NCJ Number
87385
Date Published
1982
Length
68 pages
Annotation
Recommendations deal with general principles, civil and criminal proceedings, and evidentiary issues bearing upon intrafamily child sexual abuse cases, and issues covered include methods of sensitive intervention, statutory and evidentiary reforms, and special dispositions in juvenile and criminal court proceedings.
Abstract
Recommendations dealing with general principles for legal intervention in intrafamily child sexual abuse cases focus on innovative and interdisciplinary approaches, coordinated court proceedings, reducing trauma to the child, and providing an advocate. Other recommendations for general principles cover interviewing the child, vertical prosecution, the child's testimony, training and specialization, specific statutory definitions, and juvenile offenders. Recommendations for civil proceedings address the issue of including the parent who did not commit the sexual abuse as a party in a child protection proceeding, as well as civil protection orders. Issues considered in criminal-proceeding recommendations include intrafamily sexual abuse of children, statutory degrees of offenses based on certain factors, alternatives to traditional prosecution and sentencing, sexual psychopath statutes, and prosecution of the participating parent. Recommendations on evidentiary issues deal with competency, corroboration, out-of-court statements of sexual abuse, marital privilege, and expert testimony, as well as prior sexual acts and the sexually abused child syndrome. The appendixes provide a list of authors of previous publications of the child sexual abuse project and a bibliography of about 90 listings for legal literature on child sexual abuse. A total of 133 footnotes is included.