Exploring Child Criminal Victimization in Uganda

KYALYA WORKS PLUS

Exploring ChildCriminal

Victimization inUganda.

Is Criminal Justice Accessible toChild Victims in Uganda? A Research

Method Approach.

Faith Maureen WaluubeKYALYA:11/10/2014

SSSGGS

EXPLORING CHILD CRIMINAL VICTIMIZATION

IN

UGANDA.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction and Background...................................2

2. Overall Research Approach:....................................3

3. Research Design, Methods and Instrument (s)...................7

4. Research Process:............................................11

5. Study Findings and Analysis..................................13

6. Critical Reflection of Not adopting the Qualitative Research Method..........................................................15

7. Lessons Learnt and Conclusion................................18

8. References...................................................19

9. Appendices...................................................21

Exploring Child Criminal Victimization in Uganda. Faith Maureen Waluube KYALYA: 1

1. Introduction and BackgroundThis study is aimed at demonstrating the knowledge and skills ofundertaking viable, reliable and ethical research. The assignmentrequires me to design and use a research instrument to undertake asmall scale investigation. This could be a qualitative,quantitative, or mixed method research instrument. The assignmentfurther requires me to justify, evaluate as well as criticallyreflect on my choice of research method and the use of my choseninstrument in the specific research environment.

In the second part of this assignment, I am required to criticallyreflect on the research method and instruments that I did notchoose in the study. I will explore whether using it could haveyielded better data. I will also reflect on my experience inundertaking the research with specific attention to lessons learntthereof.

I chose to explore the issue of Child Criminal victimisation inUganda. For three years in a row, the Government of Uganda reportsthat the most prevalent crime in the whole country is child sexualdefilement. Yet, the vice has the lowest success rates ofconviction compared to other crimes. The Inspector General ofUganda Police commented that “I note that sex-related crimes, inparticular defilement, are not decreasing” (Uganda Police, 2013,p.9).

The study seeks to answer one question: Is criminal justiceaccessible to child victims in Uganda? Answers to this questionwould be identified through frequency of; i) Nature of mostprevalent crime against children, ii) Age group of the victims,iii) Gender of victims and iv) case progress in the criminaljustice system.

Uganda is a landlocked country in East Africa classified as adeveloping country with a population of approximately 36.6 millionpeople (UBOS 2014). Both the legal and cultural structures enforceand emphasize patriarchy that is the dominance of men over women,subjecting women to dependency and exploitation by men (Ondrus,2013) and (Khadiagala, 2002)

Women in Uganda produce 60% of cash crops and 80% of foodproduction (Kafumbe, 2010, p.201). They are therefore a source of


free household and commercial labour to the economy. As aresearcher, I suspect that the need to provide free labour couldbe playing a significant role in specifically encouraging childsexual abuse and child marriages in Uganda.

However, the key issue to be addressed in this small scale study,is, whether or not public policy and public agencies, in this casethe Uganda Police, ensure protection of such vulnerable childrenthrough easy accessibility to criminal justice as and when theyare criminally offended.

2. Overall Research Approach:2.1 RESEARCH TOPIC & RESEARCH QUESTION:

2.1.1 Study Interest:

Prior to choosing the research methodology and research methods, Ihad to choose my research topic and formulate the researchquestions. As already discussed above, I was interested inundertaking my study in Uganda. On one hand for personal reasons,being my birth country and naturally being compelled toinvestigate issues that could lead to future support of identifiedvictims.

On the other hand, as a social work practitioner, I was perplexedwith the alarming numbers of child wives and mothers. I sought tounderstand why and how parents and possibly the Government ofUganda fail to protect such children from extreme poverty throughchild marriages.

2.1.2 Fitting with Course Requirements:

The research topic fitted the course requirements of investigatingan area relevant to my professional practice and context as wellas Criminal justice. The challenge I faced, however, was theuniversity’s requirement to undertake a very small scale study.


It was my judgement that undertaking this study in 5 centralpolice stations (cps), out of 110 (cps) in the country, was a‘small scale study’. However feedback received from my supervisorsso far, indicate that this was indeed a large scale study in theperspective of Portsmouth University. In writing this reporttherefore, all efforts will be made to limit study findings tobasics.

2.1.3 Ability to Study and Ethical Considerations:

I was not challenged with accessing the five police stationsespecially after securing a favourable ethical opinion from theUniversity of Portsmouth. Although it took me a month, to securean official letter from Uganda Police, authorising me access theirconfidential data, I was comfortable, because I anticipated thedelay and planned enough time for it.

The key challenge I faced in my planning was the ethical issue ofconsent. Since I was getting the permission from Uganda Police,would that mean that the participants had consented to theirinformation being used in the study? In addressing this challenge,I decided not to undertake any face to face interviews or surveyswith the victims because this would indicate breach of trust andconfidentiality to them by the Uganda Police.

Other ethical issues were indicated in attempting to involve thevictims or their families as participants in the study. Thetargeted participants were children victimised by crime.Contacting them would raise typical ethical issues (Alderson &Morrow, 2011)

The term ‘children’ has been conventionally defined as all peopleunder 18 years of age (UN Convention on the Rights of the Child1989). The concept of ‘child’ implies a relationship to someoneelse. Research with children according to Nairn requires parentalconsent as well as individual consent participants, which in thisparticular study would be extremely daunting to secure. (Nairn &Clarke, 2012, p.184)

On one hand parents could have been offended securing theirinformation from Uganda Police without their knowledge and consentcontrary to confidentiality and privacy ethical values. On theother hand, depending on their contribution to frustrating thecourt process, it would be unlikely that they would allow accessto their children let alone allow them to give genuine


information. The question of parental consent for children whowere already married was another challenge.

Given the time, resource constraints and the sensitive nature oftarget research participants, I decided not to undertake any faceto face research during this small scale and time restrictedstudy. It is my contemplation however, that such research would becrucial for further empirical study.

2.1.4 Research Question:

Before undertaking the study, my pre- planned research questionwas exploring the nature and prevalence of criminal childvictimisation, comparing Uganda to the United Kingdom. Naturally,I soon realised, that this was a very ambitious and broad researchquestion. It has also been deemed unrealistic and unsuitable for asmall scale study by my research supervisors.

Luckily however, the research approach and instrument chosen whichwill be discussed in detail below, enabled me to collect plenty offocussed data which would allow flexibility in focussing theresearch question without need to undertake further study.

I zeroed down to answering the question: Is Criminal JusticeAccessible to Child Victims in Uganda?

2.2 CHOICE OF OVERALL RESEARCH APPROACH

Social Research has been traditionally divided into quantitativeand qualitative approaches, each with differing views about thenature of acquired knowledge. They have also got different methodsof collecting data as well as priorities in the selection andnature of analysing such data. (Whittakker, 2012, p.6).

2.2.1 The Qualitative Approach:

The qualitative method was defined by Holloway as, ‘being a formof social inquiry, focusing on the way people interpret and makesense of their experiences, and the world in which they live.(Holloway, 1997, p.1).

This method requires us the researchers go to participants and


collect rich and in-depth data (Holloway, ibid, p.5). We usecollection instruments such as observation, intensive structuredinterviews, focus group discussions, supported questionnaires, alldesigned to capture social life as participants experience it.

This approach tends to use data in form of words as opposed tonumerical information. It further seeks to understand ways inwhich people make sense of their social world and see knowledge ashistorically and culturally situated (Crotty, 1998, p.67).

Scientists have therefore argued that collecting rich informationthrough qualitative research “helps to “flesh out the bareskeleton provided by quantitative data” (Coleman & Moynihan, 1996,p. xii). Consequently, they are happy to “sacrifice scope fordetail”. (Silverman, 2005).

Qualitative study has been influenced by the epistemologicalposition of interpretivism. Interpretivist researchers argue thatresearch methods of natural sciences are inappropriate to studysocial phenomena because they do not consider the viewpoints ofsocial actors involved (Bryman, 2012, p.36).

Proponents for the qualitative approach maintain that it isneither possible nor necessary to remove the researcher from thestudy through addressing issues of bias as stipulated inquantitative approaches. Maxwell argues that “we bring ourbackground and identity to research, but from a traditionalperspective this is viewed as a source of bias rather than avaluable component of our research (Maxwell, 1996)

Qualitative researchers have therefore addressed this claim ofbias through their concept of reflexivity defined as self-awareness of the researchers own beliefs, values and attitude, andtheir personal effects on the setting they have studied.Researchers are called to be self-critical about their researchmethods and how they have been applied (Payne & Payne, 2004,p.191)

Reflexivity has been especially stressed in feminist research suchas this one, as a resource for radical paradigm shift as well as ameans of rejecting the patriarchal forms of research (Payne &Payne, ibid). Qualitative approaches have therefore been promotedby feminist research as a suitable approach for studying socialphenomena in context. (Sarantakos, 2005)


2.2.2 Quantitative Approach:

Quantitative research on the other hand was defined by Bachman asa systematic empirical investigation of social phenomena viastatistical, mathematical or numerical data. (Bachman & Schutt,2003, p.19). The quantitative approach entails the traditionalscientific model that seeks to remove values and attitudes of theresearcher thereby emphasizing objectivity in undertakingresearch. It emphasizes studying ‘causal relationships andformulating fixed rules for the process of inquiry’ (Humphries,2008).

Sampling issues are crucial because the approach emphasizesability to create statistical generalisations that can be appliedto a wider population. Bachman proposes using methods such assurveys to record variation in social life in terms of categoriesthat vary in amount (Bachman & Schutt, 2003, ibid).

Quantitative researchers are influenced by positivism as anapproach to knowledge. The positivist theory assumes that ‘everyapproach to research has underlying assumptions about the natureof knowledge and the social world, which is referred to asepistemological position’ (Whittaker, 2012, p.7).

Proponents of quantitative research argue that the traditionalscientific method applied in the natural sciences is mostappropriate in studying society (Auguste Comte quoted in Giddens,1993). The researcher is seen as an ‘objective observer’ called toinfer laws that explain relationships between observedphenomena’(Giddens, 2006).

Inspite of dominating social sciences in the 20th century, thequantitative approach has become less popular from the 1980’sbecause its critics have challenged its appropriateness and corebeliefs in researching the complexities in the social worldsetting (Payne & Payne,2004, p.171).

Criticism and challenges to positivism has resulted in thedevelopment of realism as a more sophisticated version of thetraditional scientific approach. Realism is becoming veryinfluential in undertaking social research. Unlike positivism,realism assumes that there is an external reality and conceptsused in research are a means to knowing that reality rather than a


direct reflection thereof (Bhaskar, 1978)

Proponents for the realist approach have argued that realismallows theoretical content, that is not amenable to directobservation, which would otherwise not be acceptable in positivism(Bryman, 2012).

In contrast to qualitative research, quantitative research offersan opportunity for large scale studies. Such opportunity can berelied on to assert “cause and effect relationships amongconstructs as well as confirm and disconfirm theoreticalhypothesis” (Fassinger & Morrow, 2013). The approach wouldtherefore, be, generally more acceptable and valued by Governmentsand other public agencies because it can be generalised easily.

2.2.3 Mixed Methods:

The mixture of qualitative and quantitative study is the thirdoption and arguably most appropriate method for criminology andsocial research. Fassinger, a Social Scientist, agrees withPonterotto that mixed research methods have the potential tocombine the best of the quantitative and qualitative methods. Thecombination compensates for the “un-pragmatic limitations” ofeither methods, whilst offering the researcher maximum flexibility(Ponterotto, Mathew and Raughley, 2013, p.47).

In spite of being deemed the most fertile search for validity(Webb, Campbell, Schwartz & Seshrest, 1966, p.174), the mixedresearch method was not adopted in this study. The researcheropted for the Quantitative research methodology. The reasons forher choice will be discussed in details in the next section.

2.3 MERITS AND CRITICAL REFLECTION ON ADOPTING THEQUANTITATIVE RESEARCH APPROACH.

As a researcher, I sought to objectively explore accessibility tocriminal justice, by child victims in Uganda, through analysis offrequencies for the nature of crime, sex and age of the victims. Ineeded to establish the most prevalent nature of crime againstchildren, the most affected gender, the most affected age group aswell as have an insight of the ratio of reported incidents that


attract the attention of the Uganda police and proceed to beinvestigated.

The purpose of the small scale survey was to gather predominantlyquantitative data, that is how many child victim cases could beidentified and analysed, how many children were in each of thefour classified age groups, how many were female or male, how manywere victims of child sexual defilement and how many had theircomplaints investigated by Uganda Police.

To meet this end, I needed access to in depth information coveringa wide sample of participants, spread over the four regions ofUganda and within eight weeks of study. Bearing in mind the scalelimitations of the study, it was critical to collect informationthat could be generalised as being applicable to Uganda as acountry.

The quantitative approach not only offered the required scale ofstudy, it also offered the most suitable research instruments forundertaking the study. The quantitative method called contentanalysis would enable mining of information from a relativelylarge sample group in a very limited time and within affordableresources.

All the required quantitative data was to be deducted from mainlyqualitative information collected by the Uganda police for theirindividual case records. These included names (recorded as subjectidentification numbers), age, sex, police notes on case progress,witness statements as well as other official police records.

The quantitative approach was therefore expected to contribute to‘completeness’ in the study, bringing together a comprehensiveaccount in the investigation, using the already availablequalitative information as a base for establishing quantitativeinference.

The questionnaire template, although used to record data from caserecords as opposed to direct participants, would be instrumentalin ‘collecting straight forward qualitative information aboutchild victims from a large number of identified relevant caserecord files that would be subjected to quantitative analysis(Whittacker, 2012, p.66).

In designing the research and adopting the quantitative researchapproach, it was not anticipated that there would be need to


undertake any qualitative inquiries. The research design assumedthat the police case records had all the necessary information forpurposes of this study that would stand the tests of authenticity,credibility, representativeness and meaning as outlined by Scott(1990).

Bearing in mind the needs for the study, the time and resourceconstraints and desire to have a study that could be easilygeneralised, there was no other appropriate research approachother than the quantitative approach. It is therefore the overallresearch approach adopted for this study.

3. Research Design, Methods and Instrument (s).3.1 Research Approach & Epistemological Position:

The Quantitative approach as discussed above was preferred in thisstudy. The study adopted a positivist epistemology, with theresearcher seeking to infer what was going on by explaining therelationship between child victims and the criminal justice systemas represented by the Uganda Police force records, and withoutpersonal interpretation.

3.2 Research Method and Instrument (s) of Research

In undertaking this study, I opted for a quantitative methodcalled content analysis. This is a documentary data analysismethod that uses objective and systematic counting and recordingprocedures to produce quantitative data about the visible contentof the documents (Berelson, 1952, p.18).

Content analysis is the most common and most popular researchdesign for students using documentary analysis because it providesa relatively straight forward way of making sense of textual databy converting it into quantifiable form (Whittacker, 2012, p,84).

I opted for documentary analysis because all the data I neededalready existed and all I was required to do was to gain access to


it through the normal police procedures under the Uganda PoliceResearch Department. This helped me to avoid the time consumingprocess of negotiating access to participants.

In addition, since all documents already existed independently,the research could not be deemed biased by the researcher asinterviews would.

I determined the quality and choice of documents for analysisusing Scott’s criteria for judging documents for researchpurposes. These are i) authenticity; that is, soundness andauthorship, ii) credibility; that is sincerity and accuracy; iii)representativeness; that is extent of availability to the public,and iv) meaning; that is clarity of evidence (Scott, 1990). Indesigning the research processes for this study, the Uganda PoliceRecords were deemed far and above the minimum threshold requiredfor research purpose.

Data analysis posed ethical issues with regard to consent ofparticipants as already discussed, and couldn’t be considered anethically neutral process (McCulloch, 2004). Having noted that, itis worth noting, that documentary analysis possess lower ethicalrisks than other methods because it does not directly involveparticipants (Whittacker, 2012, p.90)

3.3 Research Instrument; the Questionnaire Template.

A highly structured, generic, questionnaire template was designedand used as an instrument for data collection. This facilitateduniform collection of information from each analysed case file.The questionnaire was instrumental in ensuring that irrelevant,unnecessarily broad and unfocussed information was not collected.It was also very helpful in the process of seeking permission toaccess official data, from Uganda Police, because it clearlyarticulated the nature and limits of the data to be collected.

From an ethical point of view, the questionnaire ensured thatpersonal identification information such as names, personalcontacts, location and other information that would compromise theanonymity of research subjects was not collected.


The required information was basic and straight forward, and sodid not pose a challenge of lack of clarification of responses aswould be the case in public surveys.

3.4 Research Design:

The design adopted in this study is termed Clinical Data Mining.This is a practice based research strategy used to systematicallyanalyse data gathered from an agency, in this case Uganda PoliceRecords (Epstein, 2009). Clinical data-mining was very critical inthis study because in enabled me to have access to a wide base ofinformation that would otherwise require significant investment oftime and resources if I were going to collect it from individualparticipants.

In other words, the study would have become unrealistic andimpossible to undertake if it adopted alternative researchdesigns. Take for instance Participatory Action Research (PAR),which requires involvement of the most affected (Alston & Bowles,1998). Instead of the 5 police post that I visited, I would needto visit 500 child victims in 500 homes across the country

In using the clinical data-mining to retrieve required data frompolice records, I converted data that was originally in narrativeform that is police case notes from qualitative form specificallynames, sex, nature of crime to a quantitative database forstatistical analysis.

3.5 Sampling:

In choosing the sampling approach, I decided to use theprobability also known as random sampling approach. I hadmathematically calculated that there were 110 central police postsin Uganda spread across five regional divisions. Since the studycalled for small scale research, I decided to visit and analyserecords in 1 central police post per a region. The sample wouldtherefore be made up of 4.5% of the target population.

The study analysed 351 individual case records from five CentralPolice stations, one from each of the five regions of Uganda. The


police stations and regions sampled were; Masaka CPS in South,Kamuli CPS in East, Mbarara CPS in West, Gulu CPS in North andKampala Metropolitan in Central. An average of 70 case recordfiles were analysed from each central police post.

The study was undertaken in July 2014 targeting cases reportedbetween, 1st August 2013 to 31st October 2013, expecting betteravailability for the files since most investigations would beexpected to have been completed, 10 months after reporting theincident.

Individual files were filtered according to age, targeting crimesagainst children defined as people under the age of 18 by theUganda Police (2013, p.22., quoting Children Statute, 1997)

3.6 Accessibility to data:

Well as the Station Dairies and monthly report records werereadily accessible at each and every single police post visited,it was challenging to get hold of the individual case records.This was mainly because most of the child victim cases are closedprematurely with an instruction to ‘put away’ the files. UgandaPolice has a very poor filing system as well as storage so itbecame challenging to access such files.

I was also challenged by the timing. During ordinary workinghours, the police stations and duty officers were too busyattending to in coming cases and yet at night, there were hardlyany responsible officer at the station who could supervise my datacollection activities.

Two strengths got me through these challenges. First there wereplenty of files to choose from in each station and my target wasnot to exceed 60 files in any one station. I therefore focussed onthe available files to undertake my study.

Secondly, owing to the extreme poverty in Uganda, money can getyou anything. Reasonable payments to the administration officersencouraged them to help me and work with me long after their


scheduled shifts of duty, enabling me to get access to all theinformation I needed.

3.7 Ethical Issues:

As part of the planning process for this study, an ethical bundlewas submitted to the University of Portsmouth for assessment andethics opinion thereof. The bundle was made up of the ethics self-assessment, information sheet for access to data, designedquestionnaire, draft letter seeking access to data, and theconsent form for voluntary contribution to the study. A favourableethics opinion was given, hence this study meets the ethicalresearch requirements of the University.

All reasonable steps were taken to ensure protection ofparticipants from foreseeable harm. I did not undertake face toface interviews with targeted participants. My consideration wasthat contacting them was intrusive to their privacy and withouttheir consent.

To ensure that identities of the victimised children were notexposed, the questionnaire made provision for a SubjectIdentification Number (SIN). Hence no names of participants wererecorded during the data collection exercise.

It should be noted that informed consent of the child victims ortheir guardians was not secured. However this would not raise anysignificant ethical issues because official permission and consentwas given by Uganda Police, the custodians of the required data.In addition, as discussed above I did not record any personalidentifiable data from the participants records.

In terms of ethical data management, as already discussed, datawas anonymously captured. All original data will be securelystored on trust of the University up to a maximum of 5 years afteraccomplishment of this project and will be safely disposedthereafter.


3.5 Summary of the Research Design:

4. Research Process:4.1 LITERATURE REVIEW:

Literature review refers to the comprehensive summary and criticalappraisal of the relevant literature to the study. Literaturereview was deemed very helpful in identifying existing research,traditional and current controversies, as well as weaknesses andgaps to look out for during the field study (Whittaker, 2012,p24).


LITERATURE REVIEW

ANALYSIS OF UGANDA POLICE ANNUALCRIME RATES REPORTS 2013

PRIMARY RESEARCH(Clinical Data Mining)

POLICE RECORDS REVIEW(Station Dairies & Monthly

Reports)

VICTIM CASE FILE REVIEW

STRUCTURED QUESTIONNAIRE

The first step I undertook was to identify the most appropriateliterature relevant to the topic of child criminal victims inUganda, to be used in the study. Unfortunately, well as the topicof child sexual defilement has attracted considerable mediaattention, I failed to identify any empirical study or academicwriting other than the official national crime report.

The Annual Crime Rates Report by the Uganda Police (2013) was notpublicly available and therefore a hard or electronic copy thereofhad to be secured from the Uganda Police Headquarters and withpermission of the Criminal Investigations Director (Uganda Police2013)

The key challenges I faced in using the official crime recordswere inaccuracy of the data and the offender focus for the policerecords. I acquired information from police officials, at thepolice posts, that incidents that are abandoned (not investigated)by police, are neither issued Crime Record Numbers (CRB) norincluded in police monthly reports, from which the annual crimereport is generated. Thus there seemed to be a wide gap betweencrime incidents captured by the Station Dairies, and the monthlyreports reflected in the annual crime report.

The annual report revealed that defilement (child sexual crime)was the most prevalent crime in Uganda in 2013. It was furtherrevealed that a very small percentage of the investigated caseswere successfully prosecuted. In total, 9,598 were investigatedout of 19,816 reported cases. 359 convictions (1.8%) were secured(Uganda Police 2013, p.xx & 44)

The second step in the literature review was reviewing theliterature on research methodologies. This would have been theeasiest part of the process but it extremely challenged me becausethere was too much literature on research methods andmethodologies that it became extremely daunting to decide whatshould or shouldn’t be included in this study. Some texts such asBryman (2012) seemed informative but I was not impressed by thecomplex writing style.

Either way, the literature review was very helpful in enabling meto gain an understanding of what was already written about thetopic. I was able to review the key issues that had already beenidentified such as the prevalent nature of child sexual defilementin Uganda. I was also able to make provision for filling the gaps


in the research design used by Uganda Police, ensuring that I paidattention to the Station Dairies, and the actual case files, otherthan just the official monthly reports, which would preclude noneinvestigated reported incidents.

4.2 Collecting and Analysing Data:

The first challenge was deciding my unit of analysis that istexts, phases or sentences I would be using to code the collecteddata (Neuman, 2006). I designed a code book and coding sheet. Thishelped me to determine what to include in my report and under whatdimensions.

It is generally accepted that there are four dimensions toconsider in coding data namely: frequency, direction, prominenceand intensity (Sarantakos, 2005; Neuman, 2006). However, only thefrequencies were deemed relevant to this study.

After coding, I used electronic software, specifically the IBMSPSS statistics 22 for designing a record sheet as well asanalysing the collected data for output. All data was entered,screened, cleaned and verified using the SPSS software processesbefore undertaking the required Frequencies, and Chi Square teststo describe, and analyse the relationship between the selectedresearch variables (Pallant, 2013)

5. Study Findings and AnalysisAs stated above, this study sought to explore the nature ofchild victimisation in Uganda using official records and casefiles of the Uganda Police Force. This would be identifiedthrough the frequency of the i) nature of most prevalentcrime against children, ii) age group of the victims, iii)gender of victims as well as iv)case progress in the criminaljustice system. Is the Criminal Justice System accessible tochild victims of crime in Uganda?


5.1 Summary Findings:

(a) Table 1: Summary of Child Victim Profile by Percentages:

Age Group % Total Abuse

Nature of Crime Sex of Victims

Sexual Defilement Other Child Abuse Female Male% Total % Within

Age% Total

% Within Age

0-5 32.2 8.8 27.4 23.4 72.6 72.6 27.46-10 20.8 12.3 58.9 8.5 41.1 69.9 30.111-15 28.8 25.5 88.1 3.4 11.9 71.3 28.716-18 18.2 12.0 65.6 6.3 34.4 78.1 21.9TOTAL 100% 58.4 41.6 76.6 23.4

As illustrated in table1, this study found that 72.6% of thevictimised children were female well as 27.4% were male. Theworst affected age group by child abuse was 0-5 years of age,suffering 32.3 % of all child crime victimization.

Children aged 11-15 are worst affected by sexual childdefilement. 43.4% of all child-sexual abuse is suffered bychildren aged 11-15. More so 88.1 % of all crimes committedagainst this age group is of a sexual nature.

Children aged 0-5 are worst affected by other forms of childabuse. They suffer 56.2 % of all other forms of child abuse,such as abandonment, torture, neglect, infanticide amongothers.

The most prevalent crime against children was Child SexualDefilement covering 58.4% of all child abuse, while all theother offences grouped together covered 41.6%. Females wereworst affected by 76.6% of child sexual crime while the malessuffered 23.4 %.

NB: It should be noted that child sexual defilement in this


study refers to actual sexual penetration of the child,either by sex intercourse or use of another object for sexualpenetration. Other sexual offences such as pornography,indecent assault are not inclusive.

(b) Table 2: Child Victims by Sex.

Sex of Victim % Sexual Defilement

Other Abuse

Total

Female 61.6 38.4 100%Male 50 50 100%Total 58.4 41.6

Findings summarised in table two shows that child sexualdefilement significantly affects all child victims regardlessof sex.

61.2 % of all offences against female children are sexualchild defilement as well as 50% of cases against malechildren.

Although the study found that the rate of female childrenaffected by sexual defilement is higher than that of boys,it’s crucial to note that sex offences account for at leasthalf of all offences against children in Uganda.

(c) Table 3: Access to Criminal Justice:

CRIMINAL PROGRESS SexualDefilement

Other Abuse Total

Abandoned Cases 58 76 65.5Subject to Court Process

42 24 34.5

Total 100 100 100


Frequencies from the Criminal Investigation process in table4are very worryingly. They indicate that only 34.5% of thechild abusers are subjected to the court process, the rest ofthe cases (65.5%) are abandoned by Uganda Police.

5.2 Conclusion Remarks on Study Findings:

The study gave a significant insight into the possible researchareas in terms of quantifying and qualifying the nature ofcriminal victimisation in Uganda. All results indicate that themost prevalent nature of crime is child sexual defilement. This isin line with and confirms the Uganda Police Annual Report findingsas already discussed (Uganda Police, p.9).

It also highlights that well as the 0-5 year children aregenerally worst affected by child crime, the 11-15 year olds arespecifically worst affected by Child Sexual Defilement. More so,female children in Uganda are more susceptible to child crimevictimisation and most especially child sexual defilement.

The question as to whether criminal justice is accessible to childvictims of crime was answered. Only 34.5 % of reported child abuseincidents make it to the court process and significantly verysmall numbers make it through the court system.

These findings are in line with the Uganda Police findings that19,508 cases were reported to Uganda Police, 9598 (49.2%) caseswere investigated, 4931(25.2%) cases were taken to court and only359 (1.8%) cases were convicted in the whole country for the wholeyear.

This shows that, the Government of Uganda is less likely toprosecute child sex offenders as opposed to other offenders.Therefore, it can be inferred from this study, that child sexualdefilement in Uganda is encouraged by lack of reprimand from theUganda Government.


PART TWO

6. Critical Reflection of Not adopting theQualitative Research Method

I opted for a quantitative approach and methods of research asalready discussed above. Using the documentary analysis by way ofcontent analysis enabled me to acquire a lot of relevant data fromthe same source, significantly saving time and money.

On reflection however, I only got one side of the story, theUganda police side. A qualitative research instrument, designed tospecifically acquire information from the child victims, and theirguardians, would have significantly explored and provided clearerinsight into the perspective of the affected people. They would,for example, provide a logical explanation as to why the majorityof reported child sexual crime cases are withdrawn from policeinvestigation by the same people who make complaints.

In the first instance, most affected victims of crime were femalechildren. The feminist proponents have a long tradition ofpromoting qualitative research as the appropriate strategy instudying social phenomena’s that affect women (Whittaker, 2005,p.10). Not involving victims who were predominantly female in thestudy indicated violation of the feminist values of ‘placinggender at the centre of social inquiry, investigating as well asrepresenting the diversity of women’s perspectives in the study(Sarantakos, 2005).

From the ethics perspective, accessing such in-depth informationwithout the express consent of the child victims along with theirparents would be deemed a violation of ethical values. Qualitativeresearch would have ensured that their rights to self-determination and informed consent to access their personalinformation is protected (Alderson& Morrow, p.17)

If I had opted for qualitative research, I would have to choose amethod of collecting data, in which case I would have opted forinterviews. The interviews are commonly used in every day socialresearch practice (Trevithick, 2012). I would still have opted forhighly structured and standardised interviews because of their


strength in producing quantitative data in readily analysableform.

Unstructured interviews provide an opportunity for collecting in-depth qualitative data that could ‘speak for itself’, but,adopting them, would result in several individual transcripts thatwould not necessarily cover the same ground. As a traineeresearcher, the challenge of analysing diverse and complex datawould have been too complicated for me to handle.

As an alternative to interviews, focus group discussions couldhave been used. These entails bringing together selectedindividuals to provide their opinions as a ‘defined subject,facilitated by a moderator. The discussions enable participantsto explore and challenge each other’s views (Kitzinger, 1994).

Focus group discussions were however not appropriate for thisstudy. Firstly, because the victims are children with limitedability to express their views. Secondly, the majority of targetedparticipants would be victims of child sexual abuse, a researchtopic, which, by its very nature cannot be confidently and easilydiscussed in public. It its more likely than not that participantswould not discuss personal experiences and histories in as muchdepth or detail as individual interviews (Michell, 1999)

From an ethical perspective, it would have been a big challenge tosecure parental consent for children to take part in focus groupdiscussions. The target participant children would already havebeen subjected to child abuse in one way or another. It’s veryunlikely that parents, who in some cases are the offenders inchild abuse cases, would allow them to go and publicly discusstheir personal and family affairs.

After ruling out unstructured interviews and focus groupdiscussions, I would be left with considering structuredinterviews instead of the documentary analysis which I adopted inthe study. Interviews are deemed to provide ‘intuitively humanface to face interactions which enable in-depth communication withparticipants. They offer an opportunity to follow up interestingresponses as well as enable people to tell their story(Scourfield, 2001).

I noticed, from the official records, that, significant numbers ofchild abuse complaints did not even make it through thepreliminary criminal justice process. Police inquiries either


never took off or were prematurely abandoned prior to beingrecorded or securing a Criminal Records Number (CRB). The notes onpolice files mostly stated that complainants either failed toavail evidence or lost interest in the matter.

Interviews with the victims or even their carers would have gone along way, to explore whether and why victims failed to availpolice with recorded testimonies, witnesses and other evidence.Interviewing them would have enabled me to explore theircircumstances within their cultural and social environments, whichhas been ignored or suppressed as evidenced by lack of readilyavailable empirical research on the research topic (Whittaker,2012, p.37).

As a social worker, I am familiar with interviews because I usethem in every day social work practice. It would have been a loteasier for me to transfer my skills and experience as opposed toclinical data-mining which I learnt and carried out with littleconfidence, during this study.

Face to face interviews would have enabled me to establish arapport with the child victims, empathise with them and in theprocess access their feelings and attitudes about the incidents. Iwould be in a better position to probe for detailed responses.

Structured interviews provide richer and more in-depth dataenabling the researcher to follow up interesting issues. In thisstudy, they would have enabled me to confirm or challenge theallegation by Uganda police that parents are responsible for thefailure of Uganda Police to investigate and convict child sexualoffenders.

Challenges in handling defilement cases

a) Most parents/guardians ignore legal proceedings and preferto negotiate with suspects of defilement because of materialgain. b) Tampering with evidence were parents/guardians ofthe defiled victims accept bribes and connive with allegedoffenders to alter the child’s age to pervert the course ofjustice. (Uganda Police 2013, p.15)

Needless to say, that, interviews provide a setting for conduciveopenness, unlike the focus group discussions where participantswould not be open about personal experiences, or data analysis


where participants’ personal experiences would not be accessed toinform the study.

In analysing case records, I found that a lot of information didnot make sense especially in cases where the child victim, almostimmediately after reporting an incident, turned around and made anadditional statement exemplifying the offender. Most of theadditional statements seemed to be a sequential script. Theystated that the child victim ‘had lied to the police and no suchabuse ever happened”.

As a researcher with legal background, I became suspicious andwondered how such vulnerable children were able to articulatetheir statements in clear and precise legally effective words.Interviewing such children in identified cases would have gone along way to confirm or disconfirm institutional suppression ofaccess to criminal justice by the police force and possiblecorruption tendencies.

It should however be noted that looking back now, in spite of allthe identified gaps that would otherwise be filled by thequalitative approach, I would still maintain the quantitativeapproach, and specifically document content analysis as being thebest possible appropriate research design in undertaking thisspecific study.

The structural limitations of the qualitative approach,specifically with regard to limited sampling, excessivepreparation time, ethical considerations pertaining to undertakingresearch with children, that have already been discussed, wouldhave made the study unfeasible.

It is my conclusion therefore, that it would have been desirableto re-enforce the quantitative approach with elements ofqualitative research, specifically structured interviews withvictims, their carers and possibly offenders. However, I wouldmaintain my choice of the quantitative approach, as being the mostsuitable overall approach for undertaking empirical study on thetopic of child victims of crime in the Context of Uganda.


7. Lessons Learnt and ConclusionThe key lesson I learnt from this study as a researcher, is theurgent call for further empirical study of the plight of childvictims in Uganda. The research would, however, be betterenriched, and more reliable, if complimented by qualitativeresearch instruments. I would opt for structured interviews withchild victims, and/or their carers, to be undertaken, in additionto further document content analysis and within the quantitativeoverall approach to social research. The key rationale would beattempting to bring together a more balanced, representative andtherefore more comprehensive account of the child victimisationarea of inquiry (Bryman, 2012, p.633).

The quantitative approach was well suited for the study but I waschallenged by the availability of too much data to mine from. Iwas overwhelmed by the amount of information. I was extremelylucky to have designed a questionnaire template for guidanceotherwise I would not know what to leave out.

I have also been extremely challenged by analysing the collecteddata out of the Uganda context, where the documents were produced.The Uganda framework, cultural, ethical and social environmentswithin which the original documents were created is significantlydifferent from the UK framework I am using to analyse the resultsthereof.

My study was also challenged by the available documents foranalysis since they are produced for offender reprimand and aretherefore offender focussed yet my interest was in victims ofcrime.

Although I could not introduce bias into what was contained in thedocuments, my bias with regard to sexual victimisation of girlchildren drove me to spend more time analysing sexually relatedcase records as opposed to other child crimes.

I was challenged by procedural hiccups and gender baseddiscrimination in attempt to access official information. Toovercome these, sufficient time was required enable alternativecoping strategies. The lesson learnt was that sufficient time andpatience will be a key requirement if further study is to beundertaken.


A further lesson learnt is that research is never what theresearcher assumes but rather what they learn during and after thestudy. All my assumptions and beliefs in Human Rights werechallenged and tested. I researched in an environment wherechildren and more specifically female children seemed to be of novalue to the population yet I was a female researcher.

The study helped me to appreciate the process and value of theUniversity of Portsmouth ethical processes for securing afavourable ethical opinion. My supervisor insisted that I had toget a letter from authorities at the Uganda Police Headquartersbefore visiting the police stations.

Indeed I encountered numerous uncertainties and was challenged bythe complexities in political and hierarchical power of the PoliceForce. My only weapon for overcoming the challenges was theofficial letter of authority from the Police Director of Researchwhich I acquired as a requirement for securing the favourableethical opinion.

The small scale study provided clarity of the need and importanceof mixed research methodologies in undertaking criminal justiceanalysis. It became very clear that although the quantitativeresearch was sufficient in providing sampling data with regard tothe plight of victimised children, a more qualitative or mixed in-depth and funded study ought to be undertaken to make sense ofespecially child sexual crime and child marriages in Uganda.

As a researcher, I feel obliged to lift the veil to inquirewhether the Uganda Government is not doing enough to protectchildren from criminal victimisation or parents are obstructingjustice and blocking the Uganda Government from protecting thechildren.

All in all, the small study went along way to mentally.Psychologically and physically induct me into the methodologicaland physical challenges of undertaking primary research. It wasvery helpful in helping me think through my thesis along the linesof ‘Making Sense of Child Sexual Abuse and Child Marriages inUganda’.


8. References

Alderson, P., Morrow, V. (2011) Ethics of Research with Children and YoungPeople: A Practical Handbook, Sage Publications.Allen, P., Bennet, K. (2012) SPSS Statistics: A Practical Guide. Version 20(1st Edition). Alston, M and Bowles, W. (1998) Research for Social Workers. St Leornard,NSW: Allen & UnwinBachman, R., Schutt, K.R. (2003) The Practice of Research in Criminology andCriminal Justice. Prime Fodge Press.Berelson, B. (1952) Content Analysis in Communication Research. New York,Free Press.Bhaskar, R. (1978) A Realist Theory of Science. 2nd Ed. Atlantic Highlands,NJ: Humanities Press.Brookman, F., Noaks, L., Wincup, E. (1999) Qualitative Research inCriminology.Bryman,A.( 2012). Social Research Methods. 4th Ed. Oxford UniversityPress.Burke, R.J., Omwigbuzie, A.J., Turner, L.A. (2007) Toward a Definitionof Mixed Methods Research. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, Apr2007,Vol. 1 Issue 2, p112-133. Gage Publications.Crotty, M. (1998), The Foundations of Social Research: Meaning and Perspectivesin the Research Process.Davis, P., Francis, P.,Jupp, V. (2011) Doing Criminological Research (2nd

Ed) p.10-11. Sage Publications. Denzin, N. (1970) The Research Act in Sociology. London Butterworths.Epstein, I. (2009) Clinical Data-Mining: Integrating Practice and Research. NewYork: Oxford University Press.Fassinger, R., Morrow, S.L. (2003) Toward Best Practices in Quantitative,Qualitative and Mixed-Method Research: A Social Justice Perspective. p69-83.Giddens, A. (1993) New Rules of Sociological Methods: A positive critique ofinterpretive sociologies. 2nd Ed. Cambridge.Giddens, A. (2006) Sociology, 5th Edition, Cambridge.Higgins, G.E. (2009) Quantitative versus Qualitative Methods: Understanding WhyQuantitative Methods are Predominant in Criminology and Criminal Justice. Journal


of Theoretical & Philosophical Criminology. Jan2009, Vol. 1 Issue1, p23-37.Holloway, I. (1997). Basic Concepts for Qualitative Research (2nd Ed.). p1-26.Humphries, B. (2008) Social Work Research for Social Justice.Basingstoke:Palgrave Mcmillan.Jupp, V (2001) Triangulation, in McLaughlin, E. and Mancie, J (eds)The Sage Dictionary of Criminology, p.308. London: Sage. Kafumbe, A. L., (2010), Women’s Rights to Property in Marriage, Divorce, andWidowhood in Uganda: The Problematic Aspects.h Human Rights Review. Jun2010,Vol. 11 Issue 2, p199-221Khadiagala, L.S., 2002, Justice and Power in the Adjudication ofWomen’s Property Rights in Uganda, Africa Today 1(6): 101-120.King, R.D., Wincup, E. (2008) Doing Research on Crime and Justice (2nd Ed).Kitzinger, 1994 The Methodology of Focus Groups: The Importance ofInteraction Between Research Participants, Sociaology of Healthand Illness, 16(1): 103-121.Macdonald, Z. (2002) Official Crime Statistics: Their Use and Interpretation. TheEconomic Journal. Vol 112, Issue 477, February 2002. Retrievedthrough ebrary at onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.111/Maxwell, J.J. (1996) Qualitative Research Design: An InterpretiveApproach. Thousand Oaks.Michelle, L. (1999) Combining Focus Groups and Interviews: TellingHow it is, Telling How it Feels. In Barbour, R.S & Kitzinger, J.(Eds). Developing Focus Group Research. London: Sage.Nairn, A., Clark, B. (2012) Researching Children: Are we gettingit right? A Discussion of Ethics, International Journal of MarketResearch, Vol.54, Issue 2, p.177-198.Neuman, W.L. (2006) Basics of Social Research: Qualitative andQuantitative Approaches. 2nd Ed. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.Noaks, L., Wincup, E. (2004) Criminological Research: UnderstandingQualitative Methods. Accessed athttp://site.ebrary.com/lib/portsmouth/detail.action?docID=10080929Ondrus, S (ed), 2013, Slaps at/for Dignity: Hope Keshubi’sRebellious Legacy of Social Pallant, J. (2013) SPSS Survival Manual: A step by Step Guide to Data AnalysisUsing IBM SPSS (5th Ed). McGraw Hill.


http://site.ebrary.com/lib/portsmouth/detail.action?docID=10080929

Payne, G., Payne, J (2002) Key Concepts in Social Research.London. SagePonterotto, J.G., Mathew, J.T., & Raughley, B. (2003). The Valueof Mixed Methods Designs to Social Justice Research in Counsellingand Psychology. Journal for Social Action in Counseling & Psychology. Summer2013,Vol. 5 Issue 2, p42-68. Rowntree, D. (2004) Statistics Without Tears: A Primer for Non- Mathematicians.Classic Edition.Sale, J.E.M. (2002). Revisiting the Quantitative – Qualitative Debate: Implicationsfor Mixed Methods Research. Quality and Quantity. February 2002 Vol.36.Issue 1, p.43-53.Sarantakos, S. (2005) Social Research. 3rd Edition. Basingstoke:Palgrave Mcmillan.Scott, J 1990 A Matter of Record: Documentary Sources in SocialResearch. Cambridge.Scott, J. (2014) The Quantitative – Qualitative Divide in Criminology: A Theory ofIdeas, Importance, Attractiveness and Publication. Theoretical Criminology.Vol18. Issue 3, p317-334.Scourfield 2001 Interviewing Interviewers and Knowing aboutKnowledge.Silverman, D. (2005) Doing Qualitative Research: A Practical handbook. SagePublications.Tewksbury, R. (2009) Qualitative Versus Quantitative Methods: Understanding whyQualitative Methods are Superior in Criminal Research. Journal of Theoretical &Philosophical Criminology. Jan2009, Vol. 1 Issue 1, p38-58Trevithick, P (2012) Social Work Skills and Knowledge: A PracticeHandbook, third edition, Open University Press.Uganda Bureau of Statistic 2014, 2014, Statistical Abstract, p.12,accessed athttp://www.ubos.org/onlinefiles/uploads/ubos/statistical_abstracts/Statistical_Abstract_2014.pdf Uganda Police (2013) Annual Crime and Traffic/Road Safety Report 2013.Secured a hard copy during interview sessions at the Police HeadQuarters.Webb, E.J., Campbell, D.T., Schwartz, R.D & Sechrest, L. (1966).Unobtrusive Measures: NonReactive Measures in the Social Sciences.Chicago: Rand McNally.Whittakker, A., 2012, Research Skills for Social Work, 2nd Ed.


http://www.ubos.org/onlinefiles/uploads/ubos/statistical_abstracts/Statistical_Abstract_2014.pdf

http://www.ubos.org/onlinefiles/uploads/ubos/statistical_abstracts/Statistical_Abstract_2014.pdf

Wincup, E., King, R. (2008) Doing Research on Crime and Justice. OxfordUniversity.Yockey, R.D. (2007) SPSS Demysfied: A Step-by-Step Guide to Successful DataAnalysis.

9. Appendices

APPENDICES DETAILSAppendix 1: Favourable Ethical OpinionAppendix 2 Data access requisition letter to Uganda policeAppendix 3: Information Summary for Uganda PoliceAppendix 4: Data access authorisation letter from Uganda

PoliceAppendix 5: Questionnaire Template.Appendix 6: Data output and analysis break down

Appendix 1: Favourable Ethical Opinion

Section 4: Ethical Opinion Outcome Record

This section will be completed by the ICJS Ethics Committee for: Undergraduate, Masters and DCrimJ (Professional Doctorate) [Stage 2,1, ART] research proposals and therefore this document must be included in the Ethical Bundle when it is


sent for ethical review to Jane Winstone ([email protected])

A copy of the outcome of ethical opinion will be sent to the student who is responsible for providing this to the dissertation/research supervisor. A copy will also be kept on record by the ICJS Ethics Committee.

Please note: PhD candidates will be notified of a favourable ethical opinion in a letter from the Faculty Ethics Committee (FEthC) which will include a REC number. (For further details of this see the document: ‘How to Apply for Ethical Opinion’ – Stage 2: The process for applying for ethical opinion.)

ICJS EC Ethical Opinion Outcome Record*

Favourable ethical opinionYou can commence data collection with the agreement of your supervisor.

X

*The ICJS EC default position is to reserve the right to refer any research proposal to the Faculty Ethics Committee where the proposal poses ethical issues beyond its remit to form an opinion upon.

Date complete ethical bundle received fit for review: ……27.2.14……………………………………

Date reviewed: ................4.3.14.........……………………..

Signed: ...............Jane Winstone...................................…............... (Member of ICJS Ethics Committee)


Dear Madam,

RE: Request To Access Confidential Data Pertaining To ChildVictims.

The above subject refers.

I am a doctoral student under the Institute of Criminal Justice,University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, United Kingdom. I amundertaking a research pertaining to the nature and prevalence ofchild victimization comparing Uganda to the United Kingdom perattached information sheet.

The purpose of this letter is to kindly request for yourpermission to access files of all reported criminal offencesagainst children within three months from 1st August 2013 to 31st

October 2013 from five main Central Police Stations (one from eachof the five major regions of Uganda, Southern, Eastern, Western,Northern and Central).

In undertaking this research, I will be specifically looking atthe numbers/ prevalence of crime against children, nature ofcrimes predominantly committed thereof, the sex of the children,the level of access to criminal justice (prosecution rate),support mechanisms for the children if any and current situationof the victims and assailants (whether convicted or not and termsthereof) as illustrated by the attached data collection form(questionnaire).

The study seeks to limit its self to quantitative/ statisticalanalysis for comparison with UK records but given the challenge


Contact: Maureen F.K. Waluube:+44(0)2392848484

([email protected]

Supervisor: Dr. Jane Creaton:+44(0)2392843976

(jane.creaton@p

TheDirector Criminal Investigations Directorate.Uganda Police ForceUganda Police Headquarters (Kibuli)Kampala, Uganda

Appendix 2: Data Access RequisitionLetter

mailto:[email protected]



that there is no central criminal records database in Uganda,there seems to be no option but to access and acquire the requiredinformation directly from the case files. The study will notrecord names or any other personal identification information.

Your permission will be of great contribution towards my successin attaining a Professional Doctorate in Criminal Justice and I amthankful in advance for your positive response to my humblerequest.

Yours Faithfully

Mrs. Maureen Faith Kyalya Waluube

Appendix 3: Research Brief given to Uganda Police Force.

STUDENT DETAILS AND PROPOSED RESEARCH TOPIC:

Student Name: Mrs Maureen Faith Kyalya Waluube:

Student No: UP676706 Unit: U21136 Contact [email protected]

Proposed Research Topic: Nature and Prevalence of Child CriminalVictimization: A Comparison of Welfare State(s) (United Kingdom)and Neoliberal State(s) (Uganda) Common Wealth Countries



([email protected]


(jane.creaton

INFORMATION SHEET




WHAT WILL HAPPEN

In this study, we will be comparing and contrasting availablepredominantly quantitative data to establish whether or notchildren who are criminally victimised are faced with similarchallenges and have access to similar services and support toaddress their concerns. We will also be analysing the similaritiesor differences in the nature of crimes suffered, the seriousness,persistence to a limited degree, visible/health impact on thevictim, rates of prosecution, and common resolution options amongothers. The study will seek to get a percentage of child victimsas opposed to other victims of crime within the study period andto meet that end, a statistical analysis will be made with regardto how many crimes were reported and how many of those were crimesagainst children.

Although the study will be mostly desk top, there is a limitingchallenge with regard to Uganda as a country of lack of access toreported criminal cases in a central accessible data pool and assuch it will be imperative to undertake physical review of casefiles stored at one main regional Central Police Station(s) ineach of the five key regions of Uganda namely Eastern, Western,Southern, Northern and Central Uganda.

A data collection tool (questionnaire) will be used as a means ofcapturing data for analysis and to ensure anonymity of the partiesinvolved. To maintain confidentiality and anonymity of theresearch subjects, names for both the victims and the assailantswill not be captured, random Subject Identification Numbers (SINS)with no relation to the official Crime Reference Numbers (CRB’s)will be allocated and information collected will be limited tothat sought for on the questionnaire and coded so that it cannotbe understood by third parties.

This information will be compared to that of the United Kingdomwhich is readily available from several online data bases toestablish the similarities or differences between the nature and


prevalence of child victimisation in comparison to other crimes.

A report hereof will be made to the University of Portsmouth, andaccess to any collected data will only be available to theUniversity for Purposes of verifying my study after which all datawill be destroyed.

The data collected will be held at per the UK regulations whichadhere to the Data Protection Act 1998.

This study is subject to the approval of the University EthicsCommittee without which it will be unethical to undertake thestudy and consequently the University will not accept the studyfindings thereof. The relevant proof of Ethical Approval willtherefore be provided to you for your information and in any caseno research can take place before such approval is acquired.

TIME COMMITMENT

The study will analyse data for the period starting 1st August 2013to 28 February 2014. Cases reviewed will be all the cases reportedfrom 1st August 2013 to 31st October 2013. The researcher will thenanalyse what happened from the time of reporting to 28th February2014 with regard to case progress, was the assailant prosecuted,if not why, was the child victim supported, did they get access tomedical treatment, generally what is the state of affairs over thestudy period with regard to access to criminal justice by thevictimized child.

Required information about cases will be availed to the researcherby the relevant officer in charge of the information at the policestation. The officer will commit a maximum of eight working hoursto peruse through the files and answer the relevant questions perattached questionnaire.

The rest of the analysis will be desktop analysis by theresearcher which in no way requires any time commitment from thepolice force or any other participants in this study.


PARTICIPANTS’ RIGHTS

You may decide to stop being a part of the research study at anytime without explanation. You have the right to ask that any datayou have supplied to that point be withdrawn/ destroyed.

You have the right to have your questions about the proceduresanswered (unless answering these questions would interfere withthe study’s outcome). If you have any questions as a result ofreading this information sheet, you should ask the researcherbefore the study begins.

BENEFITS AND RISKS

There are no known risks for you or your institution in this study. The study may provide invaluable information that may inform further development of services to improve access to criminal/ social justice for child victims.

COST, REIMBURSEMENT AND COMPENSATION

Your participation in this study is voluntary. The relevantofficer on duty will be reimbursed lunch expenses of 40,000/=(£10) for each day they will be involved in overseeing the studyat the relevant police post.

CONFIDENTIALITY/ANONYMITY

The data we collect do not contain any personal or identifiableinformation about the parties involved.

This particular set of data will not be used for presentations orconferences within the Republic of Uganda unless expresslyauthorised by your selves or used by the Uganda Police Force afteracquiring the relevant permission from University of Portsmouth.

Collected data will be a property of the University of Portsmouthand no third parties will have access to it. The participatingagencies (in this case Uganda Police Force) can access the dataafter the final report is submitted and only with expresspermission of the University.


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

The study Deputy Course Leader (Dr Jane Winstone) and my Supervisor (Dr. Jane Creaton) will be glad to answer your questions about this study at any time. You may contact them usingthe contact information provided in the letterhead of this information sheet.If you want to find out about the final results of this study, youshould send an e-mail to [email protected]

CONCLUDING STATEMENT:

Thank you for taking the time to read the information sheet. Ipray that it has provided all the necessary information requiredto enable you to give an informed consent to the request to accessthe required data for this study. I thank you in advance for yourpositive consideration of the same. The researcher can becontacted at [email protected].

Appendix 4: Data Access Authorisation Letter From Uganda Police Force


Appendix 5: Questionnaire Template


Study Title: .Nature and Prevalence of Child Abuse: AComparison of Developing and Developed Countries ThroughA Case Study Of Uganda’s and United Kingdom CriminalJustice Systems for Child Victims.

Researched by: ..Mrs Maureen Faith Kyalya Waluube: Student No:UP676706 Unit: U21136

1. SIN (Subject Identification Number)

2. Age

3. Sex

4. Parenthood Arrangement (whether orphaned etc)

5. Nature of Crime(s)

6. Visible/ Medical Effect on Child

7. Repetition/ Recurrence of crime

8. Relationship(s) of assailant(s) to child

9. Age group of assailant:1. Adult (18 years +), 2. 17-18, 3. 15-16,



([email protected]


(jane.creaton

QUESTIONNARE




4.13-14, 5 0-1210. Case Progress

11. Child Victim Progress

12. Assailant Reprimand/ Punishment (If applicable):

13. Other Case Resolution:

14. Total number of reported crimes against children(1st Aug-31st Oct 2013):

15. Total number of all reported crimes at station (1st Aug-31st Oct 2013)

16. Total number of Prosecuted Crimes within the study period.

17. Total number of Child Victim Prosecuted crimes withinthe study period.

Name of Duty Officer:…………………………………………………..Date………………..

Signature………………………………………….. Contact Number…………………………...

Appendix 6: Data Output and Analysis Break Down.

TEST ONE: GENERAL DESCRIPTIVE FREQUENCY & DATA ACCURACY TESTS

FREQUENCIES VARIABLES=Sex Age ChildCrime CaseProgress /STATISTICS=MINIMUM MAXIMUM


/PIECHART PERCENT /ORDER=ANALYSIS.

Frequency Details:

A. Sex of the Victimised Children:Sex of Victim

Frequency

Percent

ValidPercent

Cumulative

PercentValid

Female 255 72.6 72.6 72.6Male 96 27.4 27.4 100.

0Total 351 100.0 100.0

B. Age of Criminally Abused Children:

Age of ChildFrequenc

y PercentValidPercent

CumulativePercent

Valid 0-5 113 32.2 32.2 32.26-10 73 20.8 20.8 53.011-15 101 28.8 28.8 81.816-18 64 18.2 18.2 100.0Total 351 100.0 100.0

C. Nature of Crime Against ChildrenNature of Crime

Frequency

Percent

ValidPercent

Cumulative

Percent

Valid

Child Sexual Crime-Defilement

205 58.4 58.4 58.4

Other childcrimes 146 41.6 41.6 100.0

Total 351 100.0 100.0


D. Access to Criminal Justice

Criminal Investigation Process

Frequency %Valid%

Cumulative %

Valid Abandoned or withdrawn

230 65.5 65.5 65.5

Court Process 121 34.5 34.5 100.0

Total 351 100.0 100.0

TEST TWO: EXPLORATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHILD VICTIMS, AND THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM IN UGANDA.

A: CHI- SQUARE EXPLORATION OF RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE SEX OF THE VICTIMS AND NATURE OF BODILY HARM SUFFERED.CROSSTABS /TABLES=Sex BY ChildCrime /FORMAT=AVALUE TABLES /STATISTICS=CHISQ CORR /CELLS=COUNT ROW COLUMN TOTAL /COUNT ASIS /BARCHART.

Case Processing SummaryCases

Valid Missing TotalN Percent N Percent N Percent

Sex of Victim * Nature of Crime 351 100.0% 0 0.0% 351 100.0%

Sex of Victim * Bodily harm or other harm

351 100.0% 0 0.0% 351 100.0%

(a) Sex of Victim * Nature of CrimeCrosstab

Nature of Crime

Total

Child SexualCrime-

DefilementOther child

crimesSex of Female Count 157 98 255


Victim % within Sex of Victim 61.6% 38.4% 100.0%

% within Nature of Crime 76.6% 67.1% 72.6%

% of Total 44.7% 27.9% 72.6%Male Count 48 48 96

% within Sex of Victim 50.0% 50.0% 100.0%


% of Total 13.7% 13.7% 27.4%Total Count 205 146 351

% within Sex of Victim 58.4% 41.6% 100.0%


% of Total 58.4% 41.6% 100.0%

Chi-Square Tests

Value dfAsymp. Sig.(2-sided)

Exact Sig.(2-sided)

Exact Sig.(1-sided)

Pearson Chi-Square 3.842a 1 .050Continuity Correctionb 3.381 1 .066

Likelihood Ratio 3.811 1 .051Fisher's Exact Test .053 .033Linear-by-Linear Association 3.831 1 .050

N of Valid Cases 351

a. 0 cells (0.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 39.93.b. Computed only for a 2x2 table

Symmetric Measures

ValueAsymp. Std.

ErroraApprox.

TbApprox.Sig.

Interval by Interval

Pearson's R .105 .054 1.965 .050c

Ordinal by Ordinal

Spearman Correlation .105 .054 1.965 .050c


a. Not assuming the null hypothesis.b. Using the asymptotic standard error assuming the null hypothesis.c. Based on normal approximation.


B: CHI- SQUARE EXPLORATION OF RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN NATURE OF CHILDCRIME AND CASE PROGRESS.

CROSSTABS /TABLES=ChildCrime BY CaseProgress /FORMAT=AVALUE TABLES /STATISTICS=CHISQ CORR /CELLS=COUNT ROW COLUMN TOTAL /COUNT ASIS /BARCHART.

(b) Nature of Crime * Criminal Investigation Process

Crosstabs

CriminalInvestigation ProcessAbandoned

orwithdrawn

Nature of Crime


Count 119% within Nature of Crime 58.0%

% within Criminal Investigation Process

51.7%

% of Total 33.9%Other child crimes

Count 111% within Nature of Crime 76.0%


48.3%

CriminalInvestigation Process

TotalCourtProcess

8642.0% 100.0%

71.1% 58.4%

24.5% 58.4%35

24.0% 100.0%

28.9% 41.6%

10.0% 41.6%121

34.5% 100.0%100.0% 100.0%


% of Total 31.6%Total Count 230

% within Nature of Crime 65.5%


100.0%

% of Total 65.5%

34.5% 100.0%

Chi-Square Tests


Exact Sig.(2-sided)

Exact Sig.(1-sided)

Pearson Chi-Square 12.201a 1 .000Continuity Correctionb 11.419 1 .001

Likelihood Ratio 12.496 1 .000Fisher's Exact Test .001 .000Linear-by-Linear Association 12.167 1 .000


a. 0 cells (0.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 50.33.b. Computed only for a 2x2 table

Symmetric Measures

ValueAsymp. Std.

ErroraApprox.

TbApprox.Sig.


Pearson's R -.186 .051 -3.545 .000c

Ordinal by Ordinal

Spearman Correlation -.186 .051 -3.545 .000c




(c) Nature of Crime * Age of Child

CrosstabAge of Child0-5 6-10 11-15 16-18

Natureof Crime


Count 31 43 89 42% within Nature of Crime 15.1% 21.0% 43.4% 20.5% 100.0%

% within Age of Child 27.4% 58.9% 88.1% 65.6% 58.4%% of Total 8.8% 12.3% 25.4% 12.0% 58.4%

Other child crimes

Count 82 30 12 22% within Nature of Crime 56.2% 20.5% 8.2% 15.1% 100.0%


Total Count 113 73 101 64% within Nature of Crime 32.2% 20.8% 28.8% 18.2% 100.0%


Chi-Square Tests


Pearson Chi-Square 82.705a 3 .000Likelihood Ratio 88.966 3 .000Linear-by-Linear Association 52.423 1 .000


a. 0 cells (0.0%) have expected count less than 5. Theminimum expected count is 26.62.

Symmetric Measures


ValueAsymp. Std.

ErroraApprox.

TbApprox.Sig.


Pearson's R -.387 .050 -7.841 .000c

Ordinal by Ordinal

Spearman Correlation -.394 .051 -8.003 .000c



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Exploring Child Criminal Victimization in Uganda

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