An overwhelming sense of injustice? An exploration of child sexual abuse in relation to the concept of justice

Abstract

This article explores the relationship between justice and child sexual abuse, developing a broader theoretical conception of justice than that customarily applied. The traditional legal perception of justice as the attempted prosecution of alleged perpetrators is widened to encompass justice as initial prevention of abuse, the fair treatment of children by the criminal justice and child protection systems, and the subsequent after-care and compensation of abused children and adults. Concepts of justice are therefore examined within a chronological lifecourse trajectory, as well as being extended from traditional notions of due process and desert to include understandings of justice as human rights, ‘fair shares’ and liberation. Particular social constructions of childhood are revealed to be highly significant regarding how justice is perceived and operationalized. Therefore, the interaction between perceptions of justice and responses to child sexual abuse is examined, relative to wider understandings of childhood.

Beyond a single story: The importance of separating ‘harm’ from ‘wrongfulness’ and ‘sexual innocence’ from ‘childhood’ in contemporary narratives of childhood sexual abuse

“…The sexually knowing child is therefore problematic – not only does she challenge the artificial boundaries between childhood and adulthood, but this knowledge both marks her as potentially damaged and constructs her as potentially corrupting, both to other children and, like Lolita, to adult men. As childhood is a time of innocence, disruption of this state is seen as abuse and evidence of disruption as evidence of such abuse, but ‘this policing of child sexuality and misconceptions about child asexuality have also resulted in abused or ‘sexual’ children being seen as ‘damaged goods’ and as no longer children’ (Green, 2006: 83). It allows for the idea that the sexually knowledgeable or sexually active child, constructed as non-innocent and corrupted, (Robinson, 2012), is no longer deserving of the protective cloak of ‘childhood’ and therefore sex with such a child can be seen as not abusive.…”

Victim Narratives of Historical Abuse in Residential Child Care

“…The resultant web of belief is maintained against reality disjunctions that might threaten it through ignoring or explaining away contrary evidence (Potter, 1996). For instance, recent articles on historical abuse (Ferguson, 2007;Green, 2006;Stein, 2006) fail to acknowledge an authoritative counternarrative (Webster, 2005), which casts considerable doubt on the findings of the Waterhouse Inquiry and by extension the process through which allegations of abuse are considered more generally.…”

Deciphering the Ambiguous Menace of Sexuality for the Innocence of Childhood

“…In the United States the term ChildSexual-Abuse (CSA) is used to cover a whole range of unrelated behaviour (for the inflated definition of 'abuse' see Furedi 2006). The unsophisticated application of this label is interesting on the level of semantics and is typical for the discourse surrounding intergenerational intimacy (Southwell 2003;Faller 2004;Green 2006). With regard to those fundamental areas of life where erotic feelings and sexual experiences come to the fore, there is virtually no transparency between generations.…”