University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Little Rock, AR, USA.
Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
Child Maltreat. 2024 Nov;29(4):661-671. doi: 10.1177/10775595231196096. Epub 2023 Aug 18.
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 ( = 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 ( = 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.
本研究考察了品格证据及其他问题在儿童性虐待（CSA）定罪刑事上诉中的作用。品格证据包括未被指控的行为和品格证人，他们证明他人的声誉或意见，并被用来证明个人的倾向。在对 2005 年至 2015 年间亚利桑那州马里科帕县的 CSA 定罪进行的 168 项上诉法院意见审查中，我们发现，当特定类型的证据成为问题时，它们通常是品格证据问题（49%）。然而，上诉法院几乎从未推翻定罪（=5），当被告确实获得救济时，指控或判决的减少幅度很小。在发表的少数意见中（=4），所有意见都集中在品格证据上，包括亚利桑那州最高法院审查的一个单独案件。然而，对已发表案件的仔细审查表明，它们只产生了适度的变化。
