Researchers have established that rape myths shape perceptions of victims and perpetrators in criminal cases. Researchers have devoted less attention to exploring the impact of child sexual abuse (CSA) myths in court. While we know that jurors believe myths and misconceptions about the nature of CSA, no work has explored how these myths appear during the prosecution of CSA cases. The purpose of the present investigation was to assess how defense attorneys apply myths more specific to CSA in the questioning of children testifying about alleged CSA. The present study compliments and expands upon a previous study by St. George and colleagues (2021a), where authors examined the use of rape myths in the questioning of children making allegations of CSA. In the current study, we examined testimonies of 122 children testifying in criminal cases of alleged CSA in the United States. We qualitatively coded 6,384 lines of questioning for references to CSA-focused myths related to the disclosure process, witnesses and privacy issues, assumptions of harm, and the child’s positive relationship with the perpetrator. These myths were common, occurring in over 10% of defense attorneys’ lines of questioning. Disclosure issues were the most frequent, followed by witness and privacy issues, assumptions of harm, and the child’s positive relationship with their perpetrator. In many cases, attorneys employed different strategies across child’s age to highlight these myths. These findings compliment those of prior work suggesting that CSA myths, much like rape myths, are appearing with regularity. Defense attorneys are likely capitalizing on jurors’ misconceptions to undermine children’s believability.

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关于刑事调查中儿童性虐待的神话和误解

研究人员已经确定，强奸神话塑造了刑事案件中受害者和肇事者的看法。研究人员很少关注在法庭上探索儿童性虐待 (CSA) 神话的影响。虽然我们知道陪审员相信关于 CSA 本质的神话和误解，但没有任何工作探讨这些神话在 CSA 案件的起诉过程中是如何出现的。本次调查的目的是评估辩护律师如何在询问儿童作证有关所谓的 CSA 时应用更具体的 CSA 神话。本研究补充并扩展了 St. George 及其同事 (2021a) 之前的一项研究，其中作者检查了在询问提出 CSA 指控的儿童时使用强奸神话的情况。在目前的研究中，我们检查了 122 名在美国涉嫌 CSA 的刑事案件中作证的儿童的证词。我们对 6,384 行问题进行了定性编码，以参考与披露过程、证人和隐私问题、伤害假设以及儿童与犯罪者的积极关系相关的以 CSA 为重点的神话。这些神话很常见，出现在超过 10% 的辩护律师的提问中。披露问题是最常见的，其次是证人和隐私问题、伤害假设以及儿童与施暴者的积极关系。在许多情况下，律师采用不同年龄的不同策略来突出这些神话。这些发现补充了先前的工作，表明 CSA 神话，就像强奸神话一样，正在规律地出现。