Prosecutorial Practices, Child Maltreatment

The abuse or neglect of a child can lead to intervention of the courts in many different methods. Such allegations can cause the child to be removed from parents and placed in foster care, can have consequences in divorce or child custody proceedings, and can lead to a civil suit by the child seeking monetary damages against his or her abuser. The abuser can also be sent to prison for his or her actions. In this situation, there is a criminal prosecution of the alleged act(s) of child abuse.

Most criminal prosecutions occur at the state level. Each state has its own set of laws that define criminal child abuse and its own set of legal rules it follows. What is illegal in one state may not be illegal in another. The rules and procedures of a criminal prosecution may differ from state to state. Although certain standards and various rights apply to all criminal prosecutions, local practice, often influenced by local philosophy, dictates how cases are investigated and prosecuted.

Generally, a criminal prosecution begins with an investigation by the police. Police will attempt to interview all the witnesses, try to collect evidence, and will direct the investigation. The child witness is usually the key witness. In some jurisdictions, the child is interviewed by police officers; others use specially training child interview specialists. There are approximately 400 jurisdictions that use child advocacy centers as the focal point of their investigation. The investigation should also include medical examinations, when appropriate, and the search for forensic and trace evidence and the collecting of collaborative physical and psychological evidence. Every investigation should include an attempt to interview the person accused of the abuse. However, a suspect is not required to talk to police, and frequently the accused will refuse to make any statement. The individual cannot be forced to give a statement.

All of the information that is gathered is typically then provided to the local prosecuting agency. Throughout the country these can have different names: prosecuting attorney, attorney general, district attorney are common terms that are used in different places in the United States.

Before someone is charged with a crime, the investigation is reviewed by that prosecuting authority. The prosecutor may choose to interview witnesses him- or herself. In time a decision is made as to whether there appears to be enough evidence to prove that a crime was committed and that the accused is the person who committed it.

The prosecutor must also consider what evidence is available to be presented to a jury. Just because the police gathered the evidence, does not mean that the jury will ultimately hear that evidence. Almost every state has codified rules of evidence. Generally there are about 50-70 rules of evidence. Every piece of evidence that is presented to a jury must be filtered through each of those rules.

Some of these rules prevent the jury from learning evidence that might be very influential to their decision making, such as whether the accused has engaged in this type of alleged conduct before. Most state rules of evidence prohibit a jury from hearing that evidence under the concern that it would be too prejudicial as to whether the individual engaged in the conduct in this particular case.

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