The effectiveness and impact of the child protection and criminal justice systems in cases of intrafamilial child sexual abuse

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to report on the findings from a study commissioned by the Office of the Children’s Commissioner (OCC) in England, concerning intrafamilial child sexual abuse (IFCSA)/incest. Specifically, it aims to explore the evidence about child protection and criminal justice responses to victims of IFCSA in the UK and where the gaps in these approaches lie.

Design/methodology/approach
– A Rapid Evidence Assessment (REA) was used, the function of which is to: search the literature as comprehensively as possible within given time constraints; collate descriptive outlines of the available evidence on a topic and critically appraise it; sift out studies of poor quality; and provide an overview of the evidence. Over 57,000 documents were scanned, and 296 ultimately systematically analysed.

Findings
– It was found that children may be re-victimised by various aspects of “the system” and professionals within it, including social workers, police officers, and lawyers.

Research limitations/implications
– A REA is not a full systematic review, differing in the scope and depth of the searches and depending almost exclusively on electronic databases, not accompanied by searching journals by hand.

Originality/value
– The findings of this research provide the evidence-base for a new two-year inquiry into the subject of IFCSA by the OCC.