University of Missouri - Saint Louis

The Graduate School

Announcement

An oral examination in defense of the dissertation for the degree

Doctor of Philosophy

Janice R. Hill
MA, Criminology and Criminal Justice, 2003. University of Missouri-St. Louis.
MA, Political Science, 1986. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
BA, History/Political Science and Certificate in Legal Studies, 1984. Webster University, St. Louis, Missouri.

Prosecuting Child Sexual Abuse Offenders: A Case Study of Victim, Family, Offender,
Evidentiary, and Incident Characteristics

Abstract

The purpose of this dissertation research is to conduct an analysis of criminal justice offender outcomes from child sexual abuse (CSA) cases interviewed by the Children’s Advocacy Services of Greater St. Louis (CASGSL). The study includes 203 child sexual abuse cases referred to the CASGSL for forensic interviews from the County of St. Louis, MO, from 2003-2003. The overarching research purpose is to determine what effects, if any, a variety of child/victim, family, incident, offender, and evidentiary characteristics have on the likelihood of conviction. The research seeks to clarify some of the inconsistencies in the existing body of CSA prosecution literature through collecting a wide variety of victim and incident data from information gathered directly from child victims and their caregivers, prior to referral to prosecution, tracking these victim’s cases from interview to prosecution and conviction, and developing statistical models that control for a variety of variables. The study uses a theoretical framework of uncertainty avoidance and victim credibility and blameworthiness. The data was collected from recent cases, producing a dataset that will allow for further research on a number of combinations of independent and dependent variables. In addition, this research will provide a foundation for data gathering from previous and future years of CASGSL files, which will allow for longitudinal study of changes in prosecutorial outcomes over time.

In the final logistic regression models, four variables were significantly associated with conviction: child disability, child’s race, intimate partner violence, and family acquaintance.
Both the presence of a child disability and intimate partner violence was associated with a decreased likelihood of conviction in this sample. Cases involving White children and White offenders were more likely to be convicted. Finally, the offender not being a family acquaintance was associated with an increased likelihood of conviction, although none of the intrafamilial relationship variables were significant.

A focal concerns theory of prosecutorial uncertainty avoidance in child sexual abuse cases is proposed to better understand the factors affecting the likelihood of conviction.

Defense of Dissertation Committee