Pedophile Confessions Closely Match Allegations of Child Victims

BOSTON, May 18 (Reuters Health) - A comparison of the confessions of sex offenders and the allegations of their child victims suggests that children are reliable when describing acts of sexual abuse. In fact, researchers find the child's report more reliable than a medical examination, which is often normal even when penetration occurs.

"Generally the events are unwitnessed, and unfortunately in the end it's the child's word against the perpetrator's, and the child tends to be disbelieved," said Amy A. Daso, who is graduating from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio.

She reviewed the randomly selected records of 31 pedophiles in Ohio. The 29 men and 2 women confessed to specific illegal behaviors against 45 children, most of whom were at least 6 years of age at the time. "Once a child reaches his or her 6th birthday, studies suggest they are less suggestible by leading questions," Daso noted.

Daso reported at the combined annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies and the American Academy of Pediatrics that the perpetrators confessed to 101 acts of abuse, which matched 68% of the victims' allegations. Overall, the children described 111 discrete acts. Law enforcement interviewers did not specifically ask the perpetrators about 26% of the children's allegations.

Only 6% of the allegations were specifically denied by perpetrators, mostly those acts involving genital or anal penetration, which carry harsher legal penalties in Ohio. Only 56% of the perpetrators who were accused of penile penetration confessed to it, Daso added.