The Effect of Gender on Perceptions of Credibility in Child Sexual Assault Cases: A Systematic Review

ABSTRACT

Child sexual assault cases have one of the highest attrition rates throughout the justice system, with jurors’ perceptions of the credibility of the child playing a critical role in the judicial process and resulting outcomes. One of the most prominent influences on credibility is gender, specifically victim and perceiver gender. This article reports the findings of a systematic search of the literature exploring the impact of these factors on perceptions of victim credibility. Results suggest that overall females tend to rate victim credibility higher than do males; however, this gender effect is minimized when the alleged perpetrator is not the biological parent of the victim. There is little support for a victim gender effect, such that potential jurors’ ratings of victim credibility does not appear to be influenced by the gender of the victim. The review highlights the lack of consistent and comprehensive measurement of credibility. Legal implications are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• child sexual assault prosecution
• child sexual assault
• credibility
• juror gender
• perceiver gender
• victim accuracy
• victim gender
• victim honesty

Notes

^1. It is unclear whether these differences were significantly different. The authors reported an overall effect of respondent gender and victim credibility for the 5-year-old victim but did not specify whether these specific cells, as reported, were significantly different. It is noteworthy that they were, however, in the direction as indicated.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ashmyra Voogt

Ashmyra Voogt is a doctoral candidate at Deakin University. Her current research interests focus on the perceived credibility of child sexual assault victims. She received a Bachelor of Applied Science (Psychology) (Honours) from Deakin University.

Bianca Klettke

Dr. Bianca Klettke is a lecturer at Deakin University. Her current research interests include sexual violence and sexting. She received a BA (hons), MA (criminology and criminal justice), MS (psychology), and PhD (psychology) from the University of Memphis.