Premium
Responding to Child Sexual Abuse: The Criminal Justice System
Author(s) -
Prior Viv,
Glaser Danya,
Lynch Margaret A.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
child abuse review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.569
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1099-0852
pISSN - 0952-9136
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-0852(199705)6:2<128::aid-car313>3.0.co;2-6
Subject(s) - redress , imprisonment , criminal justice , criminology , psychology , sexual abuse , vulnerability (computing) , economic justice , child sexual abuse , psychiatry , suicide prevention , law , poison control , political science , medicine , medical emergency , computer security , computer science
Children who disclose sexual abuse, and the professionals working with them, continue to face a series of difficulties and dilemmas if the alleged abuser is to be brought before the criminal court. As part of a major study of 202 children who had been sexually abused, 35 were interviewed about their post‐abuse experiences. The majority were positive about their contact with police. What the children wanted to happen to the abuser suggests that they did not always want imprisonment but that they required some form of redress, and above all that the abuser should be held accountable. However, accounts by the six children who were prosecution witnesses were all unequivocally negative about their experience of giving evidence and being cross‐examined. The issues raised by the children's qualitative evaluations provide increased support for the view that further reform is still needed if the interests of children, as well as justice, are to be truly protected within the criminal legal system. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.