Admissibility of Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome in California Criminal Courts, The
![handle is hein.journals/mcglr17 and id is 1403 raw text is: The Admissibility of Child Sexual
Abuse Accommodation Syndrome in
California Criminal Courts
Children have been used for the sexual gratification of adults
throughout history.' Widespread public acknowledgment and concern
over this societal atrocity, however, is relatively new. Recent public
awareness has been accompanied by a dramatic increase in the number
of reported incidents of child sexual abuse.2
Children are protected from sexual abuse by criminal and civil
statutes in every state.3 The increase in reported incidents has resulted
in a surge of criminal and civil cases dealing with child sexual abuse.
The nature of child sexual abuse, however, makes criminal prosecu-
tion extremely difficult.4 A prosecutor often is faced with the frustra-
tion of proving a case with no corroborative evidence, no witnesses,
and a victim who is reluctant or unable to testify against the defen-
dant.5 To combat these evidentiary problems, prosecutors have sought
to introduce expert testimony to establish that the child victim is suf-
fering from child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome (CSAAS).
Evidence concerning CSAAS has been introduced to prove that sex-
1. See L. DEMAUSE, THE HISTORY OF CHILDHOOD 43-51 (1974). Growing up in [ancient]
Greece and Rome often included being used sexually by older men.... Boy brothels flourished
in every city. . . . Id. at 43. Intercourse with castrated children was often spoken of as
being especially arousing, castrated boys were favorite 'voluptates' in imperial Rome, and in-
fants were castrated 'in the cradle' to be used in brothels by men who liked buggering young
castrated boys. Id. at 46. Even [with] the Jews, . . . the penalty for sodomy with children
over nine years of age was death by stoning, but copulation with younger children was not
considered a sexual act, and was punishable only by a whipping, 'as a matter of public
discipline.' Id. at 45 (citations ommitted).
2. T. DRABEC, PROSECUTION OF CHILD SExUAL ABUSE: THE SECONDARY TRAUMA OF THE
COURT 2 (1985).
3. AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION, NATIONAL LEGAL RESOURCE CENTER FOR CHILD ADVOCACY
AND PROTECTION, CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE: LEOAL ISSUES AND APPROACHES 1 (1981) [hereinafter
cited as Legal Issues and Approaches]. California has enacted several statutes to protect children
from sexual abuse. See, e.g., CAL. PENAL CODE §261.5 (crime for person to commit sexual
intercourse with female under 18 years of age); CAL. PENAL CODE §285 (crime for person to
commit incest); CAL. PENAL CODE §288 (crime for person to commit lewd or lascivious acts
with a child under the age of 14); CAL. WELF. & INST. CODE §300 (child whose home is an
unfit place by reason of neglect, cruelty, depravity, or physical abuse may be adjudged to
be a dependent child of the court).
4. Comment, The Sexually Abused Infant Hearsay Exception: A Constitutional Analysis,
8 J. Juv. L. 59, 59 (1984).
5. Comment, Evidentiary Problems in Criminal Child Abuse Prosecution, 63 GEO. L.J.
257, 259 (1974).
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Admissibility of Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome in California Criminal Courts, The
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