Colluding With Perpetrators? A Content Analysis of Judicial Explanations for Child Sexual Abuse Perpetration

ABSTRACT

Documenting how judges explain child sexual abuse (CSA) perpetration is an important task as sentencing decisions are informed by their explanatory understandings. Despite this, the research into judges’ explanations for CSA perpetration is piecemeal and dated. Moreover, some of the extant scholarship does not differentiate judicial understandings of CSA specifically from sexual offending more broadly. In light of this, the research presented in this article involved a qualitative and quantitative content analysis of all relevant judicial transcripts relating to CSA in the state of Queensland, Australia, and published online between 1 January and 28 August 2025 (n = 42). The study found three previously undocumented judicial narratives (cognitive impairment of perpetrators, pornography and misogyny). Despite the criticisms of prior scholars that judges’ explanations tend to condone perpetrators’ conduct, this was not found to be the case in the current study.