St. Mary County is a small rural midwestern enclave with a unique approach to handling accusations of child sexual abuse. Hoping to spare children the trauma of lengthy court appearances and probing interrogations, St. Mary's professionals strive to obtain confessions from accused sex offenders rather than ask the victim to bear the burden of proof.
Treating this county as a critical case study, scholars from a variety of fields come together to analyze this community's unique approach. They address relevant case law, innovative treatments for both victim and offender, and the social history of child sexual abuse as a national policy concern. They cover legal burdens and scientific methods, prosecutors and protocol, the interrogation of victims and suspects, the use of expert witnesses, defense strategies, and practice wisdom in videotaping. In addition, they examine the unfolding drama of a single legal case from incidence to conviction.
The result is a fascinating dialogue that confronts the unique complexities of child sexual abuse for readers on all sides of the issue. Introducing a model that makes enormous headway in the pursuit of justice, fairness, and trauma treatment, this interdisciplinary text is an indispensible tool for all communities seeking redress.
- Contents
- Note to the Reader
- ONE |Child Sexual Abuse: Legal Burdens and Scientific Methods
- [ PART ONE ] People, Personalities, and Protocol Development
- TWO |Prosecutors and a Protocol Switching Doors and Staying in Place
- THREE |Sex Busters
- [ PART TWO ] Protocol as Process
- FOUR |Investigation of Child Sexual Abuse
- FIVE |Professional Practitioners’ Viewson Videotaping
- SIX |Polygraph Magic
- SEVEN |Shifting the Narrative Burden Throughout Investigations and Prosecutions of Child Sexual Abuse
- EIGHT |Shouldering the Shifted Burden
- NINE |Victim and Offender Treatment and Therapeutic Justice
- [ PART THREE ] The Overall Process and Concluding Lessons
- TEN |People, Protocol, and Process
- ELEVEN |Conclusions from the Study of St. Mary County
- Bibliography
- Contributors and Members of the Research Team
- Index
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