Oral Presentation: Attorneys’ questions and children’s responses referring to the nature of genital touch in child sexual abuse trials

Title: Attorneys’ questions and children’s responses referring to the nature of genital touch in child sexual abuse trials

Abstract:

In child sexual abuse cases, establishing the location and invasiveness of genital touch is of key importance. However, research demonstrates that children struggle to provide clear terms for their sexual body parts in investigative interviews, especially when asked to name them rather than describe their function or location (Burrows et al., 2017). Additionally, young girls may not share an adult understanding of the concept of an ‘inside’ in relation to their genitals (Gallion et al., 2016). The present study was the first to analyse attorneys’ questions and children’s responses referring to genital anatomy and the nature of genital touch in court, in a sample of 153 4-10-year-olds testifying in child sexual abuse trials in California. Preliminary analyses showed that attorneys primarily asked about terminology and location rather than using ‘function’ questions to demonstrate children’s understanding of sexual body parts. In line with previous research, 42% of ‘naming’ questions failed to elicit clear evidence of children’s knowledge of genitals. Attorneys asked about penetration using closed-ended questions that enforce the inside/outside binary, rarely providing children with the opportunity to describe genital touch in their own words. Our findings provide preliminary evidence that attorneys use developmentally inappropriate questions when asking children about genital anatomy and the invasiveness of genital touch.