What Makes Sex Offenders Confess?

Kathleen Faller
School of Social Work
University of Michigan
1080 S. University, 2704
Ann Arbor MI.48109-1106
734 998 9702
FAX: 734 998 9710
kcfaller@umich.edu
 
William Birdsall
School of Social Work
University of Michigan
1080 S. University Ave.
Ann Arbor MI. 48109-1106
734 998 9700
FAX: 734 998 9710
birdz@umich.edu
 
James Henry
School of Social Work
Western Michigan University
Kalamazoo MI. 49008-5034
James.Henry@wmich.edu
 

A recent meta-analysis indicates between 30% and 40% of girls and more than 13% of boys are sexually abused during childhood (Bolen & Scannapieco, 1999), and an estimated one million children are sexually abused each year (Moore, Gallup, & Schussel, 1995). Policy and practice efforts have largely focused on child victims, attempting to improve skills of child interviewers (e.g. Faller, 1996) and enhancing the effectiveness of child witnesses in court (Faller, 2001). Despite these efforts, little progress has been made in just solutions for sexually abused children. The researchers will describe research findings from an ongoing study in a county that takes a very different approach. The county has improved case outcomes by professional collaboration, videotaping interviews, and focusing on obtaining offender confessions.
 

The cases in the study consist of all closed court files (N= 318), spanning the last 10 years. The county has a high rate of filing sexual abuse charges on cases referred to the Prosecutor's Office (69%), a high rate of confession by suspects (64%), and a high rate of pleas to sex crimes (77%). To determine what factors were associated with suspect confession before adjudication, we examined characteristics of the suspect, the child, the abuse, and the system using bi-variate and multi-variate analysis. Findings will be presented and discussed.
 
The following four variables are associated with suspect confession: 1) having the state police conducting the law enforcement part of the investigation, 2) more serious abuse, 3) younger age of the suspect, and 4) having a court appointed (as opposed to a retained) attorney.
 
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