Citation

Connolly DA, Coburn PI, Chong K. Psychol. Public Policy Law 2017; 23(2): 166-177.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, University of Arizona College of Law and the University of Miami School of Law, Publisher American Psychological Association)

DOI

10.1037/law0000121

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In many common-law jurisdictions around the world, criminal courts are facing or will soon face the unmitigated challenge of prosecuting cases of child sexual abuse that are reported to have happened in the past, often decades earlier. In Canada, criminal prosecutions of historic child sexual abuse (HCSA) have been common for a long time, providing an opportunity to study changes over time in such prosecutions. In the current research, we coded 3,035 HCSA complaints on 12 variables and looked at changes in those variables between 1986 and 2012. Across court dates, the average age of the complainant when the alleged offense began increased, duration decreased, frequency decreased, intrusiveness decreased, and length of delay to criminal court decreased from the late 1990s. Although guilty pleas, convictions, and guilty verdicts decreased through the 1990s, there was an increase in all 3 beginning in the early 2000s. Length of incarceration increased for those convicted. These data are discussed in the context of education, legal change, and social attitudes toward delayed reporting of child sexual abuse. Policy implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved)

Language: en