1.00 Standard CLE Credit - Children recant for a number of reasons. If prosecutors routinely dismiss cases involving recanting victims, these children and other children may not be safe. If children do not disclose having been sexually abused, they may not be able to overcome the trauma of the abuse. Furthermore, child sexual abusers may take the threat of prosecution less seriously.
This presentation will show a number of interventions that can be made to prevent recantation and to minimize its effects. Victims of sexual abuse should have advocates appointed for them early in the proceedings to provide them with early and continual support. Both children and abusers should receive mental health treatment directly following disclosure as another source of support for the children. Finally, judicial changes should take place so the experience of testifying and gathering evidence is less traumatic for the children.
Learning Objectives

1. Understand the prevalence of recantation and the factors that increase the risk of recantation.
2. Take affirmative steps to prevent a recantation.
3. Investigate a victim’s recantation and seek additional sources of evidence.
4. Mitigate the effects of a recantation at trial