This article analyses the social context in which the corroboration warning became entrenched in the child sexual assault trial, its historical legacy in terms of present day practice and the theoretical implications of this history and practice in terms of the sexed and gendered constructions of the female child complainant. In light of this analysis, the article discusses the implications for law reform of the child sexual assault trial, in particular the need to address the unique problems associated with prosecuting child sex offences.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AllenJ.A. (1990). Sex and secrets: Crimes involving Australian women since. 1880Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
2.
AndersonT. (1995). Victims’ Rights or Human Rights?Current Issues in Criminal Justice, 6, 335-345.
3.
AronsonM., & HunterJ. (1998). Litigation: Evidence and procedure. Sydney: Butterworths.
4.
Australian Law Reform Commission and Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (1997). Seen and heard: Priority for children in the legal process. Sydney: Australian Law Reform Commission.
5.
BavinJ. (1991). Writing about incest in Victoria 1880-1890. In HetheringtonP. (Ed.), Incest and the community: Australian perspectives (pp. 49-78). Perth: Centre for Western Australian History, University of Western Australia.
6.
Bavin-MizziJ. (1995). Understandings of justice: Australian rape and carnal knowledge cases, 1876-1924. In KirkbyD. (Ed.), Sex, power and justice: Historical perspectives of law in Australia (pp. 19-32). Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
7.
BonifaceD.J. (1994). Ruining a good boy for the sake of a bad girl: False accusation theory in sexual offences, and New South Wales limitations periods — Gone but not forgotten. Current Issues in Criminal Justice, 6, 54-75.
8.
BreretonD., & ColeG. (1991). Obstacles to prosecution in child sexual assault cases: A preliminary report on some Victorian data. In VernonJ. (Ed.), Children as Witnesses (pp. 153-168). Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology.
9.
ButlerJ. (1990). Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. London: Routledge.
10.
ButlerJ. (1993). Bodies that matter: On the discursive limits of sex. London: Routledge.
11.
CashmoreJ. (1995). The prosecution of child sexual assault: A survey of NSW DPP solicitors. The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 28, 32-54.
12.
CashmoreJ., & BusseyK. (1995). The evidence of children. Sydney: Judicial Commission of New South Wales.
13.
CashmoreJ., & HorskyM. (1988). Prosecution of child sexual assault. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 21, 241-252.
14.
CollierR. (1998). Masculinities, crime and criminology: Men, heterosexuality and the criminal(ised) other. London: Sage Publications.
15.
ConnellR.W. (1987). Gender and power. Sydney: Allen and Unwin.
16.
ConnellR.W. (1995). Masculinities. Sydney: Allen and Unwin.
17.
CossinsA. (1998). Masculinities, sexualities and child sexual abuse. Ph. D Thesis, Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales.
18.
CossinsA. (1999a). Defying reality: Child sexual assault and the delay in complaint rule. Current Issues in Criminal Justice, 11, 17-34.
19.
CossinsA. (1999b). “Reply to the NSW Royal Commission Inquiry into Paedophilia: Victim report studies and child sex offender profiles — A bad match?. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology, 32, 42-60.
20.
CossinsA. (2000). Masculinities, sexualities and child sexual abuse. The Hague: Kluwer Law International.
21.
DalyK. (1997). Different ways of conceptualizing sex/gender in feminist theory and their implications for criminology. Theoretical Criminology, 1, 25-51.
22.
DaviesM. (1997). Taking the inside out: Sex and gender in the legal subject. In NaffineN. & OwensR. J. (Eds.), Sexing the subject of law (pp. 25-46). Sydney: LBC Information Services, London: Sweet and Maxwell.
23.
EastwoodC.PattonW., & StacyH. (1998). Child sexual abuse and the criminal justice system. In GraycarA. (Ed.), Trends and Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice (pp. 1-6). Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology.
24.
EdwardsS. (1981). Female sexuality and the law: A study of constructs of female sexuality as they inform statute and legal procedure. Oxford: Martin Robertson.
25.
FinchL. (1991). The nineteenth-century identification of incest as a working class crime: Implications for analysis. In HetheringtonP. (Ed.), Incest and the Community: Australian Perspectives (pp. 16-30). Perth: Centre for Western Australian History, University of Western Australia.
26.
FlemingJ.M. (1997). Prevalence of childhood sexual abuse in a community sample of Australian women. Medical Journal of Australia, 166, 65-68.
27.
GallagherP., & HickeyJ. (1997). Child sexual assault: An analysis of matters determined in the District Court of New South Wales during1994. Sydney: Judicial Commission of New South Wales.
28.
GatensM. (1996). Imaginary bodies: Ethics, power and corporeality. London: Routledge.
29.
GroszE. (1994). Volatile bodies: Towards a corporeal feminism. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.
30.
GorhamD. (1978). The ‘Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon’ re-examined: Child prostitution and the idea of childhood in late-victorian England. Victorian Studies. 21, 353-379.
31.
HaleM. (1680). Pleas of the Crown. William London: Schrewsbury.
32.
HoweA. (1994.) Punish and critique: Towards a feminist analysis of penality. London; Routledge.
33.
LaceyN. (1997). On the Subject of “Sexing” the Subject… In NaffineN.&R.J. Owens (Eds.), Sexing the Subject of Law (pp. 65-76). Sydney: LBC Information Services, London: Sweet and Maxwell.
34.
LaceyN. (1998). Unspeakable subjects: Feminist essays in legal and social theory. Oxford: Hart Publishing.
35.
McDonaldD. (1994). Gender bias and the law of evidence: The link between sexuality and credibility. Victoria University of Wellington Law Review, 24, 175-188.
36.
NaffineN., & OwensR.J. (Eds.) (1997). Sexing the subject of law. Sydney: LBC Information Services.
37.
NSW Department for Women (1996). Heroines of fortitude: The experiences of women in court as victims of sexual assault. Sydney: New South Wales Government.
38.
OdgersS. (1998). Uniform evidence law. Sydney; LBC Information Services.
39.
Parliament of Victoria, Crime Prevention Committee (1995). Combating child sexual assault: An integrated model (first report upon the inquiry into sexual offences against children and adults), Melbourne: Government Printer.
40.
PearsallR. (1969). The worm in the bud: The world of Victorian sexuality. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
41.
Queensland Law Reform Commission (1998). The receipt of evidence by Queensland Courts: The evidence of children (discussion paper WP No 53).Brisbane: Queensland Law Reform Commission.
42.
QuennellP. (1987). Mayhew's London underworld. London: Century.
43.
RaynerM. (1991). Incest and the law in Western Australia — 1829-1989. In HetheringtonP. (Ed.), Incest and the community: Australian perspectives (pp. 31-48). Perth: Centre for Western Australian History, University of Western Australia.
44.
Royal Commission into the New South Wales Police Service (1997). Final report - Volume IV: The paedophile inquiry. Sydney: The Government of the State of New South Wales.
45.
RushF. (1980). The best kept secret: Sexual abuse of children. New York: McGraw-Hill.
46.
SalterA.C. (1995). Transforming trauma: A guide to understanding and treating adult survivors of child sexual abuse. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
47.
SteadW.T. (1885). The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon. Pall Mall Gazette, 6July1885.
48.
SturmaM. (1985). Seduction and punishment in late nineteenth century New South Wales. Australian Journal of Law and Society, 2, 76-82.
49.
TylerD. (1986). The case of Irene Tuckerman: Understanding sexual violence and the protection of women and girls, Victoria 1890-1925. History of Education Review, 15, 52-67.
