Contestable motives of reporting sexual assault based on research conducted in the region of Silesia

• Authors: Bogdan Lach
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Contestable motives of filing reports comprise a set of factors which were not present in the origin of the reported criminal act, as stated by the reporting individual. The objective of such reports is to create circumstances which would lead to the either an imaginary or implicated perpetrator being brought to criminal justice. These types of reports generate a number of doubts and investigative problems. Recently, in the light of newly introduced legislative changes into the methods of investigative procedures in relation to sexual assault (at present these are investigated as an indictable offence - prosecuted ex-officio), this issue has become much more significant. The following publication includes a detailed description of the legal and psychological situation of an individual who has been classified as a victim in a case of sexual assault. The article includes an analysis of statistical data encompassing the period after the introduction of the aforementioned legislative changes in the type of investigative procedures as well as a qualitative analysis of the major factors influencing the process of filing contestable reports of such crimes. The research has been conducted on the basis of analysing a total of 50 cases. It is the opinion of the author that an expert court psychologist, whose presence is mandatory in these types of cases and whose opinion formulated in the course of preparatory proceedings ought to play a key role in the disclosure of false pretences accompanying such reports

Keywords

EN

Contestable motives of filing reports; offence prosecuted ex-officio / indictable offence; offence prosecuted on complaint; lack of sufficient data bearing the marks of a criminal act

• Publisher: Polska Akademia Nauk
• Journal: Polish Psychological Bulletin
• Year: 2015
• Volume: 46
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 65-71

Dates

published

2015-03-01

online

2015-04-18

Contributors

author

Bogdan Lach

• University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Faculty in Katowice, Techników 9, 40-326 Katowice, Poland

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Identifiers

DOI

10.1515/ppb-2015-0007