Children referred for possible sexual abuse: medical findings in 2384 children

An Expert and Expectations: A review on Medico-legal opinions in alleged sexual abuse victims

“…Even among the published studies, wide differences have existed between the rate of abnormal or supportive findings reported among children examined for suspected sexual abuse, from 50% to 90%, [14][15][16][17] to 15-20% in many reports in the 1990s, [18][19][20] to less than 4% in large series published since 2000 [21,22]. In our study, a supportive medical opinion was found among 52% of children less than 10 years.…”

“…Medical literature on opinions given by experts on sexual abuse based on genital findings is scarce and limited to case reports or descriptive studies [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]. Even among the published studies, wide differences have existed between the rate of abnormal or supportive findings reported among children examined for suspected sexual abuse, from 50% to 90%, [14][15][16][17] to 15-20% in many reports in the 1990s, [18][19][20] to less than 4% in large series published since 2000 [21,22].…”

Estudo de caso-controle para desenvolver e estimar a validade discriminante de um questionário de avaliação de abuso sexual em crianças

“…Physical examinations, therefore, should be interpreted within the context of how a particular child has been abused, of the child s perception of that abuse and of the process through which abuse was disclosed. 17 When sexual abuse is disclosed by child victims themselves, is discovered by other people 18,19 or by clinicians who treat them, it is recommended that other children in the same family environment be investigated too, 20,21 primarily because 70% of abuse is committed by family members or someone who frequents the family home. 5,7,[22][23][24] We emphasize that, in the present study, parents of children in the case group were more concerned and sensitized to the behavior, signs and symptoms exhibited by their children than were the parents of the children selected for the control group when attending routine consultations.…”

L’influence du système de justice sur le rétablissement d’enfants victimes d’agression sexuelle et suivis dans un centre d’appui aux enfants

“…Il s'agit d'une question à laquelle nous avons peu de réponses et pour laquelle la décision peut être lourde de conséquences, puisqu'elle est en quelque sorte imposée à l'enfant et risque d'influencer sa perception de l'ampleur de l'événement. La décision d'aller de l'avant sur le plan judiciaire est d'autant plus importante dans les cas d'agression sexuelle pendant l'enfance, car cette forme de victimisation n'est corroborée par des preuves physiques que dans moins de 5 % des cas (Heger, Ticson, Velasquez et Bernier, 2002). Ainsi, l'enclenchement des procédures judiciaires repose en grande partie sur la capacité de l'enfant de rapporter les événements aux autorités (Faller et Palusci, 2007).…”