Prosecuting Sex Crimes When the Victim Is an Adolescent: Presenting Your Case to the Jury
Author: Devon Lee.; Erin O’Keefe.
Source: Volume 02, Number 02, February/March 2001 , pp.26-27(2)
< previous article |next article > |return to table of contents
Abstract:
Prosecuting sex crimes committed against adolescent victims presents numerous potential problems to the child abuse prosecutor. Adolescent victims may speak, act, or dress in ways that make them unsympathetic to the jury. In addition, like other child victims of sexual abuse, adolescent victims may make delayed or inconsistent disclosures of abuse, or may recant the allegations.Keywords:
Affiliations:
1: National Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse; 2: Maryland State’s Attorney’s Office for Baltimore City.