Developing an objective approach to assessing allegations of sexual abuse

The decision to prosecute in a case of alleged child sexual abuse is a function of whether it is in the child's and the public's interest and whether the case is likely to be successful. This in turn rests largely upon what the child says during a joint investigative interview, the adequacy of that interview in terms of whether it meets the necessary legal requirements and whether other evidence is available, and the weight given to it. This paper describes an approach to evaluating what a child says during the interview which has been used widely in Europe to aid the decision-making process of teams and courts in their dealings with allegations of child sexual abuse. It is concluded that despite a number of methodological problems with the technique, known as statement validity analysis, joint investigating teams and the Crown Prosecution Service are likely to find it of assistance in clarifying their decision-making concerning children's evidence and, in particular, whether it is likely to be sufficiently strong to succeed within our current legal framework.