To evaluate the association of primary reason to suspect child sexual abuse with the legal end-point in medically examined, police reported cases.
Observational post hoc analysis of retrospective review of records of 155 medically examined, police reported alleged child sexual abuse (CSA) cases during 2001-2009. Primary referral indications for medical examinations or criminal investigations were analyzed with an end-point in the legal process. The data consists of official investigation documents from University Hospital records, police, crime laboratories, state prosecutor, and courts of Law.
The median age of the children was 7.1 years (range 11 months-17.5 years) at the time when suspicion of sexual abuse was reported to police. Conviction of the alleged perpetrator was significantly more likely in cases where the child's disclosure was the reason for the initial suspicion of CSA, compared to cases with referrals for "suspicious circumstances" (39/92, 42.4% vs. 7/37, 19%, p