Balancing Rights of Child Victims of Sexual Abuse and Accused Persons

This book is an analysis of the classical adversarial criminal trial procedure as applied in child sexual abuse cases in Kenya. It examines the implication of the trial procedure rules on the special needs of child victims of sexual abuse. The author argues that the adversarial trial procedure protects the rights of accused persons but fails to safeguard those of child victims of sexual abuse. The procedure results in an imbalance between the rights of accused persons and child victims of sexual abuse. The author makes recommendations towards achieving a balance between the competing rights. The book is recommended to lawyers human rights advocates social workers judicial officers police investigators prosecutors victims' rights advocates victimologists university lecturers and students of victimology law criminology and criminal Justice.