the scope of expert testimony in both physical and sexual abuse cases with respect to (a) descriptive and diagnostic issues, (b) witness credibility issues, and (c) legal issues. In particular, the article focuses on the admissibility of expert testimony on the battered child syndrome, the child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome, and observations of behavior with anatomically correct dolls. The article concludes that medical expert testimony is more admissible in court than mental health expert testimony.

The Emotional Effects of Child Protection Work on the Worker

Abstract This paper describes and analyses the emotional impact of child protection work on staff. Two models are used for this, an organisational stress model, and an adaption ofSummit's Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome. Attention is drawn to both the primary effect of clients on workers and the secondary effect of the organisational response to worker distress. Factors conducive to ameliorating the alienating work environment are considered, looking at differential responsibilities within the organisation. This paper is relevant to staff at all levels of the organisation, and it is suggested that group discussion would be a particularly appropriate way of responding to the material. This paper was first presented as a key-note address at the BASPCAN Spring Conference in April 1990.