Historical child sexual abuse cases reported to the police by Indigenous adults in a northern Canadian territory: an exploration of factors affecting the likelihood of charges and convictions

The current research examined historical child sexual abuse files from a northern Canadian police force, looking at factors pertaining to the offence, the complainant, and the suspect, in an area with a large Indigenous population. The dataset analysed represented all reported cases (N = 229) of historical child sexual abuse by Indigenous complainants in the database of the participating force from 2005-2019. Analysis of all cases showed charges were more likely in cases with multiple complainants, female complainants, and for those cases where complainants were 11-14 years old at the time of the abuse. For cases where charges were laid (n = 135), convictions were slightly more likely in cases with less serious offences. For trial cases (n = 75), multiple complainants, the relationship of suspect to complainant, age of suspect, and age difference between complainant and suspect were significantly associated to trial outcome. Ethnicity of suspects showed no relationship to whether charges were laid, or convictions either overall or at trial.