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Both legal and psychodynamic factors may be intertwined in necessitating
a thorough investigation of the site where the sexual abuse took place:
- Prosecution of crime - Offenders often do not fit any publicly recognizable
stereotyped pattern of a "child molester". Providing evidence
from the crime scene can be useful in convicting an offender who may
otherwise appear to jury members as very different from their expectations.
- Jury members often find the act of child molestation difficult to
comprehend. Photographs of the crime scene and objects taken from the
scene help the jury to relate to tangible realities and can make the
crime seem more "real" to them.
Offenders usually deny and/or minimize the abuse. Evidence from the crime
scene offers important information, both in understanding the crime and
in securing a more accurate admission from the offender.
- Offenders are more likely to admit to the crime when they become
aware of the amount of information obtained, which can prevent unnecessary
testimony by the victim.
- Victims are often unable to discuss important details of the abuse
due to developmental factors and/or the nature of the abuse and the
nature of the coping mechanisms of the victim.
- Occasionally, objects of forensic importance may be found,
of which the victim and/or family members were not aware or did not
realize were of significance.
- Information from the crime scene is often helpful in the therapy
process for the victim, and sometimes even for the offender. Because
recalling and telling the details of sexual abuse can be painful for
both victim and offender, information from other sources, such as witnesses
or crime scene information, often accelerates the therapy process.
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