RT Article
T1 Rethinking the competing discourses on uncorroborated allegations of child sexual abuse
JF The British journal of criminology
VO 59
IS 2
SP 461
OP 480
A1 Naughton, Michael
LA English
YR 2019
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/159030845X
AB This article shows that the competing discourses on uncorroborated allegations of child sexual abuse (UACSA) each rests on unreliable epistemic assumptions, meaning that in any given case it is uncertain whether the individual making the accusation is a genuine victim or the perpetrator of a false allegation against an innocent individual. It argues that this presents a fatal challenge to the existing fields of knowledge and practise on either side of the discursive divide in terms of how alleged victims in UACSA cases are conceptualized and measured and how they are acted upon. It concludes with a call for an open-minded approach, which prioritizes the pursuit of truth in investigations to try to ensure that criminal justice system interventions in such an inherently problematic area are just and that they do not cause or compound the forms of harm and injustice currently at play.
K1 Allegations of child sexual abuse
K1 False allegations
K1 Discourse
K1 Victims
K1 Harm
K1 Falschbeschuldigungen
K1 Falsche Beschuldigung
K1 Kindesmissbrauch
K1 Sexueller Kindesmissbrauch
K1 Fehlbeschuldigung
K1 Opfer
DO 10.1093/bjc/azy037