108: Common Errors in Forensic Child Sexual Abuse Evaluations

There are serious procedural and reasoning errors in many forensic child sexual abuse (CSA) evaluations. This intermediate workshop for practitioners, expert witnesses, and policymakers provides a scientifically grounded overview of the most common errors made by mental health professionals and paraprofessionals in forensic CSA evaluations. Participants will learn how to recognize common errors, understand the causes of these errors, explain the errors to legal fact-finders and others, and avoid the errors in their own practice.

1. Describe the most common sources of error in forensic child sexual abuse evaluations;
2. Directly experience how easy it is to make these errors yourself through exercises and tests;
3. Explain errors to laypersons using visual aids if necessary;
4. Avoid making these errors in your own practice;
5. Describe key empirical research findings relevant to CSA evaluations;
6. Effectively educate legal fact-finders and others about CSA and CSA evaluations; and
7. Describe the implications of U.S. appellate court cases Daubert , Kennedy, and Southard and their progeny for CSA evaluations and for expert testimony.

Steve Herman, PhD, University of Hawaii at Hilo, Hilo, HI