Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Dr., Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6, Canada.
Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Dr., Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6, Canada; Boost Child and Youth Advocacy Centre, 890 Yonge St., Toronto, ON M4W 3P4, Canada.
Child Abuse Negl. 2018 May;79:224-233. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2018.02.011. Epub 2018 Mar 20.
While adolescents report the highest rates of sexual abuse victimization, few studies have investigated how child sexual abuse (CSA) cases involving adolescent complainants may differ from cases involving child complainants. The current study draws on 3,430 allegations of CSA in Canada to compare abuse characteristics and judicial outcomes in cases involving adolescent complainants to cases involving child complainants. Adolescent complainants were more likely than child complainants to be abused by a stranger or a person with a community connection to the complainant, while children were more likely than adolescents to be abused by a parent or other relative. Furthermore, compared to child complainants, adolescent complainants were more frequently involved in the most intrusive offenses and their cases were more likely to involve violence. Both groups were most likely to disclose the abuse to a parent, though a greater proportion of children disclosed the abuse to a parent. There were no differences in the delay to disclosure. Accused were equally likely to plead "guilty" and to be convicted in cases involving child and adolescent complainants. However, offenders convicted of the most intrusive offenses received longer probation sentences when the complainant was a child than when the complainant was an adolescent. These findings have implications for ensuring appropriate support and services to adolescent victims of CSA.
虽然青少年报告的性虐待受害率最高，但很少有研究调查涉及青少年投诉人的儿童性虐待（CSA）案件与涉及儿童投诉人的案件有何不同。本研究利用加拿大的 3430 项 CSA 指控，比较了涉及青少年投诉人和涉及儿童投诉人的案件中的虐待特征和司法结果。与儿童投诉人相比，青少年投诉人更有可能被陌生人或与投诉人有社区联系的人虐待，而儿童更有可能被父母或其他亲属虐待。此外，与儿童投诉人相比，青少年投诉人更频繁地卷入最具侵犯性的犯罪，他们的案件更有可能涉及暴力。两组人最有可能向父母披露虐待行为，尽管更多的儿童向父母披露了虐待行为。在披露的延迟方面没有差异。在涉及儿童和青少年投诉人的案件中，被告同样有可能认罪和被判有罪。然而，当投诉人是儿童时，被判犯有最具侵犯性罪行的罪犯获得的缓刑期比投诉人是青少年时更长。这些发现对确保为 CSA 的青少年受害者提供适当的支持和服务具有重要意义。
