Suspect Confession of Child Sexual Abuse to Investigators

Abstract

Increasing the number of suspects who give true confessions of sexual abuse serves justice and reduces the burden of the criminal justice process on child victims. With data from four communities, this study examined confession rates and predictors of confession of child sexual abuse over the course of criminal investigations (final N ¼ 282). Overall, 30% of suspects confessed partially or fully to the crime. This rate was consistent across the communities and is very similar to the rates of suspect confession of child sexual abuse found by previous research, although lower than that from a study focused on a community with a vigorous practice of polygraph testing. In a multivariate analysis, confession was more likely when suspects were younger and when more evidence of abuse was available, particularly child disclosure and corroborative evidence. These results suggest the difficulty of obtaining confession but also the value of methods that facilitate child disclosure and seek corroborative evidence, for increasing the odds of confession.

Japanese Suspect Interviews, Confessions, and Related Factors

“…Recently, several researchers have examined the effects of various factors on suspected sexual offenders' confessions simultaneously using multivariate analyses (Beauregard et al 2010;Beauregard and Mieczkowski 2012;Lippert et al 2010). These studies suggested that several factors were related to suspects' confessions: their age, full disclosures by victims, and corroborating witnesses in the case of child sexual abusers (Lippert et al 2010) and their age, criminal history, guilty feelings, and familiarity with the victims when the latter were adults (Beauregard and Mieczkowski 2012).…”

Accusatorial and information-gathering interrogation methods and their effects on true and false confessions: a meta-analytic review

“…Excluded studies from the United Kingdom and Australia were: Baldwin (1993, see also, Baldwin 1992, Bull and Soukara (2010), Dixon (2007), Griffiths (2008), McConville and Baldwin (1982), McGurk et al (1993), Medford et al (2003), Moston et al (1992), Pearse (2009), Pearse and Gudjonsson (1999), Softley (1980), Stephenson and Moston (1994), Walsh and Milne (2008), and Willis et al (1988). Excluded studies from the United States and Canada included: Cassell and Hyman (1996), DesLauriers-Varin et al (2011), Faller et al (2001, Feld (2006Feld ( , 2013, Lippert et al (2010), Medalie et al (1968), Neubauer (1974), New Haven Study (1967, Reiss and Black (1967), Seeburger and Wettick (1967), Vera Institute Study (1967), and Witt (1973).…”

The role of corroborative evidence in child sexual abuse evaluations

“…This is a much higher rate than has been found in studies of comparable samples in other US jurisdictions (e.g. Lippert et al, 2010).…”

“…Social science researchers who have examined the prevalence of corroborative evidence in cases of alleged CSA have concluded that an increased focus on obtaining corroborative evidence could benefi t sexually abused children (Lippert et al, 2010;Staller & Faller, 2010;Walsh et al, 2008). Improving the prevalence and quality of corroboration could benefi t sexually abused children by (1) relieving any feelings of guilt or responsibility that the child may be experiencing, if a perpetrator confession can be elicited; (2) reducing the duration of the child's involvement with CPS, foster care, and the criminal justice system; and (3) making it less likely that children will need to go through the potentially traumatic experience of testifying in court against their abusers.…”

“…This does not mean that MHPs themselves are superfl uous-in some cases, MHPs collect information that leads to the discovery of important corroborative evidence. For example, a well-conducted, non-leading, videotaped interview with a child victim may be used to elicit hard corroboration in the form of a perpetrator confession (Horner, Guyer, & Kalter, 1993a;Lippert, Cross, Jones, & Walsh, 2010;Staller & Faller, 2010). When non-psychosocial evidence is absent or ambiguous, then MHPs' judgements about the validity of allegations of CSA are based primarily on an assessment of the only available evidence, the psychosocial evidence.…”