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Child Victims in Criminal
Prosecutions
Protecting
children remains one of the highest priorities for the United States Department
of Justice. Recognizing the reality that children who have been victimized
are sometimes needed to testify about the abuse perpetrated on them, the
Department of Justice strives to use the resources and tools available to
protect children subjected to the legal system.
Substantial
progress was made to protect the rights and privacy of child victims and
witnesses by the enactment of Title 18, United States Code, Section 3509. This section arms
federal prosecutors with various tools that can be used to lessen
the potential harm occasioned a child when having to relive traumatic
events. Such as:
Alternatives to Courtroom Testimony
Under
certain circumstances, a court may permit a child's testimony to be taken
by a two-way closed circuit television or may permit taking the deposition
of a child victim/witness pre-trial. These provisions protect a child by
not having to physically appear in an intimidating courtroom in front of
potentially numerous people, typically including the perpetrator. See 18 U.S.C.
§3509(b)(1) and (2).
Protecting the Identity of Child Victims/Witnesses
Title 18
U.S.C. §3509(d)(1) provides for the
confidentiality of information about child witnesses. It does this by
mandating 1) that all documents containing the name or any other
identifying information about a child be kept in a secure place and 2)
prohibiting the disclosure of any of those documents. These provisions can,
in part, be complied with by filing documents under seal and/or requesting
a protective order under §3509(d)(2) & (3). In
addition, these mandates are applicable to all law enforcement, government
employees or their agents as well as court personnel, the defendant,
defendant's employees and members of the jury.
Use of Multi-Disciplinary Child Abuse Teams
A multi-disciplinary
team consists of dedicated professional representing many facets of the
government and private sectors including police officers, prosecutors,
medical professionals, caseworkers and therapists. They act in concert to
provide a comprehensive approach to responding to the many needs of
victimized children as well as working to prevent any further trauma to the
victim, for example by minimizing the number of interviews a child is
subjected to. Law enforcement is encouraged to utilize multi-disciplinary
child abuse teams when reasonably available. See 18 U.S.C. §3509(g).
U.S. Department of
Justice, Criminal Division ° Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section
(CEOS)
1400 New York Avenue,
6th Floor ° Washington,
D.C. 20530
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