View SOL snapshot
Recently Added
View as PDF: Professor Marci A. Hamilton Relative Success Memo
- The Constitutionality of S.B. 131, An Act Relating to Damages: childhood sexual abuse: statute of limitations: The bishops are fond of saying SB131 is unconstitutional. That is untrue, and here is Prof. Hamilton’s analysis.
Mental Health
- Exposure to childhood sexual and physical abuse and adjustment in early adulthood. (2008) – This research examined linkages between exposure to childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and childhood physical punishment/abuse (CPA) and mental health issues in early adulthood.
Prevalence
- The Leadership Council – 8 Myths About Child Sexual Abuse
- Hershkowitz, et al., Exploring the disclosure of child sexual abuse with alleged victims and their parents (2007) – Findings: More than half (53%) of the children delayed disclosure for between 1 week and 2 years, fewer than half first disclosed to their parents, and over 40% did not disclose spontaneously but did so only after they were prompted; 50% of the children reported feeling afraid or ashamed of their parents’ responses, and their parents indeed tended to blame the children or act angrily. The disclosure process varied depending on the children’s ages, the severity and frequency of abuse, the parents’ expected reactions, the suspects’ identities, and the strategies they had used to foster secrecy.
- Lippert, et al (2009) Predictors of Disclosure – Expanding on previous studies, it explores more thoroughly how previous disclosure relates to disclosure at a forensic inter-view, examines how both age at onset and age at forensic interview relate to disclosure, and tests whether disclosure rates differ across communities, including a comparison of communities with and without a CAC.
- London et al (2007) Disclosure of CSA Lit Review
- Malloy, et al (2007) Recantation of CSA
Public Impact
- Public pays costs of abuse End SOLs so those responsible have to pay! (2013) – in addition to the human cost of child abuse there are lasting health effects for victims and therefore substantial and very long-term costs for the health system.
- The economic burden of child maltreatment in the United States and
implications for prevention (2012)
Harm Done to Child Pornography Victims
Shifting the Cost of Abuse From Victims to Those Who Caused It
Cases
Why Victims Delay
Patterns of disclosure – delay and non-disclosure
‘Most people who experience sexual abuse in childhood do not disclose this abuse until adulthood’
Effects of Trauma
Source: Long-term health outcomes of childhood sexual abuse -American Nurse Today
- Ace Study (1995-Present) – The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study is one of the largest investigations ever conducted to assess associations between childhood maltreatment and later-life health and well-being. The study is a collaboration between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Kaiser Permanente’s Health Appraisal Clinic in San Diego.
- View Interactive Media Presentation “Neurobiology of Sexual Assault” Explaining Effects on the Brain (2012) – start at Slide 30
- Traumatic Stress: The Effects of Overwhelming Experience on Mind, Body, and Society by Bessel A. van der Kolk MD, Alexander C. McFarlane MD, Lars Weisaeth (2006) – great information regarding the delayed effects of Trauma including biological changes that may not be apparent or even recognizable for years after the trauma.
- Link between child abuse and alcoholism. Important study (2013) – New report from Clinical psychologist, Joseph Nowinski, Ph.D., provides valuable insight into the relationship of childhood abuse and later alcohol abuse.
- The Lasting Damage of Child Abuse by Dr. Scott Mendelson, M.D(2014) – Another medical expert talks about the lifelong damage of child abuse.
- R.L., Plaintiff-Respondent, v. VOYTAC, New Jersey Supreme Court (2009) – “At issue in this matter is the interpretation of the statute of limitations provision of the Child Sexual Abuse Act (the Act), N.J.S.A. 2A:61B-1. The Act provides in relevant part that an action for child sexual abuse shall be brought within two years after the ‘reasonable discovery of the injury and its causal relationship to the act of sexual abuse.‘ N.J.S.A. 2A:61B-1b. Additionally, the Act provides for a tolling of the statute of limitations because of ‘the plaintiff’s mental state, duress by the defendant, or any other equitable grounds.‘ N.J.S.A. 2A:61B-1c. We conclude that pursuant to the Act, the trial court must first determine when a reasonable person subjected to childhood abuse would discover that the defendant’s conduct caused him or her injury. That is an objective test. If that period is more than two years prior to the filing of the complaint, then the court must next determine whether the statute should be tolled because of ‘the plaintiff’s mental state, duress by the defendant, or any other equitable grounds.‘”
- APA_Amicus_Brief_in_Stogner (2003) – Amicus brief of the American Psychiatric Association in the U.S. Supreme court case of Stogner v. California. The brief contains a lengthy list of scientific studies on the impact of sexual abuse and the difficulties survivors face coming forward. This was the case that dealt with California’s efforts to revive previously time barred criminal cases back in 2002. Ultimately, the U.S. Supreme Court held that effort to be unconstitutional.
- Hershkowitz, et al., Exploring the disclosure of child sexual abuse with alleged victims and their parents (2007) – Findings: More than half (53%) of the children delayed disclosure for between 1 week and 2 years, fewer than half first disclosed to their parents, and over 40% did not disclose spontaneously but did so only after they were prompted; 50% of the children reported feeling afraid or ashamed of their parents’ responses, and their parents indeed tended to blame the children or act angrily. The disclosure process varied depending on the children’s ages, the severity and frequency of abuse, the parents’ expected reactions, the suspects’ identities, and the strategies they had used to foster secrecy.
- Lippert, et al (2009) Predictors of Disclosure – Expanding on previous studies, it explores more thoroughly how previous disclosure relates to disclosure at a forensic inter-view, examines how both age at onset and age at forensic interview relate to disclosure, and tests whether disclosure rates differ across communities, including a comparison of communities with and without a CAC.
Offline Resources
- Justice Denied: What America Must Do to Protect Its Children by Marci A. Hamilton (2011) – the best book on SOL reform published, very easy-to-read, and an indispensable tool in the fight for survivors’ access to justice.
Delayed Discovery Offline Resources
- Somer, E. & Szwarcberg. (2010). Variables in delayed disclosure of childhood sexual abuse. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 71, 332-341.
- John Jay College of Criminal Justice. (2004). The Nature and Scope of the Problem of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests and Deacons in the United States. Washington, DC: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
- Smith, D. W., Letourneau, E. j., Saunders, B. E., Kilpatrick, D. G., Resnick, H.S., & Best, C. L. (2000). Delay in disclosure of childhood rape: Results from a national survey. Child Abuse and Neglect, 24, 273-287.
- Smith, D. W., Letourneau, E. j., Saunders, B. E., Kilpatrick, D. G., Resnick, H. Gartner, R.B. (1999). Betrayed as Boys: Psychodynamic Treatment of Sexually Abused Men. NY: Guilford.
- Herman, J. (1992, 1997). Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence from Domestic Abuse to Political Terror. NY: Basic Books.
- Elliott, D.N.; Browne, K., and Kilcoyne, J. (1995). Child sexual abuse prevalence – what offenders tell us. Child Abuse & Neglect, 19: 579-594.
- Davies, J.M., and Frawley, M.G. (1994). Treating the Adult Survivor of Childhood Sexual Abuse: A Psychoanalytic Perspective. NY: Basic Books.
- Finkelhor, D. (1994). Current information on the scope and nature of child sexual abuse. Future of Children, 4, 31-53.
- Anderson, J., Martin, J., Mullen, P., Romans, S., & Herbison, P. (1993). Prevalence of childhood sexual abuse experiences in a community sample of women. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
- Waite, E.A. (1993). Trauma and Survival: Post-Traumatic and Dissociative Disorders in Women. NY: Norton.
- Wyatt, G. E., & Newcomb, M. (1990). Internal and external mediators of women’s sexual abuse in childhood. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 58, 758-767.
- Conte, J.R., Wolf, S., Smith, T. (1989) What sexual offenders tell us about prevention strategies. Child Abuse Neglect, 13:293-301.
- Courtois, C.A. (1988). Healing the Incest Wound. NY: Norton.
- Russell, D.E.H. (1986). The Secret Trauma: Incest in the Lives or Girls and Women. NY: Basic Books.