Forensic child sexual abuse evaluations: assessing subjectivity and bias in professional judgements

Objectives

Evaluators examining the same evidence often arrive at substantially different conclusions in forensic assessments of child sexual abuse (CSA). This study attempts to identify and quantify subjective factors that contribute to such disagreements so that interventions can be devised to improve the reliability of case decisions.

Methods

Participants included 1106 professionals in the field of child maltreatment representing a range of professional positions or job titles and years of experience. Each completed the Child Forensic Attitude Scale (CFAS), a 28-item survey assessing 3 forensic attitudes believed to influence professional judgments about CSA allegations: emphasis-on-sensitivity (i.e., a focus on minimizing false negatives or errors of undercalling abuse); emphasis-on-specificity (i.e., a focus on minimizing false positives or errors of overcalling abuse); and skepticism toward child and adolescent reports of CSA. A subset of 605 professionals also participated in 1 of 3 diverse decision exercises to assess the influence of the 3 forensic attitudes on ratings of case credibility.

Results

Exploratory factor analysis identified 4 factors or attitude subscales that corresponded closely with the original CFAS scales: 2 subscales for emphasis-on-sensitivity and 1 each for emphasis-on-specificity and skepticism. Attitude subscale scores differed significantly by sample source (in-state trainings vs. national conferences), gender, years of experience, and professional position, with Child Protective Service workers unexpectedly more concerned about overcalling abuse and more skeptical of child disclosures than other professionals—a pattern of scores associated with an increased probability of disbelieving CSA allegations. The 3 decision exercises offered validation of the attitude subscales as predictors of professional ratings of case credibility, with adjusted R²s for the three exercises ranging from .06 to .24, suggesting highly variable effect sizes.

Conclusions

Evaluator disagreements about CSA allegations can be explained, in part, by individual differences in 3 attitudes related to forensic decision-making: emphasis-on-sensitivity, emphasis-on-specificity, and skepticism toward child reports of abuse. These attitudes operate as predispositions or biases toward viewing CSA allegations as likely true or likely false. Several strategies for curbing the influence of subjective factors are highlighted including self-awareness of personal biases and team approaches to assessment.     

论古希腊怀疑主义对专制的消解

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从中西比较探究古希腊怀疑主义成因

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朱霈诗经学论略

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对“写生”的再认识

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智慧与想象的美学世界——评颜翔林《怀疑论美学》

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怀疑论与希腊哲学的特质

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论休谟经验论的彻底性和怀疑论的不彻底性

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对休谟因果关系理论的思考

休谟的因果关系理论是休谟怀疑论的核心,对于哲学思维的发展具有巨大的启发和推动作用,理解了休谟的这一理论有助于对经验论发展的认识也有助于加深对休谟本人思想的理解。本文对休谟的因果关系进行了深入的思考,从其因果关系理论的建设性和破坏性意义说起,分析了对于唯理论的破坏性和对于经验论的建设性,以及对于知识合理性的影响,并着重分析了“习惯”这一概念在休谟因果关系理论中的价值和意义;接着笔者分析了这种理论中理性缺乏导致的矛盾,着重从方法论意义上揭示矛盾,然后点明了这一理论的意义以及藏们该如何面对这一理论．     

浅析古希腊晚期怀疑主义

古希腊晚期怀疑主义是西方哲学史上一个重要流派,它是在乱世之下作为反对“独断论”的哲学派别而出现的,与当时的伊壁鸠鲁学派、斯多葛学派和犬儒学派并驾齐驱,主张怀疑一切感性现象所呈现的本质和理性思雏推断出来的结论,通过“悬王判断”获得灵魂的“宁静”。文章详细介绍了古希腊晚期怀疑主义的内涵以及产生的社会背景、原因,分析了其特点、伦理学目的以及对后世哲学的影响,在一定程度上对比了它与其他学派的异同。