A retrospective examination of 500 child sexual abuse reports to prosecutor’s offices analyzed case progress and predictors of attrition, including details about alleged perpetrator(s), victim(s), their families, and other case characteristics. Less than one in five cases proceeded to prosecution. For the full sample we describe all outcomes and differentiate prosecutors’ decisions to (a) intake/close, (b) investigate/close, or (c) prosecute; these stages comprise a 3-level dependent variable. Because it is important to understand which variables are associated with progress to each stage, we examined unique predictors of the decision to ‘investigate’, and to ‘prosecute’. Our multivariate analyses examine 325 cases with a perpetrator aged 16 and older. Caregiver support and perpetrator age were significant predictors across all outcome variables, while other factors were barriers to the ‘prosecute’ decision only. Results highlight the complexities of case characteristics that are important at different stages of prosecutorial decision-making and inform future interventions.

The suggestibility of children is particularly important to consider when children are responsible for providing eyewitness accounts. Young children are especially vulnerable to internal and external forms of suggestibility, although research findings are mixed to the exact extent of suggestibility on memory. To decrease children's susceptibility to suggestion, it is typically recommended that children are interviewed in a nonleading manner as soon as possible after the event and protected from social forms of pressure (e.g., from parents or peers). Interviewing children in a nonleading manner involves using free recall and open‐ended questions. The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the cognitive interview are both examples of interviewing techniques that primarily use free recall and open‐ended questioning. Certain individual traits have also been associated with resistance to false suggestions, such as language skills, verbal ability, self‐esteem, and parental attachment style. However, it is important to note that, these traits have not been consistently related to suggestibility. Research has also been mixed on whether children are less suggestible about negative or taboo events when compared to more positive or neutral events. Reducing suggestibility during interviews is one step in preventing wrongful convictions while also protecting the credibility of children as witnesses.