Legal responses to child sexual abuse cases in the Children’s Court of Victoria: study findings on a case-management approach

Child sexual abuse cases present Children’s Courts with distinctive challenges. The highly conflictual nature of child sexual abuse cases means they do not lend themselves to the usual adversarial court processes that characterise the conduct of Magistrate Court matters in Australia. With this in mind, the Children’s Court in Victoria established for 12 months in 2013 a pilot specialised judicial list (known as the ‘D’ List) which offered an intensive Magistrate-led case management approach to child sexual abuse cases in the Family (child protection) Division of the Court. The operation of the List was evaluated to assess the suitability and effectiveness of this approach, and to investigate the challenges associated with managing and deciding this class of cases. The findings confirmed that the List provided better management of cases and reduced delay. Given this, the Court is continuing the judicially proactive intensive case management approach and dedicated list for child sexual abuse matters and extending it to regional courts; believing it to be a more effective approach to managing and deciding this complex class of cases.     

Sibling Sexual Abuse: An Exploratory Study of Long-term Consequences for Self-esteem and Counseling Considerations

Great advances have been made regarding the study of child sexual assault since the 1970’s. In spite of these advances, the gravity of sibling sexual abuse has largely been overlooked in sexual abuse literature. This paper uses peer reviewed research to highlight some of the major issues and unique long-term consequences associated with sibling sexual abuse. Specifically, an altered version of the Conflict Tactics Scale Straus (Journal of Marriage and the Family 41:75-88, 1979) and The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale Rosenberg (1965) were used to explore the long-term impact on self-esteem for those having experience with sibling sexual abuse as a child. In addition, clinical considerations for working with survivors, offenders, and families are provided.     

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.     

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.     

High Risk Behaviors Among Victims of Sibling Violence

Despite the fact that sibling abuse has been documented as the most common form of intrafamilial abuse, it has been largely overlooked. Using data from the 2007 Delaware Secondary School Student Survey (N = 8,122), this paper focuses on four objectives: to estimate prevalence of sibling abuse, examine the relationship between sibling violence and high risk behaviors such as substance use, delinquency and aggression, explore the interplay of sibling abuse and other forms of family violence in predicting high risk behaviors, and test theory. Results suggest that sibling violence occurs more frequently than other forms of child abuse. Results also confirm that sibling violence is significantly related to substance use, delinquency, and aggression. These effects remain significant after controlling for other forms of family violence. The data suggest support for feminist theory and social learning theory.     

Grooming child victims into sexual abuse: a psychometric analysis of survivors’ experiences

This study sought to examine the psychometric properties of the Grooming subscale of the Computer Assisted Maltreatment Inventory (CAMI) in a sample of adult survivors of child sexual abuse. There are currently no other research measures that examine grooming events as experienced by survivors, which underscores the importance of a reliable and valid way of gathering this information. Participants (n?=?295) were adult survivors of child sexual abuse who completed this anonymous study online. The sample was collected through the use of adult survivor of child sexual abuse websites, trauma blogs, and survivor group pages on Facebook. Exploratory Factor Analysis, Confirmatory Factor Analysis, and Cronbach’s Alpha were used to ascertain the reliability and validity of this subscale. These analyses suggest that the Grooming subscale of the CAMI is a reliable and valid measure. This measure is an important addition to the body of research instruments that measure adult survivor of child sexual abuse experiences, particularly since this is the only instrument that examines grooming from this perspective.     

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.     

Do parents blame or doubt their child more when sexually abused by adolescents versus adults?

Although the importance of parental support for child sexual abuse victims is well documented, the nature of parental support for victims sexually abused by adolescents is less understood. In this exploratory study, we examine whether parents differ in their levels of blame or doubt for their child when sexually abused by adolescents versus adults. Data included 161 reports of child sexual abuse. Parental blame toward their child was higher when sexually abused by an adolescent versus an adult suspect. In the bivariate and multivariate analysis, parental blame was significantly higher as victim age increased, for Black, non-Hispanic children, and when there was an adolescent suspect. Practitioners need to recognize that high levels of blame and doubt could exist for adolescent victims of sexual abuse and when children are sexually abused by adolescents.     

The effects of complainant age and expert psychological testimony in a simulated child sexual abuse trial

Mock jurors viewed a videotape of a simulated child sexual abuse trial and then deliberated to a unanimous verdict. The complainant was described as either a 13- or 17-year-old female child. Jurors voted to convict more often when the younger complainant was seen, and the younger complainant was rated as more credible than the older complainant. Female jurors voted the defendant guilty more often and rated the complainant as being more credible than male jurors. Jurors voted to convict more often and rated the defendant as less credible when expert psychological testimony was specific to the case than when they were presented with either general expert testimony or no expert testimony. Jurors who saw a psychological expert testify became less accepting of child sexual abuse misconceptions than those in the no expert control condition. The implications of these findings are discussed.Millbrook Correctional Centre     

Victim age,attractiveness and,abuse history as factors in the perception of a hypothetical child sexual abuse case

Abstract

This study examines the effect of victim age, victim attractiveness, the victim's abuse history and respondent gender have on attributions of blame and credibility towards a female victim in a hypothetical child sexual abuse case. A total of 397 respondents from a community sample read a hypothetical child sexual abuse (CSA) scenario in which victim age, victim attractiveness and the victim's abuse history were manipulated. Respondents then completed a 16-item blame attribution questionnaire. Several predictions were made. First, a 10-year-old victim would be deemed less blameworthy and more credible than a 15-year-old victim. Secondly, an attractive victim would be viewed more positively, and attributed less blame, than an unattractive victim. Thirdly, a victim with previous history of being sexual abused—either by the same or different perpetrators—would be deemed more culpable for their own CSA than a first time victims. Finally, female respondents were expected to take a more pro-victim and anti-perpetrator stance than males. Whilst comparatively few differences were found across victim attractiveness and abuse history. Overall findings were broadly in line with predictions. It was concluded that victim age and respondent gender play particularly important roles in the attribution of blame towards victims and perpetrators of child sexual abuse.     

Empathy and Jurors' Decisions in Patricide Trials Involving Child Sexual Assault Allegations

In a mock-trial paradigm, 205 participants considered a patricide trial in which a child defendant claimed the patricide was done in self-defense after years of sexual abuse. Participants in an empathy-induction condition were asked to take the perspective of the defendant and to detail how they would be thinking and feeling if they were the defendant. Control condition participants received no such instructions. Results indicated that, compared to jurors in the control condition, jurors who were asked to take the defendant's perspective had more empathy for the defendant (without feeling more similar to or more sympathy for the defendant), found the defendant less guilty and less responsible for the murder, and were more likely to consider abuse to be a mitigating factor in the killing. Overall, compared to men, women were more likely to believe the defendant's abuse allegations, find the defendant credible, and consider the defendant to be less responsible for the murder. Women in the empathy condition found the defendant less guilty than did all other jurors. Finally, child defendant gender was also varied, but this had few effects on case judgments overall. Jurors, however, were more likely to believe that the girl defendant was sexually abused than the boy defendant. We discuss theoretical implications for understanding the social psychological construct of empathy as well as implications for understanding jurors' decisions in cases involving child sexual assault allegations.     

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.     

Prediction of attitudes towards child sexual abuse among three different Norwegian samples

Abstract

The aim of the current study was to reveal attitudes towards child sexual abuse and investigate predictors of such attitudes. A random sample of the Norwegian adult population (n = 296), active Christians (n = 125) and prisoners convicted of child sexual abuse (n = 36) were included in the study. The results show that women were more negative towards child sexual abuse than men, and the prisoners had more accepting attitudes than the other samples. Predictors of attitudes differed across the samples. Empathy and normlessness were the best predictors of attitudes among the random sample of adults and the active Christians. The largest predictor of attitudes among the prisoners was their view of women. The implications of the results for prevention strategies are discussed.     

Early maladaptive schemas in convicted sexual offenders: Preliminary findings

Core cognitive schemas may play a role in the vulnerability for sexual offending. Identifying these schemas could help to conceptualize sexual crimes and rehabilitate convicted sexual offenders. The aim of this preliminary study was to explore the relationship between early maladaptive schemas (EMSs) and sexual offending, as well as how rapists and child sex molesters differ in terms of these schemas. Thirty-two men convicted for rape, 33 convicted for child sexual abuse, and 30 non-offenders were evaluated using the Young Schema Questionnaire (YSQ-S3) and the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI). Results showed that participants convicted for child sexual abuse presented significantly more schemas from the disconnection/rejection, impaired autonomy/performance, other directness, and over vigilance/inhibition domains than non-offenders, whereas rapists presented more schemas from the impaired autonomy/performance domain than non-offenders. Differences between sex offenders showed that child molesters presented more schemas of pessimism than rapists. Preliminary findings suggested that EMSs may impact sex offender's perceptions about themselves and about the world. Schema-focused therapy (Young, 1990, 1999) may thus be an acceptable approach to sex offender's psychological assessment and intervention.     

The long-term effects of child sexual abuse by female perpetrators: a qualitative study of male and female victims

Although the long-term effects of sexual abuse by men have been studied extensively, minimal research has explored the effects of sexual abuse by women. This qualitative study explores the experience and long-term impact of sexual abuse by women. The data were derived from in-depth interviews with 14 adult victims (7 men, 7 women) of child sexual abuse by females. Most respondents reported severe sexual abuse by their mothers. The vast majority of participants reported that the experience of female-perpetrated sexual abuse was harmful and damaging. As a result of the sexual abuse, male and female respondents reported long-term difficulties with substance abuse, self-injury, suicide, depression, rage, strained relationships with women, self-concept and identity issues, and a discomfort with sex. In light of the popular and professional perceptions that sexual abuse by women is relatively harmless as compared to sexual abuse by men, the implications of these long-term effects are discussed, particularly in relation to professionals working in the area of child sexual abuse.     

Adult female victims of child sexual abuse: multitype maltreatment and disclosure characteristics related to subjective health

This study examined the impact of child sexual abuse and disclosure characteristics on adult psychological and psychosomatic symptoms. Data on abuse characteristics, disclosure-related events, and subjective health were collected through semistructured interviews and questionnaires from 123 adult women reporting having been sexually abused in childhood by someone close. The results indicate that disclosure-related events have a stronger relation than abuse characteristics to long-term consequences of childhood sexual abuse. In particular, a positive reaction from a partner was related to fewer symptoms. Of the abuse characteristics, exposure also to physical abuse was strongly associated to psychological sequelae.     

Self-reported versus diagnosed paraphilias in outpatient sexual offenders

Literature has repeatedly reaffirmed sexual deviance as a risk factor for sexual recidivism, making it an important subject to examine. Yet, not all studies confirm the relevance of sexual deviance and there is a lack of consensus regarding the assessment of it. In the current study, 499 Dutch adult male subjects, admitted for sexual misconduct (possession of child abuse material, child molestation and other types of inappropriate sexual behaviour) to an outpatient forensic treatment facility, were compared regarding sexual paraphilias using self-reports from clients and official DSM-IV-TR diagnoses assessed by professionals. Analyses revealed a relatively low similarity between self-reports and diagnoses, self-reports generating considerably more information. Furthermore, correlating the paraphilias revealed paedophilia associated minimally with the other paraphilias. Lastly, the different types of offenders varied significantly in number of self-reported and diagnosed paraphilias, with the miscellaneous group presenting the most. Considering these outcomes may help assessment and target treatment goals in forensic psychiatry.     

Perceptions of victims and perpetrators in a depicted child sexual abuse case: gender and age factors

This study investigated the roles of respondent, perpetrator, and victim gender on attributions toward a 10- or 15-year-old victim and an adult perpetrator in a hypothetical sexual abuse case. It was predicted (a) that female respondents would be more provictim and antiperpetrator than men, (b) that 10-year-old victims would be deemed more credible than 15-year-olds, and (c) that men would deem a 15-year-old male victim more culpable when child sexual abuse is perpetrated by a female abuser. Three hundred thirty-seven respondents read a 350-word sexual abuse depiction in which victim age, victim gender, and perpetrator gender were varied between respondents. Respondents then completed a 14-item attribution scale, relating to victim blame, perpetrator blame, assault severity, and victim credibility. A series of ANOVAs revealed support for all predictions. Results are discussed in relation to gender role attitudes. Suggestions for future work also considered.     

Prosecuting child sexual abuse in rural Kentucky: Factors influencing case acceptance by prosecuting attorneys

This study examined the relationship between felony prosecutors’ discretion and the legal and social factors present in cases of child sexual abuse. Prosecuting attorneys from 20 rural circuits in Kentucky were targeted for semistructured interviews in order to determine what influences them to accept or not accept a case for prosecution. Findings show a relationship between rural Kentucky prosecutors’ decision to accept a case and the availability of physical evidence, victims’ age and competence, potential trauma inflicted upon the victim, and the situation in which the allegation of sexual abuse originated. The relationship between prosecutors’ discretion and various factors is discussed regarding the impact on other criminal justice officials in their pursuit to combat child sexual abuse in Kentucky and in other rural communities as well. Winner of 1997 Outstanding Graduate Paper Award, Southern Criminal Justice Association