Sexual Abuse

• Author: Jeffrey Lehman, Shirelle Phelps

Page 147

Illegal sex acts performed against a minor by a parent, guardian, relative, or acquaintance.

Sexual abuse is a general term for any type of sexual activity inflicted on a child by someone with whom the child is acquainted. It is considered an especially heinous crime because the abuser occupies a position of trust. Until the 1970s the prevalence of sexual abuse was seriously underestimated. Growing awareness of the problem led legislatures to enact reporting requirements, which mandate that any professional person (doctor, nurse, teacher, social worker) who knows or has reason to believe that a child is being abused report this information to the local WELFARE agency or law enforcement department. Statistics vary widely about the level of sexual abuse, but most researchers agree that it occurs at a higher rate than previously believed. Experts on the subject estimate that more than 130,000 children a year are sexually abused in the United States.

Perpetrators of sexual abuse are prosecuted under state CRIMINAL LAW statutes that have been toughened for sexual assaults on minors. The prosecution of reported sexual abuse has required children to testify in court about the abuse. Children are often unwilling to testify against the abuser, who may be a family member and may exert control over their victim. To relieve these pressures, courts have allowed the use of closed-circuit television to protect the child witness from the trauma of testifying in court before the defendant, expanded the HEARSAY evidence exception to allow testimony about what the child said if the child lacks a motive to lie or if the child uses sexual terminology unexpected of a child, and made rules that suspended the STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS until the abusive conduct is discovered.

During the 1980s a rash of sexual abuse cases involving day care centers drew national attention. The McMartin preschool case in Manhattan Beach, California, which began in 1984, accused a group of day care employees of sexual abuse and bizarre rituals of animal sacrifice. Though none of the defendants was ever convicted, similar allegations around the United States resulted in 113 convictions.

A difference of opinion exists within the legal and medical communities over the truthfulness of child witness testimony in sexual abuse cases. Prosecutors and some health professionals argue that children do not lie. Defense attorneys and social researchers contend that faulty interviewing by parents, psychologists, and law enforcement can lead children to make up stories. Leading questions and demands that a child reveal abuse can press the child into making false statements in order to please the questioner.

The debate over child witnesses has led many law enforcement agencies to develop standard investigatory protocols that seek to prevent contamination of the child's testimony. Interviews are routinely videotaped to document the interview process.

Apart from criminal remedies, in the 1980s CHILD ABUSE victims gained the ability to sue their abusers for damages. Before that time, civil remedies were available only for child victims who filed claims soon after attaining the age of majority. State courts and legislatures accepted the concept of repressed memory, in which traumatic episodes are repressed by the victim for many years. As of 2003, in more than 23 states, adults who "recover" their memories of childhood sexual...