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Evidence and Child Sexual Abuse - Obfuscation or illumination?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 February 2016

Frank Bates
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Extract

In an earlier article in this journal (Bates, 1992), I suggested that, ‘Legislation and traditional legal principle seems to have been used to obfuscate, rather than enhance, the fact finding process.’ The cases discussed in that article (Minister of Community Welfare v B.Y. and L.F. (1988) F.L.C. 91-973; In the Marriage of Y and F (1990) F.L.C. 92-141; In the Marriage of D and B (1991) F.L.C. 92-226) documented that administrative processes were far from satisfactory in the way in which they dealt with allegations of child sexual abuse and so, perhaps, was the way in which the courts viewed expert evidence. Unfortunately, the process does seem to be continuing and must, therefore, be appropriately documented.

Type
Research Article
Information
Children Australia , Volume 18 , Issue 3 , 1993 , pp. 16 - 19
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

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References

Bates, F. (1981) ‘Custody Disputes Between Parents and Non-Parents: Some Developments in Canada and Australia’ Manitoba Law Journal 11, p303.Google Scholar
Bates, F. (1989), ‘Child Sexual Abuse and the Courts: The Message from Custody and Access Cases. An Old Light on a New Problem?’ University of Tasmania Law Review 9, p87.Google Scholar
Bates, F. (1992) ‘Can We Accept the Unacceptable? Evidence and Procedure in Child Sexual Abuse Cases in Recent Law’. Children Australia 17(2), p13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, B. (1988), Unofficial Secrets - Child Sexual Abuse: The Cleveland Case Virago Press.Google Scholar
Grunseit, F. (1990) ‘The Medical Examination’ in Oates, R.K. (ed) Understanding and Managing Child Sexual Abuse Harcourt Brace Jovanovich p127.Google Scholar
Spencer, J.R. & Flin, R. (1990) The Evidence of Children: The Law and the Psychology Blackstone Press.Google Scholar
Vizard, E., Bentovim, A. & Tranter, M. (1987) ‘Interviewing Sexually Abused Children’ Adoption and Fostering 11, p20.Google Scholar