Michael Jackson, R. Kelly and the Lingering Questions About Child Sex Abuse Cases

The explosive documentaries “Leaving Neverland” and “Surviving R. Kelly” have reignited a national conversation about child sex abuse.

“Leaving Neverland” profiles two men who say Michael Jackson sexually abused them when they were children. Jackson faced several allegations that he molested young boys dating back to 1993, but was never convicted of any charges.

For more than two decades, R. Kelly has been trailed by a series of allegations of sexual misconduct with minors. Then in February, after “Surviving R. Kelly” aired, the authorities in Chicago charged him with 10 counts of sexual abuse. He denies the charges.

With these developments coming years after the alleged abuse, many are asking why victims can take so long to come forward, why they might at first deny the abuse and whether their parents could have done more. Here are some answers to those difficult questions.

Why do some victims take so long to come forward?

It can take decades for people who are sexually abused as children to come forward, for a multitude of reasons. They may suffer from effects of trauma or believe they are to blame, and it can take years for them to even identify what happened as abuse. In one German study, the average age of disclosure was 52. Despite that, some states in the United States gave victims only two or three years after reaching the age of 18 to seek criminal action.

The Catholic church child abuse scandal in the early 2000s drove most states to change their statute of limitation laws, extending the time those abused as children had to come forward. More recently, a wave of reports like one in Pennsylvania that found more than 1,000 child victims of Catholic priests has renewed a push to allow more time.

Last year, Michigan extended its statute to 15 years after the victim turns 18, and this year New York extended it from age 23 to 28 and gave victims even longer to file civil suits. Marci Hamilton, a child sex abuse expert at the University of Pennsylvania, said a record 34 states are considering changes to the statute of limitations this year.

Is the Jackson case typical of what usually happens?

Legal experts cautioned that in every case, there is much that remains hidden to the public, for reasons that include the privacy of the victims. So it would be unwise to make too many comparisons. But a revered musician would be in an exceptionally strong position to achieve what many abusers strive for: the trust of their communities and the benefit of the doubt.

[Read the history of sexual abuse allegations against Michael Jackson.]

What is child sex abuse and how does it start?

Child sex abuse occurs when a person uses power to engage a child in sexual activity.

Abusers target children who both fit their preferences and are vulnerable. They may work to ingratiate themselves with their victims, positioning themselves as special or irreplaceable in the child’s life and only gradually introducing sexual contact. The fact that they do not abuse all children they come in contact with only serves to give them more cover.

Traditionally this process has been referred to as grooming, but Chris Newlin, the executive director of the National Child Advocacy Center, prefers to call it manipulation. It makes appropriate boundaries very hard to detect.

“Offenders make children like them. If I like you, you’re 98 percent good — it’s just that two percent of the time,” Mr. Newlin said. “This is why children have trouble disclosing when it’s a family member. Because they like them.”

Mr. Newlin also said that not all abuse is violent or physically painful, which would make it harder for children to distinguish it as abuse.

“The other part about sexual abuse — this sounds gross — is, most of it is gentle and tender,” he said. “It feels good sometimes. It doesn’t hurt. It’s not as scary as a violent rape. And that’s super-confusing for kids.”

How could the parents not know?

By the same token, Mr. Newlin said, abusers begin by manipulating their community and, particularly, parents. “Before they’re ever really engaging the child in that situation, they’ve been manipulating the parents into thinking they’re trustworthy and safe. And manipulating the environment: ‘There’s no way Chris did something, I’ve known Chris for 20 years, he’s a great guy.’”

Experts generally agree that there is no uniform set of symptoms or signs that a child is being abused, nor is there a profile that fits every abuser. Even those familiar with the dynamics of sexual abuse can miss it.

So what can parents do? Don’t shy away from the subject. Children with supportive parents are more likely to report abuse, Mr. Newlin said: “Open conversation, open dialogue about this is really important.”

Are most children abused by authority figures or strangers?

“Stranger danger” warnings aside, when it comes to child victims, more than 90 percent are sexually assaulted by someone they know — which makes sense, because those are the adults who generally have access to children. In about a third of such cases, the perpetrator was a family member, according to F.B.I. data, and in another 58 percent it was an acquaintance — a category that includes teachers, foster parents, neighbors and day care employees.

Why might a child deny the abuse when asked?

The research, though sparse, seems fairly clear on a couple of points: most children do not disclose abuse, and sexual abuse is difficult to detect.

Abusers may instill in their victim a sense of shared responsibility for what has taken place, imply that the abuse is the child’s fault, warn them of the importance of secrecy, overtly threaten them or undermine the child’s credibility by forging alliances with other adults in the child’s life.

What does it take to prosecute a child sex abuse case?

“It’s a challenge, but it’s not an insurmountable challenge,” said Melissa Jampol, a former sex crimes prosecutor in Manhattan who now serves on an expert committee examining the case of Larry Nassar, who was convicted of molesting the young gymnasts he treated as specialist in sports medicine. “There’s been a sea change since the #MeToo movement started in terms of the way people view victims of these crimes.”

Many cases, especially those that happened long ago, will come down to the credibility of the victim, though prosecutors must seek any corroboration they can find. And even with changes, the statute of limitations will bar many prosecutions, since such changes cannot be made retroactive in criminal cases.

That will push much of the legal action into the arena of civil lawsuits. Some states have opened limited “windows” during which victims can sue even if their case is outside the civil statute of limitations. For example, last year Michigan gave victims of Mr. Nassar a 90-day window to file civil suits.