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