FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE PROSECUTION AND CONVICTION OF CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE CASES. An analysis from a sample of Criminal Courts in Catalonia

• In Event: Sentencing in Domestic Abuse and Sex Crimes Cases

Abstract

Child sexual abuse has high prevalence rates and important consequences for the psychosocial development of its victims. In addition, the difficulties of prosecution are a cause for concern. Based on a sample of judicial files obtained from a province of Catalonia (n = 593), this study shows, on the one hand, the procedural life of the judicial files by means of a case flow diagram and, on the other hand, statistically analyses the variables that influence the duration of the process, the greater or lesser probability of archiving, the accusation by the Public Prosecutor's Office, the prosecution and the conviction rate. The results confirm the difficulty of prosecuting these crimes, with a high rate of closure (61%) and a low conviction rate (18%). The age of the victim and the relationship between victim and offender are the variables that are most predictive of the case being closed, while the use of pre-constituted evidence and the existence of a psychological evaluation of the victim influence the continuation of the process. For its part, the foreign origin of the offender is a predictor of a higher conviction rate. In short, the results obtained confirm the importance of continuing to improve the procedural treatment and investigation of this type of crime in order to provide a judicial response to the victims, to adopt measures that help to strengthen the evidence and to reduce the high rates of archiving as well as the high number of convictions.

Authors

• Patricia Hernández-Hidalgo, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya

• Núria Torres-Rosell, University Rovira i Virgili - Spain

• Alba Marsol, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya

• Josep Tamarit, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya