Voordele Van Die Pre–Forensiese Evaluering As Deel Van Die Forensiese Ondersoekproses Rakende Seksuele Misbruik Van 'N Kind
The sexual abuse of children presents as an ever-increasing social concern in South-Africa and the rest of the world. A daily newspaper reports that 104 913 serious crimes against children were reported to the South African Police Service (SAPS) since 2010. Another 49 550 serious crimes against children were reported during 2012/2013 at the SAPS (Meiring, 2013:7). The concept of child sexual abuse only became publically known in the seventies. Since then intense research has been done in an effort to gain a better understanding regarding the concept, causes and effects of child sexual abuse (Herbert, 2000:16). However, not only was knowledge gained regarding the extent of child sexual abuse, but there has also been an increase of knowledge involving the theoretical base of the methods of investigation with regard to child sexual abuse. Through this specific research project the researcher will endeavor to contribute to the existing theoretical knowledge base by researching and describing the benefits of implementing pre-forensic evaluation when investigating the presumed sexual abuse of a child. A summary of The Criminal Law (Sexual offences and related matters) Amendment Act 32 of 2007's (South-Africa 2007:25-27) definition of child sexual abuse is as follow: "A sexual offence occurs when any person engages a child (a person under the age of 18) with or without the consent of the child, in a sexual act. Sexual act is defined as an act of sexual penetration or an act of sexual violation. Sexual penetration can be seen as any sexual form of penetration to any extent whatsoever by die genital organ, any body part and/or object by one person into, or beyond, the genital organs, anus or mouth of another person". In order to combat the incidence and increase of child sexual abuse it is imperative that every accusation regarding the possibility of such abuse should be investigated thoroughly. Due to the fact that some children will only disclose sexual abuse when the are in a safe environment, the whole process could be delayed if the child does not feel safe. Johnson (2004:465) postulates that this delay could jeopardize the whole process because when physical healing had occurred the physical evidence could be destroyed. The absence of physical evidence stresses the importance of the implementation of the forensic investigation process. Social workers are regularly required to evaluate children when sexual abuse is suspected. This process often starts with a pre-forensic evaluation in order to ascertain the probability of sexual abuse. If the pre-forensic investigation confirms the possibility of such abuse, the next step is to conduct a formal forensic investigation. Clark (2007:70) explains that this investigation is used to gather relevant factual information required for police investigation and for use in a court of law. Due to the seriousness and sensitivity regarding allegations of child sexual abuse, it is imperative that the social worker should remain neutral and objective at all times. When investigating such allegations Aucamp (2012a:2) advocate three approaches. These approaches are: A blind, history-free, uninformed approach; An informed approach or an allegation-blind approach. It is generally accepted that through the use of the uninformed approach the objectivity of the social worker is enhanced. This is due to the fact that in this approach restricted information is passed on to the social worker, i.e. she has no prior knowledge regarding the perpetrator or the allegations, but only knows the name, gender and age of the specific child (Aucamp, 2012a:5). Faller (2007:41-43) declares that in order to ensure objectivity the postulation of alternative hypotheses form part and parcel of the task of the social worker. The social worker is enabled to formulate these varied hypotheses when as much information as possible relevant to the specific situation is collected. The collection of this data ensures that important i