RT Article
T1 The Presumption of Harm and Descriptions of Child Sexual Victimization: Sentencing the Victim-Offender
JF The British journal of criminology
VO 65
IS 6
SP 1332
OP 1350
A1 Arnold, Bronwyn
LA English
YR 2025
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1942591489
AB Child sexual abuse is presumed to be inherently harmful. During sentencing, the victim’s harm is relevant as a purpose for punishment and for determining the penalty, and the sentencing remarks communicate the reasons underpinning the offender’s punishment. This article explores a sample of sentencing remarks of sexually abused child sexual offenders made in three Australian jurisdictions between 2005 and 2018. It finds that the presumption of harm is routinely extended to the immediate victims, but rarely extended to victim-offenders. In some cases, judges used language which minimized the victim-offenders’ experiences. The article argues that the presumption of harm should be extended to victim-offenders and their harm acknowledged, to promote sentencing’s communicative function and help to facilitate its rehabilitative purpose.
K1 Sentencing
K1 Child Sexual Abuse
K1 child sexual offenders
K1 presumption of harm
K1 harm minimization
DO 10.1093/bjc/azaf019