Preschoolers’ disclosures of child sexual abuse: Examining corroborated cases from Swedish courts

Scandinavian J Psychology

et al. 2020

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Can rapport building strategies, age, and question type influence preschoolers' disclosures of adult wrongdoing?. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 61, 393-401.In the present experiment, we examined preschoolers' disclosures of a secret as a function of rapport building strategies used in Scandinavian field settings (verbal rapport building vs. prop rapport building), age in months (33-75 months) and question type (open-ended free recall invitation vs. suggestive questions). Fifty-three preschoolers (M = 60.5 months old, SD = 11.4) witnessed a researcher break a toy and were asked to keep the toy breakage a secret. The children were thereafter interviewed about the incident. Overall, 18.9% of the children disclosed the secret after an open-ended free recall invitation. The disclosure rate rose to 83% after the final phase of the interviews when questions containing suggestive details were asked of the children. Notably, we did not observe any significant effects as a function of manipulating rapport building strategy. A linear regression model showed that child age (in months) significantly predicted the amount of reported details, with younger preschoolers reporting fewer details compared to older preschoolers. Age also predicted the amount of correct details, but not the amount of incorrect details. No age differences were found with regard to children's disclosure tendencies or proportion of central details about the secret. Methodological limitations and practical implications will be addressed.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can rapport building strategies, age, and question type influence preschoolers’ disclosures of adult wrongdoing?

Scandinavian J Psychology

et al. 2020

Self Cite

“…(e.g. Goodman-Brown, Edelstein, Goodman, Jones, & Gordon, 2003;London, Bruck, Ceci, & Shuman, 2005;Magnusson, Ernberg, & Landström, 2017).…”

Section: Pre-schoolers' Testimonymentioning

confidence: 99%

Prosecutors’ experiences investigating alleged sexual abuse against pre-schoolers

Psychology, Crime & Law

2020

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Investigating and prosecuting cases of alleged child sexual abuse is challenging, especially if the report concerns a young child. The present study aimed to examine prosecutors' experiences investigating and prosecuting cases of alleged sexual abuse of preschoolers. Ninety-four Swedish child abuse prosecutors participated in a 2017 national survey regarding their work with these cases and their experiences collaborating with police and Child Protective Services (CPS). Their responses were analysed using both quantitative (descriptive and inferential statistics) and qualitative (thematic analysis) approaches. The prosecutors described difficulties eliciting and evaluating testimony from the youngest children, alongside a lack of corroborative evidence, as the main challenges in investigating cases of alleged sexual abuse of pre-schoolers. Some prosecutors reported that an ongoing CPS investigation could negatively affect the criminal investigation. Furthermore, the quality of the investigative child interview was described as paramount to the investigation and as something that could be affected by the interviewer as well as the resources available to the police. Suggestions for future research and potential practical implications for CSA investigations involving pre-schoolers are discussed.

“…A range of emotional and motivational factors, such as feelings of guilt and shame, can influence a complainant's ability to testify, and children often omit sensitive details from their testimony for reasons beyond memory limitations (Leander, Christianson, & Granhag, ; Leander, Granhag, & Christianson, ). Young children are not exempt from these types of feelings, and a recent study suggests that few pre‐schoolers disclose sexual abuse spontaneously (Magnusson, Ernberg, & Landström, ). It is important to recognize, however, that children's reluctance to disclose sexual abuse does not warrant the use of leading questions, as this type of misinformation tends to impair especially young children's memory performance (Malloy & Quas, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Court evaluations of young children's testimony in child sexual abuse cases

et al. 2018

Legal Criminol Psychol

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Purpose Prosecutors working with child sexual abuse (CSA) cases involving young children have raised concerns that reliability criteria from the Supreme Court of Sweden are holding children's testimony to impossible standards (e.g., expecting the child's testimony to be long, rich in detail and spontaneous). This study aimed to address these concerns by investigating how District Courts and Courts of Appeal employ said criteria in their testimonial assessments of young child complainants. Methods Court documents from District Courts (n = 100) and Courts of Appeal (n = 45) in CSA cases involving 100 children age 7 years and under were analysed with respect to the courts’ testimonial assessments. Results Testimonial assessments were more frequently referenced in acquitting verdicts and in cases with evidence of low corroborative value. Richness in detail was the most frequently used reliability criterion, followed by spontaneity. Most criteria were used in favour of the children's testimony. However, the length criterion was typically used against the reliability of the children's testimony. Conclusions Our findings confirm prosecutors’ concerns that criteria from the Supreme Court are frequently used in evaluations of young children's testimony. This is troublesome, as some criteria do not correspond to current research on young children's witness abilities. For example, compared to testimony given by older children or adults, testimony provided by a young child is typically not long or rich in detail. We encourage prosecutors to extend their own knowledge on young children's capability as witnesses and present this to the court.