The Union College Psychology Department Speaker Series and Honors Colloquium welcome
Stephanie Block, Ph.D. (’03)
Associate Professor, University of Massachusetts, Lowell
for a public lecture entitled
Kids, cases, and consequences: Child sexual abuse reported to the criminal legal system
Thursday, October 12, 2023
12:45–1:50 PM • Karp 105
Lunch and refreshments will be provided.
This talk will review a retrospective analysis of 500 child sexual abuse (CSA) cases referred for prosecution in 4 counties in one state. The purpose of the study was to examine the dynamics of the cases to explore case trajectories and barriers to prosecution. Case attrition rates and the CSA case characteristics associated with prosecution outcomes will be discussed. Only a small portion of cases move forward with prosecution. Support from non-offending caregivers was associated with cases moving forward with prosecution. Barriers to prosecution included lack of evidence
such as medical evidence and disclosure issues. Delays in disclosure and what
triggered children to tell will be reviewed. The talk will also highlight recent follow-up work including qualitative interviews with non-offending caregivers of sexually abused children and other non-prosecutorial outcomes in these cases.
