Suzanne St George, Hayden Henderson, Michaela Flippin, Stacia N Stolzenberg, Thomas D Lyon
{"title":"Appellate Review of Child Sexual Abuse Convictions: The Importance of Character Evidence.","authors":"Suzanne St George, Hayden Henderson, Michaela Flippin, Stacia N Stolzenberg, Thomas D Lyon","doi":"10.1177/10775595231196096","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This study examined the role of character evidence and other issues in criminal appeals of child sexual abuse (CSA) convictions. Character evidence includes uncharged acts and character witnesses who testify to another's reputation or opinion and is offered to prove an individual's propensities. Examining 168 appellate court opinions reviewing CSA convictions between 2005 and 2015 in Maricopa County, Arizona, we found that when specific types of evidence were at issue, they were most often character evidence issues (49%). However, appellate courts virtually never reversed convictions (<i>n</i> = 5), and when defendants did obtain relief, the reduction in charges or in sentences was minor. Of the small number of opinions that were published (<i>n</i> = 4), all focused on character evidence, including the single case reviewed by the Arizona Supreme Court. However, close examination of the published cases suggested they effected only modest change.</p>","PeriodicalId":48052,"journal":{"name":"Child Maltreatment","volume":" ","pages":"661-671"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5000,"publicationDate":"2024-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Child Maltreatment","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/10775595231196096","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2023/8/18 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"FAMILY STUDIES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This study examined the role of character evidence and other issues in criminal appeals of child sexual abuse (CSA) convictions. Character evidence includes uncharged acts and character witnesses who testify to another's reputation or opinion and is offered to prove an individual's propensities. Examining 168 appellate court opinions reviewing CSA convictions between 2005 and 2015 in Maricopa County, Arizona, we found that when specific types of evidence were at issue, they were most often character evidence issues (49%). However, appellate courts virtually never reversed convictions (n = 5), and when defendants did obtain relief, the reduction in charges or in sentences was minor. Of the small number of opinions that were published (n = 4), all focused on character evidence, including the single case reviewed by the Arizona Supreme Court. However, close examination of the published cases suggested they effected only modest change.
期刊介绍：
Child Maltreatment is the official journal of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC), the nation"s largest interdisciplinary child maltreatment professional organization. Child Maltreatment"s object is to foster professional excellence in the field of child abuse and neglect by reporting current and at-issue scientific information and technical innovations in a form immediately useful to practitioners and researchers from mental health, child protection, law, law enforcement, medicine, nursing, and allied disciplines. Child Maltreatment emphasizes perspectives with a rigorous scientific base that are relevant to policy, practice, and research.
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