Child sexual abuse and forensic psychiatry: evolving and controversial issues.
K. Burton and W. C. Myers,
Bull. Amer. Acad. Psychiatry & the Law
20(4): 439-53, 1992.
Child sexual abuse has received growing attention in recent years, and the topic continues to spark
controversy among mental health and legal professionals as well as in the popular media. This paper
will review the concept of child sexual abuse, cover relevant definitions, address the clinician's role,
and then will address the principal evolving and controversial areas. These areas include psychic
damages, false allegations, improper investigatory techniques, use of anatomical dolls, admissibility
of expert testimony, hearsay testimony, and the competency of minors to testify.