Sexual Abuse Prosecutions Research Articles

Human Trafficking and the Passage of the 2000 TVPA: A Comparative Analysis of Prosecution of Sex Trafficking, Child Pornography, and Sexual Abuse Cases

ABSTRACT We examined changes in patterns of federal prosecutions of sex trafficking cases, including the success of those prosecutions, between 2000, when congress passed the Trafficking Victims Protections Act (TVPA), and 2020. For comparison purposes, we evaluated changes in federal child pornography and sexual abuse prosecutions over the same time. Across all case types, the number of prosecutions increased through the early 2000s and decreased after 2012 though 2020. This decrease occurred slightly later and was proportionally more dramatic for sex trafficking than for child pornography and sexual abuse. The success of prosecutions for all three case types was high, although for trafficking cases, success decreased post 2015, a potentially concerning trend given that the number of cases prosecuted also decreased. Finally, most cases ended in convictions, typically via plea deals. Sex trafficking cases were slightly less likely to be pled, but among pled cases, plea discounts occurred. Neither of the latter trends varied over time, suggesting consistency in outcomes, especially among trafficking cases. Results highlight areas of potential success linked to the TVPA but also areas of ongoing concern and a need for continued improvement in federal efforts to prosecute sex trafficking.

Trauma- and Violence-Informed Empowering Care for Sexual Assault Survivors.

Forensic nurse examiners, including sexual assault nurse examiners, provide care for survivors holistically through healthcare, emotional support, connection to follow-up care, safety planning, and, if desired, evidence collection to aid in the prosecution of sexual assault. There is increasing recognition that trauma-informed care must also include an understanding of the impacts of structural violence on minoritized patients to ensure health equity. To help address this guidance gap, we expanded Campbell and colleagues' empowering care model using a trauma- and violence-informed care (TVIC) lens. We used an iterative discussion-based process that included five joint meetings between a seven-member transdisciplinary research team and a five-member nurse advisory board. In a TVIC-informed empowering care model, we propose behavioral examples for forensic nurses for each of Campbell et al.'s five key domains of empowering care for forensic nurse examinations (i.e., build rapport and establish trust, show compassion, provide patient-directed care, convey professionalism, and provide resource referral and follow-up). These behavioral examples for nurses can help guide forensic nurse training and practice to reduce disparities in treatment and follow-up support. Structures and systems are needed that enable forensic nurses to provide trauma- and violence-informed empowering care to survivors of sexual assault and, over time, increase the accessibility of forensic nurse examinations and improve patient outcomes.

Repressed Memories (of Sexual Abuse Against Minors) and Statutes of Limitations in Europe: Status Quo and Possible Alternatives.

One of the most heated debates in psychological science concerns the concept of repressed memory. We discuss how the debate on repressed memories continues to surface in legal settings, sometimes even to suggest avenues of legal reform. In the past years, several European countries have extended or abolished the statute of limitations for the prosecution of sexual crimes. Such statutes force legal actions (e.g., prosecution of sexual abuse) to be applied within a certain period of time. One of the reasons for the changes in statutes of limitations concerns the idea of repressed memory. We argue that from a psychological standpoint, these law reforms can be detrimental, particularly when they are done to endorse unfounded psychological theories. The validity of testimonies is compromised many years after the alleged facts, and abolishing the statute of limitations increases the chance that even more (false) recovered memories of abuse might enter the courtroom. We propose solutions to these changes such as establishing an independent expert committee evaluating claims of sexual abuse.

Community-based advocacy in “cold case” sexual assault prosecutions: A qualitative exploration of survivors’ and advocates’ experiences

Sexual assault survivors who report to the criminal legal system often need the assistance of victim advocates to navigate this complex and often retraumatizing system. In recent years, victim advocates have been called upon to assist more survivors in “cold case” sexual assault prosecutions. The term “cold case” refers to a criminal incident that is reopened years after it was initially reported, often because new evidence has become available. In this study, we interviewed sexual assault survivors and community-based victim advocates about their experiences working together in cold cases. These cases were reopened because victims’ sexual assault kits (SAKs; also known as “rape kits”) had not been submitted by the police for forensic DNA testing in a timely way. When these SAKs were finally tested, the biological evidence produced new investigatory leads, and prosecutors wanted to move forward with criminal charges against the offenders. Re-opening these legal cases caused significant emotional distress for survivors, but most did not want mental health counseling during their legal re-engagement. Instead, survivors wanted their advocates to provide emotional support while focusing on their tangible needs so that they had sufficient life stability to re-engage in the prosecution process. Survivors also needed extensive legal advocacy from their advocates throughout their hearings and trials. These results underscore the need for cold case protocols that train practitioners about the long-term impacts of trauma and the importance of centering survivors’ individual needs.

Breaking the Silence: An Islamic Legal Approach to Facilitating Reporting and Testimony by Muslim Victims and Witnesses of Sexual Crimes

Many Muslims hold the doctrine of the legal schools (madhāhib) in high esteem. As such, the schools’ approaches to rape and sexual assault may impact the behaviour of Muslim victims and witnesses. Through an examination of the legal rules that regulate rape and sexual assault in fiqh and fatwā works associated with the four Sunni schools and Ibn Ḥazm, I aim to determine whether the relevant rules may interfere with the willingness of Muslim victims and witnesses to report or testify to sexual crimes. I argue that although the jurists’ prosecution of sexual assault as a discretionary offence (taʿzīr) is compatible with reporting and testimony, their prosecution of rape as coerced illicit intercourse (zinā), usurpation (ghaṣb), or banditry (ḥirāba) silences victims and witnesses. Further, rules related to financial compensation do not encourage victims to come forward. Reclassifying rape as a discretionary offence would better promote reporting and testimony by victims and witnesses. The central role of ijtihād in creating the historical rules on rape, the jurists’ intent behind those rules, and modern knowledge regarding the reality of rape support this reclassification. Fully resolving issues related to civil compensation is difficult without broader reforms of Islamic tort law.

Pediatric Forensic Analysis

Although the presence of forensic evidence aids in successful prosecution of sexual abuse, controversy remains regarding the timing and indications for collection of forensic evidence in child sexual abuse/assault. The purpose of this study was to describe forensic evidence findings in acute child sexual abuse after implementing more inclusive indications for collection of evidence in a pediatric emergency department and to identify factors associated with yield of DNA. Of the 306 evidence kits collected and analyzed, 110 (35.9%) kits were positive for an interpretable DNA profile foreign to the patient, which may or may not have contributed to the investigation of the sexual abuse concern. Several factors were associated with increased forensic yield of identifiable foreign DNA: increased age of child victim, 48 hours or less between the latest incident of sexual abuse and the collection of forensic evidence, child disclosure of high-severity sexual abuse acts (anal-genital or genital-genital contact) in the pediatric emergency department forensic interview, and sexual abuse by a nonrelative perpetrator. Finally, although certain factors were associated with increased yield of identifiable foreign DNA within each factor, there were multiple outliers where failure to collect forensic evidence would have resulted in a loss of recoverable foreign DNA.

The Relationship of DNA Evidence to Prosecution Outcomes in Sexual Assault Cases.

This study examined the relationship between DNA evidence and outcomes of prosecution of sexual assault. Researchers coded data from prosecutor and crime laboratory files for sexual assault cases referred to prosecutors between 2005 and 2011 in a metropolitan jurisdiction in the northeastern United States. Cases with a DNA match were significantly more likely to move forward and result in conviction, even with other predictor variables statistically controlled. Analyses suggest DNA evidence contributes to case progression but also is a result of it. These findings strengthen the case for quality forensic medical examinations, investment in DNA analysis, and increased prosecutor training.

Association between Interview Quality and Child Sexual Abuse Trial Outcome

Child witness interviews frequently comprise the central evidence in child sexual assault prosecutions. The aim of the present study was to explore the association between interview quality, interview inconsistencies raised during cross-examination, and trial outcome, while taking into account the strength of the prosecution case. Sixty-nine interviews of child complainants (56 female; aged 6–18 years) were coded for quality (proportion of open-ended questions, interviewer compliance with best-practice, and evidential categories sought). Corresponding trial transcripts were coded for indicators of case strength including number of victims and corroborating evidence (e.g., DNA, eyewitnesses). Cross-examination transcripts were coded for inconsistencies within the child witness interview or between this interview and another statement by the same complainant. After controlling for number of victims and corroborative evidence, interview quality was not associated with trial outcomes. The strongest predictor of verdict was the number of victims: the greater the number of victims, the more likely the defendant was to be convicted of at least one count. The number of inconsistencies was marginally associated with outcome: the greater the number of inconsistencies, the more likely the defendant was to be acquitted. The findings highlight the importance of examining the trial as a whole when investigating the relationship between the child witness interviews and the legal process. Future studies are necessary to replicate these findings, ideally with interviews ranging in quality on key indicators of best-practice interviewing.

Viewpoint: CPS guidance on prosecuting rape and sexual assault cases

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to highlight concerns about recent CPS guidance on the prosecution of rape and sexual assault cases.Design/methodology/approachThe paper places the CPS guidance in the wider policy context of concerns about sexual violence on mental health wards.FindingsThe paper concludes that the reported CPS guidance appears to run counter to other policy directives particularly the recent report from the CQC.Originality/valueThe paper is a first response to these issues.

Defense Advisory Committee on Investigation, Prosecution, and Defense of Sexual Assault in the Armed Forces Initial Report

The initial report of the DAC-IAPD summarizes the Committee's impressions on issues of importance related to the investigation, prosecution, and defense of sexual assault crimes in the military and on the course of action it should take to best advise the Secretary of Defense.

Trauma and the Construction of Suffering in Irish Historical Child Sexual Abuse Prosecutions

Adopting the special issue’s broad definition of criminal law reform, this article explores some of the ways the Irish criminal process is grappling with the demands for justice of adults who report childhood sexual abuse. In particular, it shows how the cultural notion of trauma is bound up with the construction of victims’ suffering. In historical child sexual abuse prosecutions, trauma is shown to be an effect of the abuse on the victim/survivor; a site of mediation of the relationship between the state and victims; and a site of mediation of the relationship between the state and its past. The article first explores these insights in relation to the law’s approach to questions of alleged procedural unfairness to defendants flowing from the passage of time. Trauma is exposed as both legitimating some forms of suffering, and disqualifying others. The article then employs the trope of trauma to expose the problems with current approaches to cross-examination of vulnerable victims and recent reforms of the rules on disclosure of victims’ counselling records. Finally, the article explores the possibilities of trauma discourse in thinking anew about how to address the suffering of victims of historical child sexual abuse.

Admissibility of Children's Statements in Sexual Abuse Prosecutions: Prompt Complaint, Excited Utterance, Medical Diagnosis or Treatment, Child Sexual Abuse Hearsay Exception; Confrontation Clause

In a prosecution for child sexual abuse, the alleged victim’s statements may be admissible in evidence as an excited utterance, a statement for purposes of medical diagnosis or treatment, as a prompt complaint, or pursuant to a jurisdiction’s specific child sexual abuse hearsay exception.In assessing the current state of the waterfront with respect to the admissibility in a criminal prosecution of statements made by child victims of sexual abuse, the most glaring recent development is the backsliding caused by the United States Supreme Court’s reinterpretation of the Confrontation Clause beginning with Crawford in 2004.If the child declarant is unavailable to testify at trial, out-of-court statements of the child victim of sexual abuse are now much, much less likely to be admissible at trial. Many of such statements will have been made to law enforcement personnel. Each and every one of such statements made to law enforcement personnel, including SART personnel, must be subjected to the Confrontation Clause primary purpose testimonial/nontestimonial test. While some initial excited utterance statements to law enforcement personnel, admissible under the rules of evidence regardless of whether the declarant testifies, will be held to be nontestimonial, many others will not pass constitutional Confrontation Clause scrutiny. More significantly, all subsequent statements that were made by the unavailable to testify at trial child victim of sexual abuse as part of a subsequent ongoing investigation, in spite of admissibility of many under a state specific child sexual abuse hearsay exception, are now clearly inadmissible in a prosecution of the alleged abuser. The foregoing may be one of the most serious, hopefully, unintended consequences of the United States Supreme Court ill-advised primary purpose testimonial/nontestimonial Confrontation Clause adventure.

Seeking rape justice: Formal and informal responses to sexual violence through technosocial counter-publics

Communications technologies are being used in varying ways to perpetrate and extend the harm of sexual violence and harassment against women and girls. Yet little scholarship has explored the uses of communications technologies, to support reporting, investigation and prosecution of sexual assault, nor indeed less formal mechanisms of justice. In this article, I contend that communications technologies are not simply new tools for conventional formal justice, but rather that these technologies are mediating new mechanisms of informal justice outside of the state, in turn challenging meanings of justice in western liberal democracies. In so doing I employ concepts of technosocial practices operating in counter-public online spaces, to explore the potential (and limits) of communications technologies as mediators of rape justice.

Judicial Proceedings Panel - Initial Report

This is the final report of the Judicial Proceedings Since Fiscal Year 2012 Amendments Panel (JPP). This report is the culmination of three years of the Panel’s review and assessment of issues involving judicial proceedings related to sexual assault in the Armed Forces. To conduct its assessments, the JPP held 32 public meetings between August 2014 and July 2017 during which the members heard testimony from hundreds of witnesses, including sexual assault survivors and victim advocacy organizations, military leaders, military and civilian prosecutors, defense counsel and victims’ counsel, former judges, victim services personnel, and numerous others. The Panel also received thousands of pages of documents from the Department of Defense, the military Services, and other interested parties. The JPP observed and assessed many constructive and important changes addressing sexual assault in the military and support for victims over the past three years. Since February 2015, the JPP issued 11 reports containing a total of 63 recommendations to Congress, the Secretary of Defense, the military Services, and the Defense Advisory Committee on Investigations, Prosecution, and Defense of Sexual Assault in the Armed Forces, presenting its research and findings on the topics assigned to it by Congress, those recommended by its predecessor sexual assault advisory committee—the Response Systems Panel—as well as on two related issues.

Use of Intimate Photography in Sexual Assault Prosecution: Who Is Being Deterred?

Sexual violence is well established as both extremely traumatic for victims and a challenging crime to prosecute, due to the paucity in most instances of corroborative evidence. Physical forensic examination of victims contributes valuable material. However, the use in these examinations of ano-genital photography of victims, which occurs in some jurisdictions and has been called for in some Australian states, raises many questions. Five concerns are identified: (1) the limited value of images as evidence in court; (2) controlling who can gain access to images; (3) creating expectations of “best practice”; (4) the psychological impact on victims; and (5) deterrence to future victims from reporting the crime. The limited uses for and risks of this practice point to the need to constrain its use, to reduce adverse effects for victims and so provide processes that encourage rather than deter reporting to police and giving evidence and so increase the accountability of offenders.

Evaluating the Legal Impact of Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Programs

There has been sustained interest in the academic literature and in policy circles regarding how Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) programs may bolster sexual assault prosecution rates in their communities, in addition to the health care they provide to their patients. To build evaluation capacity among forensic nurses so that they can evaluate their own programs, a practitioner-oriented, step-by-step evaluation toolkit (the SANE Practitioner Evaluation Toolkit) that can be used by SANE-A and SANE-P programs, and their community partners, to examine sexual assault prosecution rates in their local jurisdictions was created and validated. This article describes the process of creating and empirically validating the toolkit and presents the toolkit itself and accompanying resources that are available to practitioners. This article also provides recommendations regarding program readiness to engage in evaluation activities, without compromising program sustainability and patient care.

The Impact of Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Programs on Criminal Justice Case Outcomes: A Multisite Replication Study.

To address the underreporting and underprosecution of adult sexual assaults, communities throughout the United States have implemented multidisciplinary interventions to improve postassault care for victims and the criminal justice system response. One such model is the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) Program, whereby specially trained nurses provide comprehensive psychological, medical, and forensic services for sexual assault. In this study, we conducted a multisite evaluation of six SANE programs (two rural programs, two serving midsized communities, two urban) to assess how implementation of SANE programs affects adult sexual assault prosecution rates. At each site, most sexual assaults reported to law enforcement were never referred by police to prosecutors or were not charged by the prosecutor's office (80%-89%). Individually, none of the sites had a statistically significant increase in prosecution rates pre-SANE to post-SANE. However, when the data were aggregated across sites, thereby increasing statistical power, there was a significant effect such that cases were more likely to be prosecuted post-SANE as compared with pre-SANE. These findings suggest that the SANE intervention model does have a positive impact on sexual assault case progression in the criminal justice system. Nevertheless, there is still a pressing need for improvement as the vast majority of both pre-SANE and post-SANE resulted in nonreferral/no charges filed.

The non-prosecution of human trafficking cases: an illustration of the challenges of implementing legal reforms

Research on the implementation of reforms focusing on policies and practices of the criminal court system reveals that members of the courtroom workgroup often resist or circumvent these legal reforms. This is particularly true if the reforms require changes in the way cases are prosecuted, affect the likelihood of successful prosecution, or impede the efficient and effective processing of cases. In this paper, I demonstrate that the findings of the Farrell et al. study of the prosecution of human trafficking cases are consistent with the larger bodies of research on prosecutorial charging decisions and the implementation of legal reforms. Like reforms designed to enhance the likelihood of successful prosecution of sexual assault and domestic violence cases, the new human trafficking statutes may not be capable of achieving the instrumental effects that those who lobbied for the changes envisioned.

Every Breath You Take: Erotic Asphyxiation, Vengeful Wives, and Other Enduring Myths in Spousal Sexual Assault Prosecutions

L'importante décision de la Cour suprême du Canada dans l'arrêt J.A. devrait faire cesser le recours à la défense invoquant le consentement donné à l'avance, offrant ainsi une protection contre les agressions sexuelles aux femmes qui se retrouvent inconscientes pour quelque raison que ce soit. Même si une analyse plus profonde du cas et de la jurisprudence connexe révèle que les praticiens du sadomasochisme ont peu de raisons de craindre des poursuites criminelles au Canada, la présente analyse met en lumière d'autres problèmes sérieux, par exemple en ce qui concerne les poursuites pour agressions sexuelles entre conjoints, y compris le fait de minimiser les risques reliés à l’étranglement, une volonté de considérer la violence comme agréable et l'invocation constante du comportement sexuel antérieur sans plus d'information sur le contexte, notamment les actes de violence antérieurs du défendeur contre la plaignante. De plus, l'article remet en question la nécessité et l’à-propos de la preuve d'experts dans des cas d'agression sexuelle dans un contexte conjugal.

Every Breath You Take: Erotic Asphyxiation, Vengeful Wives and Other Enduring Myths in Spousal Sexual Assault Prosecutions

The Supreme Court of Canada’s important decision in J.A. should end reliance on the defence of advanced consent thereby helping to ensure that women who are unconscious for any reason are protected from sexual assault. A closer analysis of the case and related jurisprudence also reveals that this decision does not support fears that BDSM practitioners now face heightened risk criminal prosecutions. But it illuminates other serious problems that arise, especially in spousal sexual assaults prosecutions, including minimization of the harms of strangulation, a willing to see violence as enjoyable, and the continued reliance of sexual history evidence without more contextualizing information, especially the defendant’s prior violence against the complainant. It also raises questions about whether and when expert evidence is required in spousal sexual assault cases.