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Commentary on Allegations of child sexual abuse: An empirical analysis of published judgements from the Family Court of Australia 2012–2019
Author(s) -
Sheehan Rosemary
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
australian journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.417
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1839-4655
pISSN - 0157-6321
DOI - 10.1002/ajs4.172
Subject(s) - harm , child sexual abuse , publishing , project commissioning , context (archaeology) , criminology , empirical research , psychology , sexual abuse , family court , law , suicide prevention , social psychology , poison control , political science , medicine , history , philosophy , environmental health , archaeology , epistemology
This commentary responds to Webb et al.’s ( Australian Journal of Social Issues , 2021) study of published judgements of allegations of child sexual abuse from the Family Court of Australia 2012–2019. The study offers important empirical data to inform critical debates about the challenges associated with legal decision making about children alleged to be at risk of sexual harm in the context of parental separation. The research findings form the outcomes of 521 published judgements highlight that more needs to be known about how to respond to alleged sexual harm, raised by a parent, to assist the court in identifying factors attached to cases and what are effective responses.