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Criminal Law

2009

Child abuse

Articles 1 - 10 of 10

Full-Text Articles in Law

13. Interviewing Children., Thomas D. Lyon Nov 2009

13. Interviewing Children., Thomas D. Lyon

Thomas D. Lyon

There is sufficient empirical evidence and consensus to begin to build guidelines, including the interview structure, setting, interviewer demeanor, children's reluctance and suggestibility, rapport development, narrative practice, introducing the topic of abuse, avoiding concepts that confuse children, instructions to children, phrasing of questions, evidence-based strategies for eliciting details, and multiple interviews.

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12. Disclosure Of Child Sexual Abuse., Thomas D. Lyon, Elizabeth C. Ahern Oct 2009

12. Disclosure Of Child Sexual Abuse., Thomas D. Lyon, Elizabeth C. Ahern

Thomas D. Lyon

The research supports the proposition that CSA victims often delay disclosure or fail altogether to disclose abuse and that delays and nondisclosure are most common among children abused by a familiar person, especially a family member living in the child's household. The implications of the research are that inconsistencies and recantations in children's reports may be due to reluctance rather than a false allegation.

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Intergenerational Transmission Of Abuse Of Incarcerated Fathers: A Study Of The Measurement Of Abuse, Jeremy Ball Mar 2009

Intergenerational Transmission Of Abuse Of Incarcerated Fathers: A Study Of The Measurement Of Abuse, Jeremy Ball

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications and Presentations

Research on the intergenerational transmission of abuse hypothesis often only examined the existence of abuse. The current study utilizes retrospective recalls of incarcerated male defendants (N = 414), using questions formulated from the modified Conflict Tactics Scales (Straus, 1974). Five logistic regression models are ran, representing a different physical abuse measure, including incidence of physical abuse, severity of physical abuse, and three composite measures: total frequency, total severity, and total frequency/severity. Although social desirability is a limitation in any study relying on self-report data, the comparison of the chi-square (x2) values of each model may give indication …

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20. Maltreated And Non-Maltreated Children’S Evaluations Of Emotional Fantasy., Nathalie Carrick, Thomas D. Lyon, Jodi A. Quas Jan 2009

20. Maltreated And Non-Maltreated Children’S Evaluations Of Emotional Fantasy., Nathalie Carrick, Thomas D. Lyon, Jodi A. Quas

Thomas D. Lyon


Objectives: The purpose of the study was to examine differences between maltreated and nonmaltreated children’s ability to differentiate emotionally evocative fantastic and real events.
Methods: Four- and 5-year-old (n = 145) maltreated and nonmaltreated children viewed images depicting positive and negative fantastic and real events and reported whether the events could occur in real life and how the images made them feel. Children also completed a measure of verbal ability.
Results: Maltreated children were more accurate than nonmaltreated children in stating that negative real events could occur, but less accurate in stating that frightening fantastic events …

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A Crooked Picture: Re-Framing The Problem Of Child Sexual Abuse, Eric S. Janus Jan 2009

A Crooked Picture: Re-Framing The Problem Of Child Sexual Abuse, Eric S. Janus

Faculty Scholarship

This article discusses the problem of ending child sexual abuse using an allegory explaining that certain types of punitive solutions as solving the river "downstream", or in problem-solving mode, as opposed to "upstream", or in prospective problem avoidance. The thesis of this brief article is that our public policy is focused too far downstream. We rightly condemn child sexual abuse, but our public discourse frames the issue in a way that misdirects our public policy towards downstream solutions. If we truly want to protect our children from sexual abuse and end the cycle of violence, we need to reframe the …

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Pursuing The Perfect Mother: Why America's Criminalization Of Maternal Substance Abuse Is Not The Answer- A Compartive Legal Analysis, Linda C. Fentiman Jan 2009

Pursuing The Perfect Mother: Why America's Criminalization Of Maternal Substance Abuse Is Not The Answer- A Compartive Legal Analysis, Linda C. Fentiman

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

In this Article the author will examine not only the substantive legal differences between the United States, Canada, and France, but will also explore how these legal rules fit within a broader social, political, and religious setting. This Article will pursue four lines of inquiry. First, it will briefly chronicle the history of criminal prosecution of pregnant women in America and show how these prosecutions have become markedly more aggressive over the last twenty years. Second, it will situate these prosecutions in the full context of American law and culture, demonstrating how the fetus has received increasing legal recognition in …

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10. Witnesses, Children As Legal., Thomas D. Lyon Dec 2008

10. Witnesses, Children As Legal., Thomas D. Lyon

Thomas D. Lyon

Child witnesses present challenges for both law and psychology. The question is how to elicit statements from children without sacrificing the truth, the rights of those against whom the child is testifying, and the welfare of the child.

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11. Abuse Disclosure: What Adults Can Tell., Thomas D. Lyon Dec 2008

11. Abuse Disclosure: What Adults Can Tell., Thomas D. Lyon

Thomas D. Lyon

This book chapter reviews 14 retrospective surveys inquiring into respondent’s child abuse experiences and whether they ever disclosed abuse as children. I discuss the advantages of retrospective surveys (representativeness, reduced likelihood of false allegations, reduced suspicion bias). However, I also emphasize the likelihood of survey reluctance, and explain how this biases upwards estimates of abuse victims’ prior disclosure. If respondents who previously disclosed abuse are more likely to acknowledge abuse to a surveyor than respondents who never previously disclosed abuse, respondents who acknowledge abuse are disproportionately likely to be those who have previously disclosed. Difficulties notwithstanding, the research supports the …

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9. Authors’ Response To Vieth, Thomas D. Lyon Dec 2008

9. Authors’ Response To Vieth, Thomas D. Lyon

Thomas D. Lyon

In 2007, Lamb, Orbach, Hershkowitz, Esplin, and Horowitz published in Child Abuse & Neglect a review of empirical research on the National Institute of Child Health and Development (NICHD) Investigative Interview Protocol in which they provided extensive research supporting the conclusion that the NICHD Protocol “comprises a useful and usable set of guidelines that allow trained interviewers to conduct investigative interviews that hew more closely than they otherwise would to universally endorsed professional guidelines” (p. 1212).

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19. Young Children’S Competency To Take The Oath: Effects Of Task, Maltreatment, And Age., Thomas D. Lyon, Nathalie Carrick, Jodi A. Quas Dec 2008

19. Young Children’S Competency To Take The Oath: Effects Of Task, Maltreatment, And Age., Thomas D. Lyon, Nathalie Carrick, Jodi A. Quas

Thomas D. Lyon

This study examined maltreated and non-maltreated children’s (N = 183) emerging understanding of ‘‘truth’’ and ‘‘lie,’’ terms about which they are quizzed to qualify as competent to testify. Four- to six-year-old children were asked to accept or reject true and false (T/F) statements, label T/F statements as the ‘‘truth’’ or ‘‘a lie,’’ label T/F statements as ‘‘good’’ or ‘‘bad,’’ and label ‘‘truth’’ and ‘‘lie’’ as ‘‘good’’ or ‘‘bad.’’ The youngest children were at ceiling in accepting/rejecting T/F statements. The labeling tasks revealed improvement with age and children performed similarly across the tasks. Most children were better able to evaluate ‘‘truth’’ …

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