Citation

Fillis RB, McKerrow NH. Child Abuse Res. South Afr. 2019; 20(2): 59-68.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, South African Professional Society on the Abuse of Children)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In South Africa the prevalence of child sexual abuse (CSA) is high but the rate of successful prosecution is low. The legal system places unwarranted emphasis on the J88 form which is often unable to support the legal process. The aim of this study was to evaluate the contribution of health professionals to the legal process in cases of CSA. The objectives were to describe the profile of CSA in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN); to evaluate the completion of the J88 form; the accuracy of the interpretation of clinical findings and the appropriateness of the conclusion reached. A retrospective review of 339 J88 forms of children under 12 years who were sexually abused between 1 January-31 December 2009 was undertaken. Of these forms 52 had missing pages, 201 had sections crossed out, and only 86 were complete. For the purpose of this study all forms were analysed. The median age of survivors was 7 years, 86.4% were female, and 49% from an urban area. In 52.2% of cases the abuse was penetrative, and in 48.4% the perpetrator was known to the survivor. There were more abnormalities noted in the genital findings (58.1%) than in anal findings (17.3%).No form displayed 100% median completeness for all sections. Overall, the private sector had completed the forms the best. Interpretation of genital findings (49.6%) was more common than an interpretation of anal findings (29.8%), but there were more correct interpretations of anal (64.4%) than genital (53.6%) findings. An assessment of the occurrence of the likelihood of sexual abuse was done in 8.3% of genital findings and 3.2% of anal findings. This assessment was appropriate in 35.7% of genital findings and 36.4% of anal findings. These findings confirm that there is inadequate completion of J88's, with inaccurate conclusions, which can negatively affect legal outcomes.

Language: en