The Experiences Of Child Complainants Of Sexual Abuse In The Criminal Justice System

Child Victims explores the range and extent of crimes committed against children, and assesses their impact. The testimony of over two hundred children gives voice, for the first time, to their experiences, their views, and their needs. It examines how children attain the status of 'victims' in the criminal justice system. Drawing on their recent research findings, the authors examine each stage of the legal process that a child encounters, from the initial reporting of the offence, through police investigation, to the trial itself. They contrast the specialist response to victims of child sexual abuse with the experiences of children who are victims of other crimes, thrust into an adult system which takes little account of their needs. Child Victims concludes by examining the role of support services and agencies dealing with child victims, and makes a number of key recommendations for future policy.

This text focuses on the importance of considering the experiences of children in responding to child sexual abuse. The contributors address these concerns whilst drawing on research, legislative and policy developments since 1989.

Child Sexual Abuse: Forensic Issues in Evidence, Impact, and Management covers the issue of child sexual abuse from several viewpoints. The book approaches child abuse from both victimization and offender perspectives, offering applied perspectives from experts and practitioners in the field, including discussions on policing, child safety and intelligence. This is a significant divergence from the literature most commonly provided in the market. Other sections cover psychological, physical abuse, and neglect, protective factors (at individual and community levels), recognition, responses, biopsychosocial outcomes (dealt with in discrete chapters), public policy, prevention, institutional abuse, children and corrections, treatment, management, and much more. Approaches child sexual abuse from both victimization and offending perspectives Comprised of both empirical scholarship and applied material from global experts and practitioners Includes significant advances in areas such as disclosure, the neurological effects of child abuse, neuroplasticity, trafficking, and online and virtual child abuse

The modern public prosecutor is a figure both powerful and enigmatic. Legal scholars and criminologists often identify “three essential components” of criminal justice systems: police, courts and corrections. Yet increasingly, the public prosecutor occupies a distinct role independent from any of these branches. Acting outside of the court, and therefore largely out of the public eye, the prosecutor’s control over whether and what charges proceed to court can limit judicial discretion on sentencing, open pathways to alternative measures and even deny entry into the criminal justice system entirely. In this sense the prosecutor serves as a true “gatekeeper” to the criminal process. This book addresses key aspects of the evolving role of domestic and international prosecutors in common law and civil law systems in the twenty-first century, and the challenges posed by this evolution. This collection of chapters from respected scholars takes an international, comparative approach and explores how these different legal systems have borrowed theorisations and articulations of the prosecutorial role from each other in adapting the office to changing conditions and expectations. The volume is structured around four main themes relating to the role of the modern prosecutor: the nature of the prosecutor’s office, the role of the prosecutor in investigations, prosecutorial discretion and how it is exercised, and politicisation and accountability of prosecutors. This book is essential for scholars and students in criminal justice, pre-law/legal studies, criminology, justice studies and political science, and is useful as a resource for those interested in legal change around the world.

This handbook engages key debates in Australian and New Zealand criminology over the last 50 years. In six sections, containing 56 original chapters, leading researchers and practitioners investigate topics such as the history of criminology; crime and justice data; law reform; gangs; youth crime; violent, white collar and rural crime; cybercrime; terrorism; sentencing; Indigenous courts; child witnesses and children of prisoners; police complaints processes; gun laws; alcohol policies; and criminal profiling. Key sections highlight criminological theory and, crucially, Indigenous issues and perspectives on criminal justice. Contributors examine the implications of past and current trends in official data collection, crime policy, and academic investigation to build up an understanding of under-researched and emerging problem areas for future research. An authoritative and comprehensive text, this handbook constitutes a long-awaited and necessary resource for dedicated academics, public policy analysts, and university students.