Prosecuting Child Sexual Abuse: The Importance of Evidence Type
Date
2010
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Crime & Delinquency
Abstract
Corroborating evidence has been associated with a decrease in children’s
distress during the court process, yet few studies have empirically examined the
impact of evidence type on prosecution rates. This study examined the types of
evidence and whether charges were filed in a sample of child sexual abuse cases
(n = 329). Cases with a child disclosure, a corroborating witness, an offender
confession, or an additional report against the offender were more likely to have
charges filed, controlling for case characteristics. When cases were lacking
strong evidence (confession, physical evidence, eyewitness), cases with a
corroborating witness were nearly twice as likely to be charged. Charged cases
tended to have at least two types of evidence, regardless of whether there was a
child disclosure or not
Description
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Article
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Keywords
sexual abuse, prosecution, evidence
Citation
Walsh, W. A., Jones, L. M., Cross, T. P., & Lippert, T. (2010). Prosecuting child sexual abuse: The importance of evidence type. Crime & Delinquency, 56(3), 436-454.