Expert Evidence to Counteract Jury Misconceptions about Consent in Sexual Assault Cases: Failures and Lessons Learned

2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacqueline Horan ◽  
Jane Goodman-Delahunty
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Assault ◽  
The United States ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Expert Evidence ◽  
Undue Influence ◽  
Sexual Offences ◽  
Child Sexual Assault ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Sexual Assault Case ◽  
Trial Participants

This century has seen dramatic changes in the way in which sexual offences, particularly against children, are prosecuted in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. These jurisdictions have acknowledged the potential of myths and misconceptions about how a victim will behave, both during and after a sexual assault, to exert an undue influence on jurors. Expert evidence to educate jurors about common rape myths that apply to issues of consent has been used to redress this issue. However, such expert evidence poses significant challenges for the lawyers and experts. This article explores the effectiveness of educative expert evidence through analysis of an illustrative contemporary Australian child sexual assault case where the authors interviewed some of the jurors and other trial participants about their perceptions of the expert evidence. Practical suggestions to improve educative expert evidence are identified and explained.

Spectacular Trials

2021 ◽  
pp. 79-98
Author(s):  
Mary Angela Bock
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Sexual Assault ◽  
The United States ◽  
Visual Media ◽  
Observational Research ◽  
Child Sexual Assault ◽  
Sexual Assault Case ◽  
Visual Coverage ◽  
The Way ◽  
Trayvon Martin

This chapter expands on the concept of embodied gatekeeping as it studies the way visual journalists negotiate access to the most newsworthy trials. In the United States, rules for camera access to trials vary state to state. Some states, such as Florida, have opened courtrooms to visual media, while others, such as Pennsylvania, forbid camera-in-the-court coverage. At either end of the spectrum, visual journalists face a maze of rules designed by court officials to protect the dignity of the process. Based on interviews and observational research, this chapter details the way visual journalists have negotiated these rules as they covered several spectacular trials, including Jerry Sandusky’s child sexual assault trial in 2012, George Zimmerman’s trial for the murder of Trayvon Martin in 2013, and Bill Cosby’s sexual assault case in 2017. Each case drew national attention, and each presented journalists with different sets of grounded challenges for visual coverage.

scholarly journals Sexual Assault Case Processing: The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cassia Spohn
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Justice System ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Status ◽  
Women And Girls ◽  
Assault Victims ◽  
Sexual Assault Case

One of the goals of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women is to end violence against women and girls in all countries. An important component of this goal is ensuring that all crimes of violence against women and girls are taken seriously by the criminal justice system and that police, prosecutors, judges and jurors respond appropriately. However, research detailing how cases of sexual assault proceed in the criminal justice system reveals that this goal remains elusive, both in the United States and elsewhere. The rape reform movement ushered in changes to traditional rape law that were designed to encourage victims to report to the police and to remove barriers to arrest and successful prosecution. However, four decades after this reform, victims are still reluctant to report sexual assaults to the police, and arrest, prosecution and conviction rates for sexual assault cases are shockingly low. Reversing these trends will require policy changes that are designed to counteract the stereotypes and myths underpinning sexual assault and sexual assault victims.

Reoffending among child sexual offenders

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Dowling ◽  
Anthony Morgan
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Sexual Offenders ◽  
Sexual Offence ◽  
Sexual Offences ◽  
Indigenous Status ◽  
Child Sexual Assault ◽  
Male Offenders ◽  
South Wales ◽  
History Of ◽  
Child Sexual Offenders

This study examines reoffending among 1,092 male offenders proceeded against for a child sexual offence in New South Wales between 2004 and 2013, including 863 child sexual assault offenders, 196 child abuse material offenders and 33 procurement/ grooming offenders. Seven percent of child sexual offenders sexually reoffended within 10 years of their first police proceeding for a child sexual offence, while 42 percent non-sexually reoffended. Risk of sexual and non-sexual reoffending was highest in the first two years. Child sexual assault offenders were the most likely to reoffend non-sexually, while procurement/grooming offenders were the most likely to reoffend sexually. There was evidence of transition to other sexual offence types, but this varied between groups. Indigenous status, history of offending and the number of child sexual offences emerged as important predictors of reoffending, although risk profiles varied between offender types.

scholarly journals Improving the Mechanism to Examine Judgment Debtor’s Ability to Satisfy Civil Judgments in Vietnam from International Experience

2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nguyen Thi Bich Thao ◽  
Nguyen Thi Huong Giang
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
White Paper ◽  
Civil Procedure ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Washington Dc ◽  
Oxford University ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Current State ◽  
Procedure Code ◽  
Civil Judgment

This article provides an overview of current law and current state of examining conditions of civil judgment enforcement in Vietnam and points out that the main shortcomings are the lack of a court’s supporting mechanism and lack of strict sanctions imposed on judgment debtors and other agencies, organizations and individuals who fail to provide information on the judgment debtor’s assets. The article explores the mechanism for examining of conditions for civil judgment enforcement in several countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada and draws some experience for improving the law on examining conditions of civil judgment enforcement in Vietnam. Keywords Civil judgment enforcement, examining judgment debtor’s ability to satisfy civil judgment enforcement References [1] Council of Europe. 2003, “Recommendation Rec(2003)17 of the Committee of Ministers to Member States on Enforcement.” September 9, https://wcd.coe.int/wcd/ViewDoc.jsp?id=65531&Site=COE. [2] Henderson, Keith, Angana Shah, Sandra Elena & Violaine Autheman. 2004. “Regional Best Practices: Enforcement of Court Judgments. Lessons Learned from Latin America.” IFES Rule of Law White Paper Series, International Foundation for Electoral Systems, Washington, DC. [3] Hoàng Thị Thu Trang, Hoàn thiện quy định pháp luật về xác minh điều kiện THADS, Tham luận của Cục THADS tỉnh Nghệ An, http://thads.moj.gov.vn/nghean/noidung/tintuc/lists/nghiencuutraodoi/view_detail.aspx?itemid=13.[4] European Commission for the efficiency of justice, CEPEJ Guidelines for a better implementation of the existing Council of Europe's recommendation on enforcement, https://www.coe.int/t/dghl/cooperation/cepej/textes/Guidelines_en.pdf[5] Wendy A. Kennett, Enforcement of Judgments in Europe, Oxford University Press, 2000.[6] German Civil Procedure Code, https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_zpo/englisch_zpo.html.[7] Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, http://www.uscourts.gov/rules-policies/current-rules-practice-procedure/federal-rules-civil-procedure.[8] California Civil Procedure Code, http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codesTOCSelected.xhtml?tocCode=ccp[9] Procedure for enforcing a judgment: England and Wales, https://e-justice.europa.eu/content_procedures_for_enforcing_a_judgment-52-ew-en.do?member=1[10] British Columbia Law Institute, Report on the Uniform Civil Enforcement of Money Judgment Acts, 2005.[11] Học viện Tư pháp, Giáo trình Nghiệp vụ thi hành án dân sự (Phần Kỹ năng), Tập 1, NXB. Tư pháp, 2017.  

Measurement of Victim Credibility in Child Sexual Assault Cases: A Systematic Review

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-66
Author(s):  
Ashmyra Voogt ◽  
Bianca Klettke ◽  
Angela Crossman
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Systematic Review ◽  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
The United States ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Female Victim ◽  
Single Item ◽  
Child Sexual Assault ◽  
Definition Of

While the concept of credibility seems like an intuitive one, research has indicated that there is no consistent definition of this construct and that credibility may, in fact, be multidimensional. This article is the first to review how the measurement of credibility in child sexual assault cases has been conducted, with the view to improve how credibility is psychometrically measured. Our findings indicate that the majority of experiments have been conducted in the United States (67%), have been based primarily on undergraduate students as participants (67%), and primarily investigated cases involving a male defendant and female victim (69%). Ultimately, among experiments investigating victim credibility, approximately 60% of all measures were based on a single item and 53% used materials not based on the testimony of the child. Moreover, credibility has been measured using a great variety of constructs such as believability, honesty, truthfulness, suggestibility, accuracy, and reliability. A more nuanced and consistent definition of credibility will be needed to facilitate meaningful applications of the research literature.

Sexual Assault of Men: American Research Supports Studies from the UK

1998 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul J Isely
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Mental Health Professionals ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
The United States ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
American Research ◽  
Incident Reports ◽  
The Uk

Incident reports and prevalence research on sexual assault, conducted in the United States, indicate that men may be at greater risk from sexual victimization than previously realized. These studies support the efforts of mental health professionals in the United Kingdom who have argued that sexual assault of men is an underreported crime which can result in significant biopsychosocial dysfunction. Given the increasing evidence that men are victims of sex crimes, future research studies on the prevalence of sexual assault should include adult males in their samples.

Effectiveness of Programs for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amaia Del Campo ◽  
Marisalva Fávero
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Prevention Programs ◽  
The United States ◽  
Sexual Abuse Prevention ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Methodological Considerations

Abstract. During the last decades, several studies have been conducted on the effectiveness of sexual abuse prevention programs implemented in different countries. In this article, we present a review of 70 studies (1981–2017) evaluating prevention programs, conducted mostly in the United States and Canada, although with a considerable presence also in other countries, such as New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The results of these studies, in general, are very promising and encourage us to continue this type of intervention, almost unanimously confirming its effectiveness. Prevention programs encourage children and adolescents to report the abuse experienced and they may help to reduce the trauma of sexual abuse if there are victims among the participants. We also found that some evaluations have not considered the possible negative effects of this type of programs in the event that they are applied inappropriately. Finally, we present some methodological considerations as critical analysis to this type of evaluations.

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