Child Forensic Interviewing: Best Practices
This United States Department of Justice bulletin consolidates guidance on conducting forensic interviews with children in alleged abuse cases. It discusses interview purpose, preparation, rapport, open-ended questions, interview stages, and team coordination, while emphasizing that children’s accounts and needs differ and that repeated or overly focused questioning can create problems.
COUNTERING Counterintuitive Testimony (Child, handout)
This State Bar of Arizona handout examines testimony about children’s responses and behavior in child sexual abuse cases. It surveys issues including disclosure timing, changing accounts, continued contact, interviewing practices, possible confounds, confirmation bias, and research relevant to evaluating competing explanations.
Do Sexual Offenders Molest When Other Persons Are Present? A Preliminary Investigation
A poorly done preliminary study that the authors admit is not valid. Yet their study has been used by CSA experts for years (while ignoring the much better study by Leclerc 2015).
Extended Forensic Evaluation When Sexual Abuse Is Suspected: A Multisite Field Study
This multisite study evaluates an extended forensic assessment model for children whose suspected-abuse cases may need more than one interview, using data from 147 participants across 12 states. The authors report credible disclosures in 44.5% of cases, abuse-unlikely findings in 19%, and unresolved outcomes in 36%, so the study does not identify all non-disclosures as false allegations.
False Sexual-Abuse Allegations by Children and Adolescents: Contextual Factors and Clinical Subtypes. Mikkelsen
This article proposes a clinical typology for false allegations of sexual abuse by children and adolescents, drawing on literature and the authors’ clinical experience. It describes allegations associated with custody disputes, psychological disturbance, conscious manipulation, and iatrogenic influences, and discusses case examples and limits in evaluating such claims.
Gender Differences in Children’s Disclosures and Legal Narratives of Sexual Abuse
This dissertation analyzes disclosure patterns and interview narratives from 20 children whose sexual abuse was corroborated, examining gender differences, reasons for delayed disclosure, and narrative detail and structure. The author reports sample-specific differences and discusses methodological limits, including the small sample and limits on generalizing the findings.
Impact of Sexual Abuse on Children: A Review and Synthesis of Recent Empirical Studies
This review synthesizes empirical studies of the effects of child sexual abuse on children, an area that had grown beyond earlier reviews based largely on adults. It compares reported symptoms and examines developmental, family, and community factors, while describing limitations in study methods and suggesting directions for clinical work and further research.
Parent-Child Conversations, Principe and London, 2022
Principe and London review research on how conversations between parents and children can shape children’s memories before formal forensic interviews. They explain how parental questions, suggestions, and shared retellings may influence children’s accounts and discuss implications for interviewing and evaluating young witnesses.
Prevention Nearby: The Influence of the Presence of a Potential Guardian on the Severity of Child Sexual Abuse
This study examines whether a potential guardian’s presence is associated with the severity of child sexual abuse, using crime-event data from incarcerated adult offenders in Queensland, Australia. Its regression analyses found associations with shorter sexual contact and lower odds of penetration, and the authors discuss guardianship as a possible protective factor.