When children don't tell. Child sexual abuse: Disclosure, delay and denial. M.-E. Pipe, M. E. Lamb, Y. Orbach and A.-C. Cederborg (Eds.). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahweh, NJ, USA. No. of pages 318. ISBN 978-0-8058-6317-6

✍ Scribed by Graham Davies

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2008
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 37 KB
• Volume: 22
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0888-4080
• DOI: 10.1002/acp.1476

✦ Synopsis

This timely and important collection of papers, skilfully edited by colleagues of the dedicatee, the late Kathy Sternberg, focuses on the evidential significance of children suspected of being abused who fail to mention this abuse when formally interviewed by professionals, but who subsequently make disclosures in later interviews. It is an issue of considerable relevance to researchers in applied cognition as well as child protection professionals. As the introductory chapter observes, it threatens to open up a new front in the 'memory wars', just as an uneasy peace had descended.

In 1983, Roland Summit published an influential analysis of what he termed the 'Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome'. Abused children, he argued, often delayed or retracted a full disclosure of abuse. This, he argued, arose from the child's relatively powerless position and conflicted loyalties when the abuser was a member of the family group: children struggled between their wish to end the abuse and their concerns for the integrity of the family unit. As a consequence, the full measure of the abuse might only emerge slowly through repeated interviews and be marked by full or partial retractions. Summit's account was based solely upon his extensive clinical experience, but his description of the cycle of disclosure resonated with many of his fellow professionals. Reference to Summit's syndrome rapidly became a feature of expert evidence in child abuse cases where retracted or postponed disclosure figured in evidence and this in turn encouraged research into the pattern of children's disclosure of abuse in interviews.

In 2005, Kamala London, with Bruck, Ceci, and Shuman reviewed 10 such studies which they believed challenged Summit's account. They noted that rates of denials and recantations in investigative interviews showed wide variations across surveys: from just 4 to 75%. London et al. fully accepted that many children never disclose their abuse to others and carry the burden through into adulthood. However, they cited evidence that where children had made a prior disclosure, disclosure at the formal interview invariably followed. As for the variations in disclosure rate, the reviewers relate this to the rigorousness of the criteria adopted in different studies for identifying children suspected of abuse: the more lax the inclusion criteria, the higher the numbers of denials and recantations. The reviewers went on to link studies with high denials, delayed or retracted disclosure rates to what they saw as problematic or suggestive interviewing procedures. The implication of this argument-that many children making late or retracted disclosures are victims not so much of abuse, but of incompetent interview practice-has not been lost on the courts. London et al.'s work has been recently cited by defence counsel in cases where children have delayed or temporarily recanted an allegation against a defendant. Unfortunately, as so often happens when research crosses the barrier from the scientific to the public arena, what the court hears is not a nuanced account, but a caricature, which is a disservice to science and justice. The contributors to the current book do an excellent job of clarifying the issues and dispelling myths about when children do or do not tell, based on the latest research and informed comment.

London et al.'s own contribution expands on their original argument but does note that retractions are not solely linked to inappropriate interviewing: they are frequently the result of allegations coming to trial and the pressures children face from unbelieving care-givers and the prospect of the break-up of their home life: precisely the issues that Summit highlighted. In a commentary, Lyons reviews studies on children diagnosed with sexually transmitted diseases, significant numbers of whom still deny abuse when formally interviewed. Perhaps many of these will be from the shadowy legions of children who would have kept their abuse to themselves, but for its exposure through medical treatment.