RT Article
T1 “Did You Ever Fight Back?” Jurors’ Questions to Children Testifying in Criminal Trials About Alleged Sexual Abuse
JF Criminal justice and behavior
VO 47
IS 8
SP 1032
OP 1054
A1 St. George, Suzanne
A2 Denne, Emily
A2 Garcia-Johnson, Anastacia
A2 Stolzenberg, Stacia N.
LA English
YR 2020
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1768117535
AB The current study examined jurors’ questions to children in criminal trials assessing children’s allegations of sexual abuse, demonstrating a new avenue for studying how jurors think about, respond to, and assess evidence. We used qualitative content analysis to examine jurors’ questions to 134, 5- to 17-year-olds alleging sexual abuse in criminal trial testimonies. Five themes emerged: abuse interactions, contextual details of abuse, children’s reactions to abuse, children’s (delayed) disclosure, and case background details. Jurors often ask about abuse dynamics, the context surrounding abuse, and children’s disclosure processes, reflecting common misconceptions about child sexual abuse (CSA), such as whether it is credible to delay disclosure or maintain contact with an alleged perpetrator. This study improves our understanding of how jurors understand and evaluate children’s reports of alleged CSA, suggesting that jurors may struggle to understand children’s reluctance.
K1 CSA misconceptions
K1 Child Sexual Abuse
K1 children’s testimony
K1 jurors’questions
K1 Jury decision-making
DO  10.1177/0093854820935960