Elsevier

Child Abuse & Neglect

Volume 57, July 2016, Pages 53-60
Child Abuse & Neglect

Research article
Identifying the characteristics of child sexual abuse cases associated with the child or child's parents withdrawing the complaint

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2016.05.004Get rights and content

Abstract

Most child sexual abuse cases do not result in a full trial or guilty plea; rather, case attrition occurs at earlier stages of the criminal justice system. One reason for the attrition of these cases is the withdrawal of complaints, by children or their caregivers. The aim of the current study was to determine the case characteristics associated with complaint withdrawal in child sexual abuse cases by the child or his or her parents once a report has been made to authorities. All child sexual abuse incidents reported to authorities in one jurisdiction of Australia in 2011 were analyzed (N = 659). A multinomial logistic regression was used to predict the following case outcomes: (1) withdrawn by the child or his or her parents, (2) exited for other reasons (e.g., the alleged offender was not identified, the child refused to be interviewed), and (3) resulted in a charge. Five predictors significantly added to the prediction of case outcome: child age, suspect gender, suspect age, child–suspect relationship, and abuse frequency. These results should contribute to the design of interventions in order to reduce complaint withdrawals if these withdrawals are not in the child's best interests.

Section snippets

Data set

All recorded CSA cases reported in one jurisdiction of Australia from 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2011 were analyzed (N = 659 cases). These cases were identified through the jurisdiction's police database and included attempted CSA offenses (e.g., attempted penetration) and offenses accompanying the abuse (e.g., trespass). The database contained information from the initial interaction with the complainant right through to the case outcome.

Procedure

Before the commencement of data collection, ethical

Results

The results are presented in three sections. First, we present descriptives about the cases that were withdrawn and those that exited for other reasons. Second, we examined the differences between the three types of case outcomes: withdrawn, exited for other reasons, and charged. Third, we present the case characteristics that predicted case outcomes.

Discussion

The results of the current study extend our knowledge about the case characteristics related to complaint withdrawals by children (or their parents) after the cases were reported to authorities. When case characteristics were used to predict case outcomes (withdrawal, exited for other reasons, or charged) five significant predictors were found: child age, suspect gender, suspect age, child–suspect relationship, and abuse frequency. These findings, along with recommendations for future research,

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the professionals who participated in this research. They also thank Mairi Benson and Chelsea Leach for data assistance and comments on earlier drafts of the paper.

References (19)

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Cited by (8)

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    Citation Excerpt :

    The probability of police deciding not to proceed in Bunting’s (2008) study was highest for children under 5 years. Another explanation relates to police being more likely to charge when there is corroboration and supporting evidence, though corroboration and physical or medical evidence are not common in child sexual abuse matters (Christensen, Sharman, & Powell, 2016; Walsh et al., 2010). In Walsh et al.’s (2010) US study, 46% of child sexual abuse cases had no supporting evidence; not surprisingly, alleged offenders were more likely to be charged in “cases with a child disclosure, a corroborating witness, an offender confession, or an additional report against the offender … controlling for case characteristics” (p. 436).

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