Sexual Assault Trials

Sexual Assault Trials PDF Author: Paul DerOhannesian (II)
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781630443238
Category : Child sexual abuse
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description

Sexual Assault Trials

Sexual Assault Trials PDF Author: Paul DerOhannesian (II)
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781630443238
Category : Child sexual abuse
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description


Closing the Justice Gap for Adult and Child Sexual Assault

Closing the Justice Gap for Adult and Child Sexual Assault PDF Author: Anne Cossins
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 1137320516
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 722

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Book Description
This book examines the justice gap and trial process for sexual assault against both adults and children in two jurisdictions: England and Wales and New South Wales, Australia. Drawing on decades of research, it investigates the reality of the policing and prosecution of sexual assault offences – often seen as one of the ‘hardest crimes to prosecute’ – across two similar jurisdictions. Despite the introduction of the many reform options detailed in the book, satisfactory outcomes for victims and the public are still difficult to obtain. Cossins takes a new approach by examining the nature and effects of adversarialism on vulnerable witnesses, jury decision-making and the structures of power within the trial process, to show how, and at what points, that process is weighted against complainants of sexual assault, in order to make evidence-based suggestions for reform. She argues that this justice gap is a result of a moralistic adversarial culture which fosters myths and misconceptions about rape and child sexual assault, thus requiring the prosecution to prove a complainant’s moral worthiness. She argues this culture can only be eliminated by a radical replacement of the adversarial system with a trauma-informed system. By reviewing the relevant psychological literature, this book documents the triggers for re-traumatisation within an adversarial trial, and discusses the reform measures that would be necessary to transform the sexual assault trial from one where the complainant’s moral worthiness is ‘on trial’ to a fully functioning trauma-informed system. It speaks to students and academics across subjects including law, criminology, gender studies and psychology, and practitioners in law and victim services, as well as policy-makers.

Childhood Sexual Abuse

Childhood Sexual Abuse PDF Author: Paul E. Mullen
Publisher: SAGE Publications
ISBN: 1452221529
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 147

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Book Description
Childhood Sexual Abuse critically reviews research into and provides a concise and clear guide to our current knowledge on the topic. The issues covered include: the prevalence of child sexual abuse; who molests children; the effects of such abuse, both immediate and long-term; the risk factors for abuse; and the influences and interventions that may amplify or ameliorate the impact of child sexual abuse on the victim. Areas of debate, such as the false memory syndrome, are approached in terms of the research data relevant to their resolution. This volume sets out to inform rather than advocate, discusses the methodologies of research as well as their results, highlights the limitations and the extent of current information, and points out how we can learn more about child sexual abuse.

Perspectives on Children’s Testimony

Perspectives on Children’s Testimony PDF Author: Stephen J. Ceci
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1461388325
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 354

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Book Description
Perspectives on Children's Testimony presents current empirical research on the factors which influence adults' perceptions of the child witness. This volume provides researchers in both the psychological and the criminal justice communities with knowledge about adult beliefs regarding child witnesses, how these beliefs may influence jury verdicts, and the relationship of these perceptions to the credibility and accuracy of children's testimony. A variety of new techniques are employed in assessing adult views of child witnesses. Special features of the volume include: an in-depth treatment of techniques of interviewing child victims of sexual abuse, an examination of children's perceptions and knowledge of the legal system, and critical and theoretical integrations of the original, empirical papers.

Sexual Violence on Trial

Sexual Violence on Trial PDF Author: Rachel Killean
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000361276
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
Sexual Violence on Trial provides a contemporary critical examination of the investigation, prosecution and cultural contexts of sexual violence. It draws on Northern Ireland as a case study, while also drawing on experiences from other jurisdictions across the United Kingdom and island of Ireland. Public and academic debates concerning the high-profile ‘Belfast/Rugby Rape Trial’ and the subsequent Gillen review of the arrangements to deliver justice in serious sexual offence cases have been mirrored at a global level with movements such as #MeToo and #TimesUp. This book brings together the perspectives of practitioners and academics to discuss contemporary challenges surrounding the societal and legal framing of sexual violence. It examines key aspects of the criminal justice process including the challenges of supporting victims; of responding to a range of forms of sexual violence such as rape, peer abuse, intimate partner violence and forced-to-penetrate cases; as well as alternative perspectives and future reforms. It also considers broader debates including balancing the interests of victims and defendants; the impact of cultural myths and stereotypes; the challenges of the digital age; models of consent; legal representation for victims and anonymity and publicity surrounding trials. Written by leading authorities in the field, Sexual Violence on Trial will be of great interest to students and scholars of Criminology, Law and Sociology.

The Abuse of Innocence

The Abuse of Innocence PDF Author: Paul Eberle
Publisher: Prometheus Books
ISBN: 1615925139
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 420

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Book Description
On August 12, 1983, Judy Johnson called the police and told them her two-year-old son had been sexually abused at Virginia McMartin''s Preschool in Manhattan Beach, California. Mrs. Johnson accused a teacher, Raymond Buckey. After searching the school and the homes of the owners and teachers, police distributed a letter to parents of children attending the McMartin Preschool urging them to ask their children if they had witnessed any acts of sexual molestation by Buckey. The result was mass hysteria.Although the children denied being molested or witnessing any molestations, the D.A.''s office began sending them to a private clinic to be interviewed by "evaluators" and examined by pediatricians. Parents were then informed that every child who had attended the McMartin Preschool had been sexually abused, which led to charges being filed against Virginia McMartin, Peggy McMartin Buckey, Raymond and Peggy Ann Buckey and three other teachers at the school. During the hearings, children described how teachers had raped them, forced them to engage in satanic rituals, and slaughtered animals before their eyes. The ensuing trial triggered a nationwide epidemic of child sexual abuse cases with allegations of infants being raped by devil worshippers and of blood sacrifices. The McMartin trial itself clogged the courts for over seven years and cost taxpayers over sixteen million dollars.None of the allegations were true. Investigative journalists Paul and Shirley Eberle witnessed the McMartin Trial and uncovered stunning amounts of prosecutorial misconduct, all revealed in this disturbing book.

Investigation and Prosecution of Child Abuse

Investigation and Prosecution of Child Abuse PDF Author: American Prosecutors Research Institute
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 9780761930907
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 540

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Book Description
To assist investigators and prosecutors, APRI's National Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse—the nation's premiere trainer of child abuse prosecutors and investigators—presents the Investigation and Prosecution of Child Abuse, Third Edition. Readers of this manual will receive practical, common sense assistance in handling child abuse cases from the initial report to the closing argument at trial. Appendices on the enclosed CD-ROM include hundreds of sample motions and other legal documents that can be adapted to the jurisdiction of individual readers. Now in its Third Edition, the manual contains the latest in case law and research on nearly every facet of child sexual abuse, physical abuse and neglect. This is the only book on the market specifically geared to investigators and prosecutors called upon to handle abuse cases.

Investigation & Prosecution of Child Sexual Abuse

Investigation & Prosecution of Child Sexual Abuse PDF Author: Terese Buess
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781946796226
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description


The Witch-Hunt Narrative

The Witch-Hunt Narrative PDF Author: Ross E. Cheit
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190226331
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 531

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Book Description
In the 1980s, a series of child sex abuse cases rocked the United States. The most famous case was the 1984 McMartin preschool case, but there were a number of others as well. By the latter part of the decade, the assumption was widespread that child sex abuse had become a serious problem in America. Yet within a few years, the concern about it died down considerably. The failure to convict anyone in the McMartin case and a widely publicized appellate decision in New Jersey that freed an accused molester had turned the dominant narrative on its head. In the early 1990s, a new narrative with remarkable staying power emerged: the child sex abuse cases were symptomatic of a 'moral panic' that had produced a witch hunt. A central claim in this new witch hunt narrative was that the children who testified were not reliable and easily swayed by prosecutorial suggestion. In time, the notion that child sex abuse was a product of sensationalized over-reporting and far less endemic than originally thought became the new common sense. But did the new witch hunt narrative accurately represent reality? As Ross Cheit demonstrates in his exhaustive account of child sex abuse cases in the past two and a half decades, purveyors of the witch hunt narrative never did the hard work of examining court records in the many cases that reached the courts throughout the nation. Instead, they treated a couple of cases as representative and concluded that the issue was blown far out of proportion. Drawing on years of research into cases in a number of states, Cheit shows that the issue had not been blown out of proportion at all. In fact, child sex abuse convictions were regular occurrences, and the crime occurred far more frequently than conventional wisdom would have us believe. Cheit's aim is not to simply prove the narrative wrong, however. He also shows how a narrative based on empirically thin evidence became a theory with real social force, and how that theory stood at odds with a far more grim reality. The belief that the charge of child sex abuse was typically a hoax also left us unprepared to deal with the far greater scandal of child sex abuse in the Catholic Church, which, incidentally, has served to substantiate Cheit's thesis about the pervasiveness of the problem. In sum, The Witch-Hunt Narrative is a magisterial and empirically powerful account of the social dynamics that led to the denial of widespread human tragedy.

Martensville: Truth or Justice?

Martensville: Truth or Justice? PDF Author: Frann Harris
Publisher: Dundurn
ISBN: 1459710886
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 319

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Book Description
When a child-abuse scandal is uncovered at an unlicenced daycare in small-town Saskatchewan, it polarizes the community. Frann Harris, a rookie court reporter assigned to the trial the longest in Saskatchewan history starts to wonder if the scope of the alleged crimes is dwarfed by something even more startling: a botched police investigation and inappropriate courtroom procedures. Harris' narrative alternates between the stories of child sexual abuse and whimsical recollections of her own childhood, using the odd touch of humour. Because the unfamiliar courtroom jargon sounds like a foreign language to her and to most readers, she translates it into plain English, and simplifies and demystifies elaborate and stylized courtroom procedures. Harris takes the reader into the courtroom, recreating the trial in all its complexities: the painful allegations of the children and their parents; the daily parry-and-thrust of lawyers trying to discredit both the police investigation and the testimony of the victims; and the contradictory testimony of psychologists and medical experts. Harris also goes outside the courtroom, interviewing witnesses and eavesdropping on the conversations of the accused, the police, neighbours and journalists. The verdicts in the Martensville case were and still are hotly contested. We may never know what really happened at the daycare, but in Martensville: Truth or Justice? The Story of the Martensville Daycare Trials, we can learn the intricacies of the investigation and the trial, and decide for ourselves whether justice was served.