Citation

Mathews B. Child Abuse Negl. 2018; 88: 337-347.

Affiliation

School of Law, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, Australia; Faculty of Law, QUT, Australia; Childhood Adversity Research Program, Faculty of Health, QUT, Australia; Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health, United States. Electronic address: b.mathews@qut.edu.au.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.chiabu.2018.12.003

PMID

30554125

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Child sexual abuse is undisclosed for many reasons that are resistant to change. Citizens can play an important role in disclosing cases of child sexual abuse to authorities. Professionals who deal with children also play a crucial role. Office-holders in organisations have a clear responsibility to prevent cover-ups of sexual abuse. Recently, some countries have created important new legal duties for adults to disclose child sexual abuse.

OBJECTIVES: This article creates a contemporary taxonomy of duties to disclose cases of child sexual abuse, and explains their nature and justification. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: Citizens, professionals dealing with children in the course of their work, and managers of child and youth-serving organisations.

METHODS: Legal analysis created a taxonomy of reporting duties. Analysis of these duties from perspectives of criminal jurisprudence, public health law, children's rights and ethics considered their justification.

RESULTS: Seven legal duties now exist, in criminal law, civil law and child protection law. Some apply to all citizens; others to managers in organisations; others to professionals dealing with children in the course of their work. All the duties are directed to early detection of cases; some are directed towards prevention; and some are focused on avoidance of institutional corruption.

CONCLUSIONS: These developments represent historic progress in overcoming normally intractable barriers to disclosure of cases of child sexual abuse. New legal duties are consistent with principles from criminal jurisprudence, public health law, children's rights and ethics. Where adopted, societies should ensure the creation and maintenance of ecological conditions in which these duties can be observed.

Copyright © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Language: en

Keywords

Child sexual abuse; Civil law; Criminal law; Disclosure; Legal duties; Mandatory reporting; New developments; Non-disclosure; Organizations; Policy; Reporting