NCJ Number
102669
Journal
Judicature Volume: 70 Issue: 2 Dated: (August-September 1986) Pages: 95-98
Date Published
1986
Length
4 pages
Annotation
A 1985 survey of judges' attitudes toward child victims of sexual abuse, their assailants, and the crime and punishment of child sexual abuse found that most judges perceived children not to be culpable and to be credible and offenders to be responsible for their behavior.
Abstract
All judges in criminal, family, and orphans' court divisions in a large urban county of an Eastern State were mailed questionnaires to be completed anonymously. Of the 88 questionnaires mailed, 37 were completed and returned. Eighty-four percent of the responding judges were male, 25 percent were under age 40, 89 percent were parents, and 36 percent had participated in some educational program about child sexual abuse. The remainder had no specific training in child sexual abuse cases. They perceived the crime as serious, and they favored more punishment for offenders. These findings reflect the mean scale scores for all respondents. The range of scores, however, indicates the judges were not unanimous in their convictions. Individual judges reported that children were in some measure culpable for the assaults against them and that some children's statements were suspect. Some judges did not view child sexual abuse as a serious problem, which suggests that some judges need to be better informed about the dynamics of child sexual abuse cases. 1 data table and 20 footnotes.