Wrongful Allegations of Sexual and Child Abuse

Wrongful Allegations of Sexual and Child Abuse fills a gap for an authoritative and considered text focused on false accusations of recent or historical abuse, both as a miscarriage of justice and as an ordeal which impairs lives even when it does not result in criminal charges. It brings together experts from different disciplinary backgrounds and relevant specialisms to explicate the context, causes, and processes that foster erroneous or fabricated allegations and to consider ways of reducing their incidence and the injustices that follow them.

While there has been a welcome increase in policies which address child abuse, rape and other sexual offences, these tend to neglect or disavow the diametrical problem of false allegations of such offences. It is inherent in the, typically, unwitnessed and physically uncorroborated nature of these 'hidden' crimes that they are difficult to prosecute; but also to disprove if no crime has been committed. It is right that all allegations of abuse are treated as believable and are rigorously investigated, but it is not in the interest of any progressive and robust system of justice to convict or malign innocent people. Approached from this more controversial perspective, the five parts of this volume chart the life-course of an untrue allegation. Beginning with the nature, extent and harm of false abuse allegations, the cultural and political context giving rise to false allegations, and then the causal and motivational factors for making them, are explored, before addressing the role and impact of the criminal justice system when handling such cases. The final part looks at the ways such concerns might be addressed whilst remaining mindful of victims of abuse and their suffering.

Tackling an under-researched and under-discussed area, Wrongful Allegations of Sexual and Child Abuse offers thoughtful and thought-provoking discourses around an understandably difficult and sensitive area. It will be essential reading for academics and students of criminology, sociology, criminal justice, criminal law, socio-legal studies, and psychology, as well as those working with victims of false allegations, and police and specialist practitioners dealing with sexual offences and child abuse.

Ros Burnett, Senior Research Associate, Centre for Criminology, University of Oxford

Ros Burnett is a Senior Research Associate, formerly Reader in Criminology, at the Centre for Criminology, University of Oxford, which she joined in 1990 after gaining a DPhil in social psychology at the Department of Experimental Psychology, Oxford. Her research areas include interpersonal relationships; rehabilitation of offenders and desistance from crime; and wrongful allegations of sexual and child abuse. Her most recent book was Where Next for Criminal Justice? (co-authored with David Faulkner) published by The Policy Press, 2011. She is currently collaborating with Dr Mark Smith, University of Edinburgh, on an ESRC project concerned with allegations of historical abuse at a former girls' approved school. Recent voluntary work includes research and information consultant to FACT, the support group for falsely accused carers, teachers and other professionals; and she is an associate editor of the International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology.

PART I: THE REALITY OF WRONGFUL ALLEGATIONS OF ABUSE What kind of allegations, how prevalent and why do they matter?
1. Wrongful Allegations of Sexual and Child Abuse: A Neglected and Growing Category of Injustice, Ros Burnett
2. Experiencing False Allegations of Abuse: First-hand Accounts, Edited by Ros Burnett
PART II: CULTURE, IDEOLOGY, POLITICS What is the terrain that gives rise to false allegations?
3. Demons, Devils and Ritual Abuse: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, Mary deYoung
4. Moral Crusades, Child Protection, Celebrities and the Duty to Believe, Frank Furedi
5. Telling Stories? Adults' Retrospective Narratives of Abuse in Residential Child Care, Mark Smith
6. 'Rape Culture' Narrative, State Feminism and the Presumption of Guilt, John Brigham
7. Making Accusations: Precautionary Logic and Embedded Suspicion in an Insecure and Uncertain World, Bill Hebenton and Toby Seddon
PART III: THE ALLEGATION: CAUSES, MOTIVATIONS, CASE-STUDIES Why would anyone make a false accusation?
8. Why and How False Allegations of Abuse Occur: An Overview, Felicity Goodyear-Smith
9. The Compensations of Being a Victim, Barbara Hewson
10. His Story, Her Story: Sexual Miscommunication, Motivated Remembering, and Intoxication as Pathways to Honest False Testimony Regarding Sexual Consent, J. Guillermo Villalobos, Deborah Davis and Richard A. Leo
11. Beliefs about Memory, Childhood Abuse and Hypnosis Amongst Clinicians, Legal Professionals and the General Public, Christopher C French and James Ost
12. To Catch a Sex Offender: Police, Trawls and Personal Injury Solicitors, David Rose
PART IV: INTERROGATION, PROSECUTION, CONVICTION, APPEAL How could the justice system get it so wrong?
13. When Exoneration Seems Hopeless: The Special Vulnerability of Sexual Abuse Suspects to False Confession, Deborah Davis and Richard A. Leo
14. Complaints of Sexual Abuse and the Decline of Objective Prosecuting, Luke Gittos
15. 'In denial': the Hazards of Maintaining Innocence After Conviction, Daniel Medwed
16. When Juries Find Innocent People Guilty: Strengths and Limitations of the Appellate System in England and Wales, Michael Zander
PART V: FINDING WAYS FORWARD What's to be done?
17. Reducing Harm Due to False Allegations of Child Sexual Abuse: The Importance of Corroboration, Steve Herman
18. Advances in Lie Detection: Limitations and Potential for Investigating Allegations of Abuse, Galit Nahari
19. Toward Reconciliation of the True and False Recovered Memory Debate, Robert F. Belli
20. The Defendant's Plea of Innocent in Sexual Abuse Cases, Timothy Bakken
21. Reducing the Incidence and Harms of Wrongful Allegations of Abuse, Ros Burnett