When Disclosure Fails to Substantiate Abuse: Child and Perpetrator Race Predict Child Sexual Abuse Substantiation

Abstract

We examined the effects of child race, perpetrator race, and abuse disclosure status (within the context of a formal forensic interview) on abuse substantiation outcomes. Specifically, we coded child sexual abuse disclosure, abuse substantiation, and race of 315 children (80% girls, M age = 10, age range = 2–17; 75% White, 9% Black, 12% Biracial, 3% Hispanic, 1% Asian) who underwent a child forensic interview in a Midwestern child advocacy center. Supporting hypotheses, abuse substantiation was more likely in cases involving (a) abuse disclosure (vs. no disclosure), (b) White children (vs. children of color), and (c) perpetrators of color (vs. White perpetrators). Also supporting hypotheses, the effect of abuse disclosure on increased abuse substantiation was greater for White children than for children of color. This research suggests that even when children of color disclose their experiences of sexual abuse, they nonetheless face barriers to abuse substantiation.

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

“…In child sexual abuse cases, these may relate to the ethnicity of children, their age, and the time they took to disclose the abuse (Golding et al, 2020). For example, compared to white children, greater responsibility for sexual abuse was attributed to black children (Bottoms et al, 2004), children of colour were considered less credible (Burke et al, 2020; Stevenson & Rivers, 2023), and in a daycare setting, compared to white girls, perpetrators were less likely to be arrested and convicted when victims were black girls (Williams & Farrell, 1990; see also Sedlak et al, 2005). The issue of implicit racial biases was also addressed.…”