Length of Time to Resolve Criminal Charges of Child Sexual Abuse: A Three-County Case Study

The present study sought to examine the court culture of three Oregon counties and their timelines for resolving felony child sexual abuse cases. Specifically, we examined (a) case outcomes, churning (i.e., the extent to which four court events were rescheduled), the length of time to reach a criminal case resolution, and how this length of time compared to that for felonies generally; (b) whether mandatory minimum sentences affected resolution timeliness; and (c) key stakeholders' perceptions about their local court culture. Data included retrospective case-file abstraction (N = 532) on all felony child sex crimes for a 2-year period and interviews with legal professionals (N = 23). Across all three counties, a minority of child sexual abuse cases (18% to 47%) were resolved within the target timeframe of 4 months. In contrast, most felonies (65% to 77%) were resolved within this timeframe. The rescheduling of trials and the requirement of mandatory minimum sentences for some felony child sexual abuse crimes increased the time until case resolution. Results suggest that court cultures that are hierarchical and cooperative may lead to longer case resolution times than court cultures that are self-managing or autonomous. Implications of these results and other results are discussed.