The genuine victim and prosecutors’ charging decisions in sexual assault cases

This study examined the effect of victim characteristics and evidence factors on prosecutors’ decisions to file charges in sexual assault cases. Social scientists and legal scholars argue that sexual assault case processing decisions are affected by stereotypes of real rapes and genuine victims. They assert that complainants whose backgrounds and behavior conform to the image of a genuine victim will be taken more seriously, and their allegations treated more seriously, than complainants whose backgrounds and behavior are at odds with this image. We used a sample of arrests for sexual assault made by the Detroit Police Department in 1989 to test these assertions. We combined six victim characteristics to create a genuine victim scale, and we examined the effect of this scale, as well as a number of evidence factors, on prosecutors’ charging decisions. We performed separate analyses on cases with child victims and cases with adolescent or adult victims. We found that the genuine victim scale did not influence charging decisions in cases with child victims, but was theonly significant predictor in cases involving adolescent or adult victims. In contrast, none of the four evidence factors affected charging in cases with adult victims, and only one of these factors was related to charging in cases involving children. These findings suggest that prosecutors attempt to avoid uncertainty by screening out sexual assault cases unlikely to result in a conviction because of questions about the victim’s character, the victim’s behavior, and the victim’s credibility. This paper is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. SES-9010826. Points of view are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the position of the National Science Foundataion.     

The Impact of Extreme Emotional Distance in the Mother-Child Relationship on the Offspring’s Future Risk of Maltreatment Perpetration

Emotional qualities of the parent-child relationship are thought to influence the offspring’s risk for perpetrating child maltreatment in adulthood. The current study examined whether having grown up in an enmeshed or disengaged mother-child relationship, hence a relationship characterized by extremes on the continuum of emotional distance, increased the offspring’s risk of child maltreatment perpetration in a sample of 178 undergraduate students attending a large rural public university. A history of extreme emotional distance experienced with mothers significantly increased the grown offspring’s risk of maltreatment perpetration, as measured by two risk indicators. Emotional reactivity, but not empathy, mediated this effect for the offspring’s child abuse potential. Extreme amounts of emotional distance within the mother-child relationship also predicted the offspring’s child abuse potential over and above maltreatment occurring in that relationship, whereas maltreatment rather than emotional distance predicted the offspring’s unrealistic expectations of children. Clinical implications are discussed.     

Face to Face with Child Abuse: Towards an Ethics of Listening

This paper is concerned with faces. It is concerned with the face of a sexually abused seven years old child -- with my face -- and with the marginalisation and violation of children’s own subjective experiences of abuse by the law. Drawing upon my own subjective experience of sexual abuse as a young child, silenced for twenty-five years, I interpret my own sexual abuse as a profound experience of ‘homelessness’. To be homeless is to lack a primal place in the world, to be in a permanent state of disorientation, to be displaced. To be homeless is not necessarily to be emotionally insecure, but to be voiceless. Accordingly, the subject of sexual abuse is an emotionally dislocated subject and I interpret my own abuse in terms of an enduring experience of the violation of place. In other words, I would argue that the physical act of sexual abuse is less important than the site or place of abuse. The significance of sexual abuse is that it reveals the homelessness of our own sojourn and the poverty of our own subjectivity. Given this interpretation, I find the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child problematic and I attempt to think child sexual abuse in ethical terms. Following Emmanuel Levinas, I present sexual abuse in terms of the ethical significance of the face-to-face relationship and I argue that rights-based advocacy must listen to what children say. It must think through what listening to that voice entails in ethical terms. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Child sexual abuse: Purity and danger in an age of anxiety

This paper examines the emergence and development of child sexual abuse (CSA) as a social problem in the main English-speaking societies in the post 1970s period. In contrast to prevailing explanations in moral panic and feminist literature, it illustrates how this problem has become knowable and understandable to us as a new kind of risk. This is the result of the positioning of child sexual abuse between the tensions, uncertainties and anxieties characteristic of ‘the age of anxiety’ on the one hand, and the cultural understandings that have come to be associated with purity and danger in this period on the other.     

Pathways to adult sexual revictimization: direct and indirect behavioral risk factors across the lifespan

The purpose of this study is to investigate direct and indirect social and behavioral risk factors for adult sexual revictimization. Participants include 147 adult, predominantly African American (88%) women, 59% of whom had a documented history of child sexual abuse. Participants are interviewed in adulthood about adolescent and adult sexual victimization as well as other background and lifestyle characteristics. Structural equation modeling indicates that the relationship between child and adolescent sexual victimization is indirect, mediated by adolescent risk-taking behavior. The relationship between adolescent and adult sexual victimization is also indirect, mediated by risky sexual behavior. The residual effects of early childhood family environment and childhood physical abuse also indirectly predict sexual revictimization. Results provide empirical support for the general supposition that the relationship between child and adult sexual victimization is complex and that many intermediary factors differentially affect risk for a heightened vulnerability to sexual revictimization.     

From Victim to Offender: Female Offenders of Child Sexual Abuse

Historically, women have been seen to have a much lower recorded rate of crime than men. In the area of child sexual abuse, women have figured prominently in official statistics as victims but have had virtually no official recognition as offenders. It is difficult for many people to accept that women do sexually abuse children and this can result in discounting by personnel in child protection services and police. This article discusses female offenders of child sexual abuse and the way in which these cases are processed by the criminal justice system.     

Alcohol Use,Drinking Venue Utilization,and Child Physical Abuse: Results from a Pilot Study

A positive relationship between parents’ drinking and child physical abuse has been established by previous research. This paper examines how a parent’s use of drinking locations is related to physical abuse. A convenience sample of 103 parents answered questions on physical abuse with the Conflict Tactics Scale-Parent Child version (CTS-PC), current drinking behavior, and the frequency with which they drank at different venues, including bars and parties. Ordered probit models were used to assess relationships between parent demographics, drinking patterns, places of drinking, and CTS-PC scores. Frequent drinking, frequently going to bars, frequently going to parties in a parent’s own home, and frequently going to parties in friends’ homes were positively related to child physical abuse. The number of drinking locations was positively related to child physical abuse such that parents who report attending and drinking at more of these venues were more likely to be perpetrators of physical abuse. This suggests that time spent in these venues provides opportunities to mix with individuals that may share the same attitudes and norms towards acting violently.     

Effects of Defendant Sexual Orientation on Jurors’ Perceptions of Child Sexual Assault

We examined mock jurors’ reactions to a sexual abuse case involving a male teacher and a 10-year-old child. Because gay men are sometimes stereotyped as child molesters, we portrayed defendant sexual orientation as either gay or straight and the victim as either a boy or girl. Jurors made more pro-prosecution decisions in cases involving a gay versus straight defendant, particularly when the victim was a boy. In boy-victim cases, jurors’ emotional feelings of moral outrage toward the defendant mediated these effects. On average, women jurors were more pro-prosecution than were men. Results have implications for understanding social perceptions of cross- and same-gender child sexual abuse and juror decision making in child sexual assault cases perpetrated by homosexual and heterosexual men.

Gender Based Violence: Correlates of Physical and Sexual Wife Abuse in Kenya

This study explored factors associated with physical and sexual wife abuse on a sample of 4,876 married women aged 15–49 years in the 2003 Kenya Demographic Health Survey. Results indicate that 40% of married women reported at least one type of violence; 36% were physical and 13% were sexual. Multivariate analysis showed that living in poorer households, being Christian, being in a polygamous marriage, having a husband who drinks alcohol, and being in sales, agricultural, or unskilled jobs significantly increased the wife’s risk of physical and sexual abuse. Wife’s education had significant effect on both physical and sexual abuse, but the relationships were not linear. Wife’s age and number of children were significantly associated only with physical abuse; husband’s education had a marginal but significant effect only on sexual abuse. Research implications are discussed.     

Childhood Maltreatment,Intimate Partner Violence,Work Interference and Women’s Employment

This study examined the long-term effects of childhood maltreatment, intimate partner violence (IPV) and work interference on women’s employment in a sample of 135 housed or homeless women. Work interference (defined as a partner’s interference with or restraint of a woman’s working) was reported by 60% of women who had experienced IPV and was more common among non-Hispanic White women. Abuse history of any type was not predictive of women’s employment or receiving job training, but child sexual abuse history and lifetime IPV were predictive of non-Hispanic White women’s not looking for a job. Receiving job training was negatively correlated with women’s current mental health. The study suggests different but overlapping pathways to the outcome of underemployment for racial/ethnic minority and majority women—namely, macro level factors and individual vulnerability factors, respectively. The need for trauma-informed services for unemployed and/or homeless women is highlighted.     

Child abuse and chronic pain in a community survey of women

This study examined the relationship between a self-reported history of child physical and sexual abuse and chronic pain among women (N = 3,381) in a provincewide community sample. Chronic pain was significantly associated with physical abuse, education, and age of the respondents and was unrelated to child sexual abuse alone or in combination with physical abuse, mental disorder (anxiety, depression, or substance abuse), or low income. Number of health problems and mental health disorders did not mediate the relationship between physical abuse and chronic pain. Despite considerable evidence from the clinical literature linking exposure to child maltreatment and chronic pain in adulthood, this may well be the first population-based study to investigate this relationship for child physical and sexual abuse independently. The significant association between childhood history of physical abuse and pain in adulthood calls for a greater awareness of the potential for chronic pain problems associated with this type of maltreatment. Further research is needed to understand the mechanism for this complex relationship.     

Effect of Psychopathy, Abuse, and Ethnicity on Juvenile Probation Officers’ Decision-Making and Supervision Strategies

Probation officers exercise substantial discretion in their daily work with troubled and troubling juvenile offenders. In this experiment, we examine the effect of psychopathic features, child abuse, and ethnicity on 204 officers’ expectancies of, recommendations for, and approach to supervising, juvenile offenders. The results indicate that officers (a) have decision-making and supervision approaches that are affected by a youth’s psychopathic traits and history of child abuse—but not ethnicity; (b) view both abused youth and psychopathic youth as highly challenging cases on a path toward adult criminality; and (c) have greater hope and sympathy for abused youth than psychopathic youth. For abused youth, officers are likely to recommend psychological services and “go the extra mile” by providing greater support, referrals, and networking than is typical for their caseload. For psychopathic youth, officers expect poor treatment outcomes and are” extra strict,” enforcing rules that typically are not enforced for others on their caseload.     

Spouse Abuse and Child Abuse by Army Soldiers

This study analyzed data collected by the U.S. Army’s Family Advocacy Program, the group primarily responsible for family violence prevention, identification, evaluation, treatment, and follow-up on Army installations. Patterns of spouse abuse and child abuse perpetrated within a five year period (2000–2004) were examined in a sample of 10,864 Army Soldiers who were substantiated for family violence offenses. Three groups of family violence offenders were compared: (1) those who perpetrated spouse offenses only; (2) those who perpetrated child offenses only; and (3) those who perpetrated both spouse and child offenses. Results showed that the majority of substantiated family violence offenders were spouse offenders who had not committed child abuse (61%), followed by child offenders who had not committed spouse abuse (27%), and finally those who committed both spouse and child offenses (12%). The three groups of family violence offenders differed in terms of the types of abuse they perpetrated (neglect of children, emotional abuse, physical abuse, and sexual abuse), their experiences of being a spouse abuse victim, and sociodemographic characteristics. Twelve percent of all spouse abusers committed multiple spouse abuse incidents, and 10% of all child abusers committed multiple child abuse incidents.     

I Spy with My Little Eye: Jurors’ Detection of Internal Validity Threats in Expert Evidence

This experiment examined whether jury-eligible community members (N = 223) were able to detect internally invalid psychological science presented at trial. Participants read a simulated child sexual abuse case in which the defense expert described a study he had conducted on witness memory and suggestibility. We varied the study’s internal validity (valid, missing control group, confound, and experimenter bias) and publication status (published, unpublished). Expert evidence quality ratings were higher for the valid versus missing control group version only. Publication increased ratings of defendant guilt when the study was missing a control group. Variations in internal validity did not influence perceptions of child victim credibility or police interview quality. Participants’ limited detection of internal validity threats underscores the need to examine the effectiveness of traditional legal safeguards against junk science in court and improve the scientific reasoning ability of lay people and legal professionals.     

Through a Foucauldian Lens: A Genealogy of Child Abuse

This theoretical paper takes on a difficult and dangerous argument: that ‘child abuse’ is socially constructed. By using Michel Foucault’s analysis of the complex interplay between power and knowledge, we may be able to explain the changing forms that the struggle against child abuse has taken, without minimizing the reality of the suffering that abuse causes. By examining the historical role that state and child welfare movements played in developing child protective services in North America, we discover how scientific epistemology and medical discourse on child abuse have come together to shape and construct societal beliefs about abusers. This analysis allows us to deepen our understanding of child abuse and the means to preventing it, as well as guides us in developing better and more informed social policies.     

Childhood Sexual Abuse,Other Childhood Factors,and Pathways to Survivors’ Adult Relationship Quality

We were interested in understanding how the effects of childhood sexual abuse, in concert with other negative childhood experiences, were carried forward into adult romantic relationships. Data from 15,831 married or cohabitating individuals were gathered via the RELATE Questionnaire. Empirical research, attachment theory, and a general model of adult relationship quality suggested that the path from negative childhood events to adult relationship quality was mediated by a number of individual and relational affect-laden variables. Results showed that childhood abuse and other family-of-origin variables work primarily through the adult survivor’s perceptions of the events of his or her childhood. This “current impact” variable, along with the current level of depression, work through an emotion-laden relationship variable—level of emotional flooding during couple conflict—to influence the relationship quality outcome variable. Treatment implications are discussed.     

Treating Adult Survivors of Sibling Sexual Abuse: A Relational Strengths-Based Approach

Sibling sexual abuse is a far more common manifestation of family violence than is often recognized. Researchers agree that it has received less attention than other forms of child abuse trauma despite the fact that good evidence suggests it is no less injurious than child sexual abuse when a parent or other adult is the perpetrator. This paper describes a relational, strengths-based approach to psychotherapy with adult survivors of sibling sexual abuse guided by trauma-informed principles. Cultural considerations are discussed as well as an overview of the clinical research on sibling sexual abuse and its harmful effects. Clinical case material, treatment strategies and a case illustration demonstrate therapeutic principles of the approach in action.     

The construction of community understandings of sexual violence: rethinking public,practitioner and policy discourses

Abstract

This article explores current societal framings and understandings of sexual violence, particularly child sexual abuse. The article starts by explaining how societal perceptions of child sexual abuse are formed through implicit and explicit theories, followed by a brief examination of media, professional and public understandings of child sexual abuse. This is then compared to research-based knowledge on sexual violence and child sexual abuse in particular. A public health approach is presented as a critical way of engaging communities, publics and society in an informed discourse about child sexual abuse, with a view to increasing both understanding and engagement. Finally, the article will posit the hypothesis that with recent news stories, such as the Jimmy Savile case in the UK and the Penn State case in the USA, organisations and individuals are beginning to ask for more information, trying to ask harder questions and this presents a unique opportunity to fully engage with the emerging public health approach of change.     

When Is It Enough for Me to Leave?:Black and Hispanic Women’s Response to Violent Relationships

Based upon a subsample from the National Violence Against Women Survey (NVAWS) this article examines the role of socioeconomic status, relationship investment and psychological abuse in Black and Hispanic women’s decisions to leave or stay in violent relationships. Racial and ethnic differences and similarities were found in the factors related to staying or leaving violent relationships. Black women stayed in violent relationships at a slightly higher rate than Hispanic women. Marital status, presence of other adults in the household, and psychological abuse influenced Black women’s staying/leaving decision. Household income and psychological abuse were factors in whether Hispanic women remained in or exited violent relationships. Recommendations for possible interventions are discussed.     

An Archival Analysis of Actual Cases of Historic Child Sexual Abuse: A Comparison of Jury and Bench Trials

Logistic regression analyses were used to predict verdicts from 466 Canadian jury and 644 Canadian judge-alone criminal trials involving delayed or historic allegations of child sexual abuse. Variables in regard to the complainant and offence were selected from the legal, clinical, and experimental literatures, including mock juror research. Of six variables that had been related to decisions reached in mock juror research concerning delayed allegations of child sexual abuse (i.e., repressed memory testimony, involvement in therapy, length of delay, age of complainant, presence of experts, and frequency of abuse) two (age of complainant and presence of expert) predicted verdicts. An additional five variables (duration, severity, complainant–accused relationship, threats, and complainant gender) were also examined: of these, threats and the complainant–accused relationship reliably predicted jury verdicts. For judge-alone trials, five variables predicted verdict: length of the delay, offence severity, claims of repression, the relationship between complainant and accused, and presence of an expert. Implications of the jurors' and judges' differential sensitivity to these variables for future simulation and archival research are discussed.