Open Access“Did You Ever Fight Back?” Jurors’ Questions to Children Testifying in Criminal Trials About Alleged Sexual Abuse
Author(s) -
Suzanne St. George,
Anastacia Maria Garcia-Johnson,
Emily Denne,
Stacia N. Stolzenberg
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
criminal justice and behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.298
H-Index - 94
eISSN - 1552-3594
pISSN - 0093-8548
DOI - 10.1177/0093854820935960
Subject(s) - psychology , context (archaeology) , sexual abuse , child sexual abuse , child abuse , suicide prevention , poison control , criminology , psychiatry , medicine , medical emergency , paleontology , biology
The current study examined jurors' questions to children in criminal trials assessing children's allegations of sexual abuse, demonstrating a new avenue for studying how jurors think about, respond to, and assess evidence. We used qualitative content analysis to examine jurors' questions to 134, 5- to 17-year-olds alleging sexual abuse in criminal trial testimonies. Five themes emerged: abuse interactions, contextual details of abuse, children's reactions to abuse, children's (delayed) disclosure, and case background details. Jurors often ask about abuse dynamics, the context surrounding abuse, and children's disclosure processes, reflecting common misconceptions about child sexual abuse (CSA), such as whether it is credible to delay disclosure or maintain contact with an alleged perpetrator. This study improves our understanding of how jurors understand and evaluate children's reports of alleged CSA, suggesting that jurors may struggle to understand children's reluctance.