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Qualitative interviews reveal survivors' emotional impacts of seeing perpetrators in court, suggesting complex psychological effects.
Jurisdictions throughout the USA have begun addressing backlogs of previously untested sexual assault kits. Based on new forensic DNA testing, decades-old cold cases are now being re-opened, and survivors are being asked to assist in the prosecution of both stranger- and nonstranger-perpetrated sexual assaults. We qualitatively interviewed N = 32 sexual assault survivors who participated in cold case prosecutions. We conducted a thematic analysis of survivors' narratives regarding how seeing their perpetrators in court years later affected them. This experience had layered meanings for participants, with themes emerging around the concepts of identification, re-experiencing, and intimidation.
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Campbell et al. (2026) studied this question.
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