Forensic examination of the mentally disabled sexual abuse complainant.

The Children's Amendment Act and the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act: duty to report child abuse and sexual offences against children and mentally disabled persons.

Serial murder of six victims by an African-American male.

A case of a 22-year-old African-American male who sexually assaulted and murdered six African-American females who were strangers to him is reported. Formal study of the subject eight years after the homicides revealed a mildly mentally retarded individual who had, at various times, diagnosable anxiety and depressive disorders. His diagnosed paraphilia was sexual sadism. He also met criteria fo...

The credibility of recovered memory testimony: exploring the effects of alleged victim and perpetrator gender.

OBJECTIVE The purpose was to explore the effects of victim/complainant and perpetrator/defendant gender on the impact of recovered memory testimony in criminal sexual abuse trials. METHOD A jury simulation methodology was used. Two hundred forty-six participants read a summary of a sexual abuse trial in which the following three variables were manipulated: the complainant's gender, the defend...

Creating Safe Environments for Adolescents with Developmental Disabilities

The vulnerability of young people with developmental disabilities is intensified for a number of reasons; isolation, limited cognitive abilities, language, speech or vocabulary barriers, dependence on others for personal care, risk of low selfesteem, depersonalization, powerlessness, lack of education on sexuality and abuse/ harassment prevention, non-protective organizational structures and po...

Intellectually Disabled Victims of Sexual Abuse in the Criminal Justice System

People with intellectual disabilities face an exceptionally high risk of being victims of sexual abuse and thereby becoming involved in the criminal justice system. Coping effectively with this system is enough of a challenge for those without disability, but it is far more difficult for the intellectually disabled. As a result, greater attention needs to be paid to their needs. From the opposi...