Delayed Prosecution for Childhood Sexual Abuse
Penney Lewis
Abstract
That childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is one of society's most pressing concerns is not in doubt. Not only is serious harm, both mental and physical, frequently caused to the victim, but families and society also suffer. Prevalence studies suggest that the majority of cases either never come to light or are only disclosed years after the event. There are a wide variety of psychological explanations for delayed reporting. Recent years have seen a growing number of criminal prosecutions for sexual offences against children which are alleged to have occurred many years before the prosecution takes pl ... More
That childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is one of society's most pressing concerns is not in doubt. Not only is serious harm, both mental and physical, frequently caused to the victim, but families and society also suffer. Prevalence studies suggest that the majority of cases either never come to light or are only disclosed years after the event. There are a wide variety of psychological explanations for delayed reporting. Recent years have seen a growing number of criminal prosecutions for sexual offences against children which are alleged to have occurred many years before the prosecution takes place. Both the prosecution and defence may be disadvantaged by delay. The book examines the problems associated with criminal prosecutions commenced many years after the abusive incidents were alleged to have occurred; the response of the criminal justice system in the major common law jurisdictions to such challenging cases both before, during, and after the trial; and how the system should respond in order to ensure that the defendant receives a fair trial, while recognising the reasons why complainants may delay reporting abuse for many years. The book is multi-jurisdictional in scope, focussing on those common law jurisdictions which have experienced a large number of such prosecutions: England and Wales, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States.
Keywords:
delayed prosecution,
criminal justice,
fair trial,
historic abuse,
delayed reporting
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2006 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780199282289 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: January 2009 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199282289.001.0001 |
