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Responding to Historical Child Sexual Abuse: A Prosecution Perspective on Current Challenges and Future Directions

Abstract The prosecution of charges of historical child sexual abuse routinely raises a range of complex legal and evidentiary issues in criminal law. There is often legal argument about the admissibility of evidence, lengthy legal directions to the jury and appeals following conviction. This is a constantly evolving area of the law and remains challenging for lawyers and other stakeholders in the criminal justice system. This article examines some issues that commonly arise for prosecutors in handling such cases, including the separation of trials, the use of expert evidence, context evidence, concoction evidence and complaint evidence. Consideration is also given to the impact of the criminal justice setting on victims. The article is presented from the practical perspective of a Crown Prosecutor who works in prosecuting such cases. Through this prosecutorial lens, some proposals for reform are canvassed.