Predictors of Time to Criminal Prosecution of Child Sexual Abuse: Findings from a Child Advocacy Center

Background and Purpose:Studies examining criminal prosecution of child sexual abuse (CSA) have found that these cases take longer than other felony cases to resolve. Longer criminal court experiences increase stress for victims and can be detrimental to their mental health and well-being.  Factors that predict likelihood of prosecution include victim gender, age, and race.  Comparatively fewer studies have concentrated on predictors of time to criminal prosecution. Findings have been inconclusive with the exception of significant differences between cases with adult and juvenile offenders.  This study addresses the ambiguity present in the prior research by elucidating some of the predictors associated with the length of time for CSA cases to resolve in a child advocacy center (CAC) serving a large southeastern region in the US.

Methods: 227 children interviewed at the CAC from 2000-2013 whose cases were referred for prosecution were included in this study.  Inclusion criteria were: (a) a criminal charge of sexual abuse, (b) the victim was less than 18 years old at the time of the interview, and (c) there was a criminal disposition. A continuous outcome variable for time to disposition was derived by calculating the days from the child’s forensic interview to the final case disposition date. Multiple regression was used to model time to disposition across the following five case characteristics: victim age, victim race, victim gender, offender relationship (parent/stepparent, other relative, nonrelative), and the county size (urban, suburban, rural).

Results: CSA cases on average took almost a year and a half to resolve (M= 495.56 days, SD= 332.629).  Only 15% of cases resolved within the American Bar Association standard of 180 days and 33.62% had a total disposition time of more than 2 years. The overall model was significant [ F(7, 218) = 5.168, p < .001]. The model explained 14.2% of the variance in the outcome variable. Only age (p <.05), non-relative offender (p< .001), and suburban jurisdiction (p< .001) were significant predictors of disposition time.  Specifically, having a non-relative (vs. parent/stepparent) offender and being in a suburban (vs. urban) district were associated with a shorter disposition times, while older age was associated with longer disposition times.

Conclusions: Consistent with prior studies, this research found long average disposition times with wide variation. Some of that variation was explained by the child’s age, the offender’s relationship to the child and the type of jurisdiction.  Future research is needed to clarify how CSA cases differ based on age, offender relationship, and jurisdiction and disentangle the underlying mechanisms that lead to longer disposition times.  CACs can play a role in advocating for policy and resources to understand and decrease the length of time CSA victims and their families must wait for their cases to resolve in the criminal justice system.