The Criminal Justice Response to Child and Youth Victimization

Abstract

Children's and adolescents' risk of experiencing criminal interpersonal violence is disturbingly high, but most cases are neither reported to police nor prosecuted. Yet significant progress has been made in the criminal justice response to child and adolescent victimization. Hundreds of forensic interviewers are trained in interviewing protocols based on developmental research. Many police and prosecutors receive support from multidisciplinary teams. Through Children's Advocacy Centers in the USA, thousands of child victims have access to trained interviewers, medical help, family support, and evidence-based mental health services. Specialized methods have been developed for conducting child victimization investigations and gathering corroborative evidence. Factors such as child age, mental health, and family support affect whether abuse is prosecuted. Children's testifying in court can be very stressful and negative. Countries vary in requiring child victims to testify at trial. Children who testify may do well if they have the preparation and support they need, can testify in a timely way, and do not have to testify repeatedly. Cases are much more likely to be resolved by guilty pleas than convictions at trial. The alternative of restorative justice methods may increase victims' psychological experience of justice, but require managing the risk involved with contact with the perpetrator. Most of the attrition of child victim cases occurs at the "front end" of the criminal justice system, where lies the greatest potential for system improvement. In coming decades, professionals working with child victims should strive to disseminate promising methods and test them through research.

Successful Criminal Prosecutions of Sex Trafficking and Sexual Abuse of Minors: A Comparative Analysis

“…Whether the two types of crimes should be grouped together or whether unique features of each require their differentiation has not been examined. Further, whereas much is known about prosecuting CSA cases with younger (e.g., 3–12 years) victims (Cross et al, 2020), relatively little is known about prosecuting sexual abuse cases with adolescent victims. Our analytic approach afforded an opportunity to improve understanding of successful cases of adolescent sex abuse.…”

“…Both Cross et al (1994) and Goodman et al (1992) found that caregiver support predicted greater prosecution likelihood in CSA criminal cases with victims spanning from the early preschool years through adolescence. Prosecutors often report that, without caregiver support, victims, whose testimony serves as a crucial piece of evidence, may not appear (Duron, 2018; see also Cross et al, 2020). Caregivers, for instance, may decide that a child participating in repeated interviews or taking the stand is simply too traumatic for the child to endure, leading to their refusal to help and then to charges potentially being dropped.…”