Society/Culture Child sexual abuse study - participants needed please

[andreabennet]

My name is Andrea Bennet and I am conducting a research project with Dr Bianca Klettke, a lecturer in the School of Psychology, Deakin University.

I am conducting this research to find out how the Australian public perceives child sexual assault. I would like to invite you to participate in this research. You must be above the age of 18 years as this study concerns information that is potentially distressing in nature of the content.

Your participation will be anonymous and no identifying information will be asked of you. You will be provided with a link which will take you to an invitation for an online survey. In this survey you will be asked read a mock court transcript describing child abuse and you will then be asked to respond to questionnaire. The survey will take approximately 40 minutes to complete.

If you decided to participate, please follow this link
http://www.deakin.edu.au/psychology/research/andreabennet

Thank you!
Andrea

 

[Teffy]

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Purpose and Background

My name is Andrea Bennet and I am a PhD student conducting a research project under the supervision of Dr Bianca Klettke at Deakin University, Australia. The purpose of this project is to find out how the Australian public perceives child sexual assault. This study will investigate how people ascribe blame, responsibility, culpability and victim credibility in child sexual abuse cases. Consequently, Australians are eligible for jury duty, therefore the perceptions of the general public equate to the perceptions of potential jurors. [/FONT]........It is therefore important to understand how jurors’ make decisions in based on the child’s testimony.

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This is a very complex issue. Are you going to base your research on just one hypothetical scenario?[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][/FONT]

 

[andreabennet]

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This is a very complex issue. Are you going to base your research on just one hypothetical scenario?

I agree that it's a very complex issue. This hypothetical scenario has been evaluated by a panel of experts to ensure that it reflects a realistic/typical CSA case. I would love to give participants an entire court transcript with the victim's and alleged perpetrator's full testimony but we have to keep it brief or people won't participate in such research. It's a limitation we keep in mind when we draw any conclusions or make any generalisations.

 

[Max zero]

Isn't it fairly obvious how society perceives child sexual assault? It has such a stigma that the accusation itself is often enough evidence on it's own.

I think the more interesting question is what causes it to happen in the first place and how do we prevent it.

 

[rayven]

In india they marry chicks off at 13 or so, in many cultures here before invasion, they did the same thing........i suppose its a cultural issue what is child sexual abuse or just sexual abuse....

However under that age its quite basic thats is simply not tolerable and arguable and rational and whatever but deserving of punishiment with a meat cleaver...


However....

years ago an ex had a kid living with the father...it was reported that the kid a 9 year old girl knew what an adult penis was like and welfare was called in.....the father and custodian refused to accompany or deal with the investigation , so we took her to the city to the medical and physical investigators.....she was uncoooperitive....daddy had her well trained to be uncompliaint with anyone over anything and that muddled the investigation....

it wasnt good......

daddy later lost custody because of his drunken parties with teenage girls....however regained custody because fays never had signifacant proof,guts or recources to deal.....

kids a crack hoe waiting to happen , unfortunatly.

any surveys deal with this experience?

 

[RisingPhoenix]

Academics.

 

[BABYBOMBERS2007]

A "different" type of survey

 

[andreabennet]

In india they marry chicks off at 13 or so, in many cultures here before invasion, they did the same thing........i suppose its a cultural issue what is child sexual abuse or just sexual abuse....

However under that age its quite basic thats is simply not tolerable and arguable and rational and whatever but deserving of punishiment with a meat cleaver...


However....

years ago an ex had a kid living with the father...it was reported that the kid a 9 year old girl knew what an adult penis was like and welfare was called in.....the father and custodian refused to accompany or deal with the investigation , so we took her to the city to the medical and physical investigators.....she was uncoooperitive....daddy had her well trained to be uncompliaint with anyone over anything and that muddled the investigation....

it wasnt good......

daddy later lost custody because of his drunken parties with teenage girls....however regained custody because fays never had signifacant proof,guts or recources to deal.....

kids a crack hoe waiting to happen , unfortunatly.

any surveys deal with this experience?

That is such an awful story, and what is worse is that this sort of thing happens a lot, I read the statistics on this all the time. There are studies that look at victim experiences and follow them through to adulthood to see how CSA affects victims into adulthood. So yes, this type of research does exist. That would be the area of clinical psych. My area is forensic psych so I look at law and CSA.

Sexual abuse is a crime with one of the lowest conviction rates. The crime is usually reported months and even years after it occurs and it becomes a case of the child's word against the adult's. The Vic Law Reform Commission have released a paper asking for research into these perceptions and how they may affect the conviction rates, that is essentially what I'm doing. Academics .

 

[Teffy]

The Vic Law Reform Commission have released a paper asking for research into these perceptions and how they may affect the conviction rates, that is essentially what I'm doing.

Please excuse my overt cynicism, but is this essentially research designed to convict more people?

 

[Donners]

At least one of the reasons for the low conviction rate is the prosecution's failure to call expert evidence on the reasons why children may delay complaint. That is, fortunately, a position which is starting to change, and will hopefully see a positive effect.

 

[Captain Janks]

In india they marry chicks off at 13 or so, in many cultures here before invasion, they did the same thing........i suppose its a cultural issue what is child sexual abuse or just sexual abuse....

However under that age its quite basic thats is simply not tolerable and arguable and rational and whatever but deserving of punishiment with a meat cleaver...


However....

years ago an ex had a kid living with the father...it was reported that the kid a 9 year old girl knew what an adult penis was like and welfare was called in.....the father and custodian refused to accompany or deal with the investigation , so we took her to the city to the medical and physical investigators.....she was uncoooperitive....daddy had her well trained to be uncompliaint with anyone over anything and that muddled the investigation....

it wasnt good......

daddy later lost custody because of his drunken parties with teenage girls....however regained custody because fays never had signifacant proof,guts or recources to deal.....

kids a crack hoe waiting to happen , unfortunatly.

any surveys deal with this experience?

It's still child abuse....happens in many of those eastern countries like Afghanistan. Funnily enough leftists don't seem to care because "it's their culture" and we just have to accept other people now, don't we? Take Mohammed the prophet for example. Left wing people want to force us to accept a Religion and group of people that worship a man who married a girl of 6 years of age and had sex with her at age 9. Guy was a pedophile and a child molester. Of course, Ill probably get in trouble for saying that, but it's sadly true.

 

[Donners]

Andrea, good luck with your research and final paper.

I work in the area, so I won't participate in the study lest I skew your results, but it'd be interesting to see how it turns out.

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

Consequently, Australians are eligible for jury duty, therefore the perceptions of the general public equate to the perceptions of potential jurors. ........It is therefore important to understand how jurors’ make decisions in based on the child’s testimony.

Please excuse my overt cynicism, but is this essentially research designed to convict more people?

I was actually thinking the other way Teffy when I read the highlighted bit you included in your first post. An advocate for the defence.

 

[Teffy]

Consequently, Australians are eligible for jury duty, therefore the perceptions of the general public equate to the perceptions of potential jurors. ........It is therefore important to understand how jurors’ make decisions in based on the child’s testimony.



I was actually thinking the other way Teffy when I read the highlighted bit you included in your first post. An advocate for the defence.

I am an advocate for truth.

IMO, we need to forget about tweaking the current system, which essentially relies on the "best liar" winning, and look to a European model of justice where the judge actually gets engaged in seeking the truth.

 

[HarryTiger]

Hanged and shot or shot and hanged?

 

[RisingPhoenix]

My two bobs.....

I dont need to undertake a research project to know that outside of bible thumpers out to redeem souls, 99.99% of Australian's share the deeply entrenched position that believes those who commit sexual offences against children, represent the absolute rock bottom of our society.

Therefore, I also dont need to undertake a research project to know that if confronted with the sad misfortune of copping jury duty on a child sex abuse case, an overwhelming proportion of those same Australian's would likely go in to the process with a pre-ordained/entrenched bias against the accused offender.

Unfortunately, you wouldnt want to be the innocent man in that scenario.

I come from a law enforcement rather than legal background, so I dont pretend to be full bottle on the subject, but personally, without wanting to look like im going into bat for paedophiles, in the interests of a healthy judicial process, I would rather see jury's entirely removed from involvement with child sex abuse cases.

 

[Max zero]

I come from a law enforcement rather than legal background, so I dont pretend to be full bottle on the subject, but personally, without wanting to look like im going into bat for paedophiles, in the interests of a healthy judicial process, I would rather see jury's entirely removed from involvement with child sex abuse cases.

For once I agree.

The problem with child testimony for me is you are trying to get a child to explain something that they don't understand to people they don't know and who weren't there.

Without physical evidence it is really hard to prove a lot like rape (which also has low conviction rates).

I am not so much sure it's a 'problem' but an intrinsic feature of such cases.

 

[Chief]

I dont need to undertake a research project...

And you're not... nor would answering this survey be "undertaking a research project". And from what I can see the research is not about whether you in particular think pedophiles are scum.

This study will investigate how people ascribe blame, responsibility, culpability and victim credibility in child sexual abuse cases.

Did you even read that page before responding? Or did you just leap at the chance to display a bit of smug anti-academic derision?

 

[RisingPhoenix]

Did you even read that page before responding? Or did you just leap at the chance to display a bit of smug anti-academic derision? :confused:

Of course I read the premise of Ms Bennet's research.

Im sure there is a lot which can be learnt, particularly in the area of victim credibility etc.

Im just sceptical as to whether its eventual findings will be practically utilized outside of the hallowed halls of academia, or whether it will it just end up being another desert dry academic snoozefest destined for a life gathering dust on an office bookshelf.

 

[Chief]

Of course I read the premise of Ms Bennet's research.

Your comment completely missed the mark so I assumed you hadn't.

What first hand experience do you have with this type of research that would lead you to rubbish it out of hand?

 

[Donners]

Therefore, I also dont need to undertake a research project to know that if confronted with the sad misfortune of copping jury duty on a child sex abuse case, an overwhelming proportion of those same Australian's would likely go in to the process with a pre-ordained/entrenched bias against the accused offender.

Unfortunately, you wouldnt want to be the innocent man in that scenario.

Given the acquittal rate - and I've seen acquittals on some pretty strong cases - I'd say the problem may not be as bad as you might expect.

 

[RisingPhoenix]

Your comment completely missed the mark so I assumed you hadn't.

What first hand experience do you have with this type of research that would lead you to rubbish it out of hand?

First hand experience....none.

Im happy to put my hand up and say that I am going entirely off of my own potentially misinformed personal perception, that those who spend there lives working as academics and researchers within universities, are somewhat detached from the 'real world', and instead live in a chin stroking academic bubble driven entirely by the theoretical and the ideological.

I'll leave it to other (potentially more well informed), BF contributors to suggest whether that perception is on, or off, the mark.

 

[Max zero]

Given the acquittal rate - and I've seen acquittals on some pretty strong cases - I'd say the problem may not be as bad as you might expect.

Even with an acquittal how many accused have carried on with their life as they have before?

 

[RisingPhoenix]

Even with an acquittal how many accused have carried on with their life as they have before?

None I would suggest.

Unless of course you have a bit of coin, and a network of sycophantic ex footy teammates turned business contacts.

Depending on whereabouts on the child sex abuse 'scale' you would place a male teacher having (consensual) sex with two of his female fifteen year old students over a 12 month period, I personally know of an individual who was found guilty and given a four year prison sentence (served two), only to then come out and rather than being consigned to the shadows, ended up opening a business in Perth's Northern suburbs and making an absolute fortune.

I wont say what kind of business he opened, other than to say its targeting a specific 'demographic' whose customers would likely feel the sudden need to have an extremely long shower if they were to ever find out the truth about his background.

Bottom line, even if your a convicted child sex offender, if you have a bit of money (or some mates willing to lend you money) and the contacts to set yourself up when you get out......the mud washes off with no problems at all.

 

[andreabennet]

I'm going to apologise in advance if I'm not coherent, I have three kids playing around me.

One of the reasons why I'm doing this research is in the hope that we can show evidence that will support the argument for scrapping juries in CSA cases and having them replaced by specialised judges who are well informed on CSA myths and are more free of prejudice than a jury would be.

I have no intentions of the results staying within academia, as someone pointed out earlier. I have every intention of publishing them. This study is also unique in that I'm trying to disseminate it across as many forums as I can to reach as many different groups of people as i can (parenting forums, varying sports forums, lifestyle forums, facebook...anywhere that i can post it). Most of the studies in this area of research rely on student populations or convenient samples of people you can get to fill surveys out at shopping centers and supermarkets etc. Everyone;s opinion is really important and I'm doing my best to reach as many groups of people as I can.

I will come back again once the kids are in bed to answer any questions people may have...thank you to those who are showing interest. I'm really enjoying reading everyone's responses here and the feedback as well.