PSYC 376 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Salem Witch Trials, Child Sexual Abuse, Suggestibility
19 Apr 2017
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Unit 1: history of children and the law. Cotter and beaupr (2014) summarized relevant national data from 2012. There were about 660,000 reports to police of crimes against children (persons under the age of 18) representing about 18% of all reported crimes. About 21% of the reports (14,000) involved sexual offences. Sexual offences against children represent about 55% of all reports of sexual offences. For females, the incidence of reported sexual offences increased to a peak at around 14 to 15 years old. For male complainants, there does not appear to be a clear change with age although there is some evidence of a decline after age 15 years. The vast majority (88%) of reported sexual offences against children are committed by a person known to the child. During the final decade of the 1600s, 19 defendants in salem massachusetts were convicted of witchcraft and put to death.
