Advancing the Assessment of Child Sexual Exploitation: A Rapid Evidence Review and Preliminary Validation of the CASEE Structured Professional Judgment Tool

Ireland, CA, Ireland, J ORCID: 0000-0002-5117-5930, Svenja, W, Carrasco Monterod, T, Annalena, S and Sands, P Advancing the Assessment of Child Sexual Exploitation: A Rapid Evidence Review and Preliminary Validation of the CASEE Structured Professional Judgment Tool. Journal of Criminological Research, Policy and Practice. ISSN 2056-3841 (Accepted)

Text Advancing the Assessment of Child Sexual Exploitation.pdf - Accepted Version Access Restricted Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (546kB)

Abstract

Purpose: This paper explores the quality of assessments available where a child is felt to be vulnerable to child sexual exploitation (CSE). In particular it considers the preliminary reliability and validity of the Child Adolescent Sexual Exploitation Evaluation (CASEE, Ireland et al, 2025), which aims to consider vulnerability and protective factors in a child felt to be exposed to CSE concerns.
Design/Methodology/Approach: It comprises of a Rapid Evidence Assessment (REA), followed by a study of 94 professionals who completed a two-day CASEE validation event (3 events in total).
Findings: The REA captured a continued absence of theoretical and empirical background to currently available CSE assessments for children, and a continued failure to consider a SPJ (Structured Professional Judgement) approach. Taking a SPJ approach to assessing CSE using the CASEE, this initial study demonstrated a good level of inter-rater reliability overall, with limited disagreements between raters.
Originality: This paper argues the continued lack of CSE assessment tools that are empirically and theoretically developed, that take advantage of the SPJ robust approach, in addition to considerations of reliability and validity. The CASEE is outlined as an emerging example of an empirically informed SPJ tool able to begin to consider some of these gaps.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Child Sexual Exploitation; SPJ; CSE protective factors; CSE risk; Vulnerability; CASEE; Forensic Research Institute (FORRI); 1602 Criminology; 1801 Law; 4402 Criminology; 4801 Commercial law; 4804 Law in context
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Divisions:	Psychology (from Sep 2019)
Publisher:	Emerald
Date of acceptance:	3 January 2026
Date Deposited:	06 Jan 2026 15:18
Last Modified:	06 Jan 2026 15:18
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/27842

View Item