Most of the existing literature on how alleged sexual offenders interact with children is based on the perspectives of offenders themselves. Few studies have explored children's accounts of their relationship with their perpetrator before the abuse and/or disclosure. To address this gap, the current study investigated children’s reported first and later impressions of their alleged sexual perpetrators. Using qualitative content coding, we examined 34 transcripts of forensic interviews relating to child sexual abuse and categorized the impressions into three main types: positive, neutral, and negative. A majority of the first impressions were positive or neutral while most of the later impressions were negative. Impressions were complex and varied widely within a single category. Analyzing children’s rationale for their first impressions can provide insight into their thought processes as well as allow for an analysis of the perpetrator behavior. The examination of first and later impressions can be a crucial variable for practitioners and scholars to study, as it can quickly assess the evolution of the child-offender relationship and elicit information about perpetrator tactics such as grooming and seduction.
Missing children are very sensitive cases where any kind of help is needed from the community and authorities. The definition is a child under 17 years of age where guardians or family are not aware of their whereabouts requires much effort and resources to bring them home. However, what happens when those efforts are not to the same extent as other missing children? This has been seen among missing children of different races that have similar cases and circumstances. The different tools and resources needed such as AMBER Alerts, social media, journalism, and police reaction have resulted in vastly different endings for these children. Different states and communities have been faced with the same issue and have only grown. Statistics show that Black children have been at a disadvantage of these resources and have stayed missing all too often. This issue has been brought to attention by many outlets and members of the community questioning why this is happening to their children. To counteract this issue, organizations and platforms have emerged to raise awareness for these disadvantaged children and hope to bring them home to put an end to this.