Expert Witnesses in Child Sexual Abuse Cases

1993 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Keenan ◽  
Catherine Williams
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Child Sexual Abuse ◽  
Expert Witnesses ◽  
Civil Cases ◽  
Court Proceedings ◽  
The Relationship

This paper aims to look at the relationship between the courts and the witnesses, who, as experts in their particular discipline, give evidence to the court. It focuses particularly on civil cases relating to child sexual abuse. It asks what the court considers an expert to be and what is expected of an expert in court proceedings. It then goes on to look at the problems within that relationship and their possible solutions. “If matters arise in our law which concern other sciences or faculties, we commonly apply for the aid of that science or faculty which it concerns. This is a commendable thing in our law. For thereby it appears that we do not dismiss all other sciences but our own, but we approve of them and encourage them as things worthy of commendation”. 1

scholarly journals Allegiance Bias in Statement Reliability Evaluations Is Not Eliminated by Falsification Instructions

2020 ◽  
Vol 228 (3) ◽  
pp. 210-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melanie Sauerland ◽  
Henry Otgaar ◽  
Enide Maegherman ◽  
Anna Sagana
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Child Sexual Abuse ◽  
Expert Witness ◽  
Expert Witnesses ◽  
Case File ◽  
Abuse Case ◽  
Sexual Abuse Case ◽  
The Given

Abstract. Are expert witnesses biased by the side (defense vs. prosecution) that hires them? We examined this issue by having students act as expert witnesses in evaluating interviews in a child sexual abuse case (Experiment 1, N = 143) and tested the value of an instruction to counteract such allegiance effects. The intervention concerned an instruction to consider arguments both for and against the given hypothesis (i.e., two-sided instructions; Experiment 2, N = 139). In Experiment 3 ( N = 123), we additionally provided participants with three different scenarios. Participants received a case file regarding a case of alleged sexual abuse. With the file, participants received an appointment letter emphasizing elements of the file that questioned (defense) or supported (prosecution) the veracity of the accusation. Participants displayed allegiance bias (Experiments 1–3), but two-sided instructions were not successful in eliminating allegiance bias (Experiments 2 and 3). The findings underscore the importance of legal safeguards in expert witness work.

scholarly journals Coping with Sexual Abuse

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 46
Author(s):  
Tameka Romeo ◽  
Henry Otgaar ◽  
Sara Landstrom
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Child Sexual Abuse ◽  
Coping Strategies ◽  
Current Literature ◽  
Cognitive Strategies ◽  
Cognitive Coping ◽  
General Consensus ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The One ◽  
The Relationship

General consensus exists in the psychological literature with regard to what constitutes child sexual abuse (CSA) and the negative implications for victims of CSA throughout the course of their lives. Recently, different types of cognitive strategies that victims may use to cope with CSA and the possible effects of these coping strategies on memory have received considerable empirical attention. The first aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the current literature about why, how, and when victims of CSA use the cognitive coping strategies of false denial, disclosure, and recantation to cope with psychological, emotional, and even interpersonal implications of their abuse. Over the years, disclosure is the one strategy that has been researched extensively, whereas research on false denial and recantation has barely just begun. The second aim is to provide a recent overview of the relationship between coping strategies and memory in the context of CSA. Specifically, we will discuss how false denials may have the potential to negatively affect a victim’s memory. Finally, we present an argument for the need to undertake research into insufficiently examined coping strategies such as false denial and recantation.

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