Exploring how attorneys address grooming in criminal trials of child sexual abuse

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
File version

Version of Record (VoR)

Author(s)
Denne, Emily
Stolzenberg, Stacia N
Griffith University Author(s)
Primary Supervisor
Other Supervisors
Editor(s)
Date
2023
Size
File type(s)
Location
Abstract

Grooming is a common tactic among perpetrators of child sexual abuse (CSA). It is important that grooming is addressed in court to explain the unintuitive ways a child may act when they have been victims of abuse. The present study draws upon 134 transcripts of CSA criminal trials to establish how attorneys talk about grooming in court. Only 1.8% of attorney's questions addressed grooming behaviors. The majority of these focusing on exposure to pornography (27%) or boundary pushing (19%). Invitations elicited the most productive reports of grooming from children. There was a statistically significant difference in the proportion with which defense and prosecuting attorney's raised grooming issues, with prosecutors raising grooming issues more often than defense attorneys. We suggest that attorneys consider devoting proportionally more time to addressing grooming in court, to help jurors demystify common myths surrounding CSA.

Journal Title

Behavioral Sciences & the Law

Conference Title
Book Title
Edition
Volume

41

Issue

6

Thesis Type
Degree Program
School
Publisher link
Patent number
Funder(s)
Grant identifier(s)
Rights Statement
Rights Statement

© 2023 The Authors. Behavioral Sciences & The Law published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Item Access Status
Note
Access the data
Related item(s)
Subject

Criminology

Law in context

Applied and developmental psychology

Social Sciences

Psychology, Applied

Law

Psychology

Government & Law

Persistent link to this record
Citation

Denne, E; Stolzenberg, SN, Exploring how attorneys address grooming in criminal trials of child sexual abuse, Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 2023, 41 (6), pp. 488-503

Collections