Mock Jurors’ Perceptions of Child Sexual Abuse Cases: Investigating the Role of Delayed Disclosure and Relationship to the Perpetrator

Miller, Quincy C.; Call, Alissa Anderson; London, Kamala

doi:10.1177/08862605221078812

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Indeed, jurors rate children as more credible and render more guilty verdicts when the alleged perpetrator is nonfamilial (babysitter, stranger) rather than familial (uncle, father; Bornstein et al, 2007; Davies & Rogers, 2009). However, studies on this topic have not always yielded consistent effects on credibility and verdicts (Golding et al, 2020; Miller et al, 2022). Attorneys may not endorse the same misconceptions that jurors do by nature of their experiences in child sexual abuse cases.…”

Section: Plea Decisionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Delays can lead to the loss of details or the decay of memory and result in inaccurate reporting (Gonzalves et al, 2022). Jurors seem to be attuned to this loss in accuracy, rating witnesses as less credible and rendering fewer guilty verdicts after longer compared with shorter delays of reporting (Miller et al, 2022; Pozzulo et al, 2010). Accordingly, prosecutors may be reluctant to move forward on a case that involves a longer delay between the alleged abuse and the disclosure, whereas defense attorneys may be more willing to fight these cases because they provide a clear avenue to impeach the credibility of the allegation.…”

Section: Plea Decisionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Attorneys' experiences, perceptions, and plea recommendations in child sexual abuse cases.

Fessinger,

McAuliff,

Aronson

et al. 2024

Law and Human Behavior

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Objective: We examined attorneys’ experiences, perceptions, and decisions regarding plea recommendations in child sexual cases. Hypotheses: We hypothesized that characteristics of the child (age, relationship to alleged perpetrator) and the report (timing of disclosure, consistency across reports) would affect attorneys’ perceptions of evidence strength, likelihood of conviction, and plea recommendations. Method: We collected data from a national sample of actively practicing prosecutors (n = 217) and defense attorneys (n = 251) who had experience with child abuse cases. They averaged 18 years of experience practicing law, were slightly more likely to be men (53%) than women, and primarily identified as White, non-Hispanic (86%). In Part 1, attorneys answered general questions about their experiences in child sexual abuse cases. In Part 2, they reviewed materials from a hypothetical case that varied the child’s age (5 years, 11 years), the child’s relationship to the alleged perpetrator (familial, nonfamilial), the timing of the child’s initial disclosure (1 week, 6 months), and the consistency of the child’s report (inconsistent, consistent). They rated the evidence strength, estimated the likelihood of conviction, and assessed whether they would recommend that the defendant accept a plea offer or proceed to trial. Results: In Part 1, attorneys reported that they often have access to police reports, information about the alleged perpetrator, and evidence from the child when making plea recommendations. They said that it was important to know about prior allegations against the alleged perpetrator or by the child when assessing their credibility. They reported that the length of the sentence, sex offender registration requirement, and possibility of time served guided their plea recommendations. In Part 2, the consistency of the child’s report influenced their decisions the most; they rated the evidence against the defendant as stronger when the child was consistent across reports than when the child was inconsistent. Additionally, their perceptions of evidence strength drove their recommendations. When the evidence against the defendant was stronger, attorneys thought that the defendant was more likely to be convicted at trial; thus, prosecutors were less willing and defense attorneys were more willing to recommend a plea. Conclusion: Similar to other cases, evidence strength and the perceived likelihood of conviction drive attorneys’ decisions to offer or recommend a plea to a defendant in a child sexual abuse case. The consistency of the child’s report plays a major role in predicting perceptions of evidence strength. Future research is needed to determine which other factors in child sexual abuse cases may also predict attorneys’ perceptions and plea recommendations.

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Section: Plea Decisionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Plea Decisionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attorneys' experiences, perceptions, and plea recommendations in child sexual abuse cases.

Fessinger,

McAuliff,

Aronson

et al. 2024

Law and Human Behavior

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For example, O'Connor et al (2023) found that ‘younger and older adults were implicitly biased to associate honesty more strongly with White children over Black children… Yet, when asked explicitly, Black children were rated as more honest than White children’ (p. 10; see also Goff et al, 2014). This adds to the fact that younger victims of sexual abuse (e.g., 5–10 years old) can be considered more credible than older victims (e.g., 15 years old) (Rogers et al, 2007; Voogt et al, 2020) and that children who take longer to disclose an abuse can be considered less credible (Miller et al, 2022). This is not to be overlooked because ‘credibility is an issue that pervades most trials, and at its broadest may amount to a decision on guilt or innocence’ (R. v. Handy, 2002, p. 951).…”

Section: The Impact Of Demeanour For Child Witnessesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The use of demeanour to assess the credibility of child victims in sexual interference trials

Denault,

Talwar

2024

Child Abuse Review

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How do judges assess witness credibility? This question is particularly important in cases where child victims testify. These cases are usually of a sensitive nature (e.g., involving allegations of abuse) where there are no other testimonial or material evidence to corroborate the account of child victims. To better understand what actually happens when judges preside over trials about sexual interference, and how, in actual courtrooms, they use demeanour to assess the credibility of child victims, we conducted a qualitative thematic analysis of real courts judgements (n = 44). The results highlighted that when assessing credibility in actual courtrooms, judges make a variety of inferences from the demeanour of child victims who testify live, with striking differences (and similarities) when defendants are found not guilty than when they are found guilty. The results of our descriptive study also provided unique insights about (correct and incorrect) beliefs judges hold about child witnesses, and how, if children fail to display behaviour they are expected to display, or if they display behaviour they are not expected to display, child victims could face difficulties at several stages of the judicial process. We discuss the results based on the literature on nonverbal behaviour and child witnesses, explaining their scope for scholars and legal practitioners.

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Suppression and Memory for Childhood Traumatic Events: Trauma Symptoms and Non‐Disclosure

Hartman

Wang

et al. 2023

Topics in Cognitive Science

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Self‐reported lost memory of child sexual abuse (CSA) can be mistaken for “repressed memory.” Based on our longitudinal studies of memory and disclosure in child maltreatment victims who are now adults, we discuss findings relevant to “repressed memory cases.” We examined relations between self‐report of temporarily lost memory of CSA (subjective forgetting) and memory accuracy for maltreatment‐related experiences (objective memory). Across two studies involving separate samples, we find evidence for memory suppression rather than repression: (1) Most adults who claimed temporary lost memory of CSA reported memory suppression and clarified that they could have remembered the event if asked; (2) subjective forgetting was positively associated with accurate objective memory for maltreatment‐related experiences. Subjective forgetting was also related to increased adult trauma symptoms and related to childhood non‐disclosure of CSA. Moreover, trauma‐related psychopathology mediated the relation between non‐disclosure and subjective forgetting. Implications for psychological theory and repressed memory cases are discussed.

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Mock Jurors’ Perceptions of Child Sexual Abuse Cases: Investigating the Role of Delayed Disclosure and Relationship to the Perpetrator

Cited by 3 publications

References 41 publications

Attorneys' experiences, perceptions, and plea recommendations in child sexual abuse cases.

Attorneys' experiences, perceptions, and plea recommendations in child sexual abuse cases.

The use of demeanour to assess the credibility of child victims in sexual interference trials

Suppression and Memory for Childhood Traumatic Events: Trauma Symptoms and Non‐Disclosure

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