We would all like to think that when something bad happens to someone that the justice system is just sitting there waiting to respond at a moment’s notice.  Well this isn’t the fire department.   And if you think that Special Victim’s Unit wrapping up a case on 60 minutes has any bearing on reality, you would be disappointed.  The crimes may be the same, but the timelines are quite a bit different.  At one point the time for a child sexual assault case to come to trial in New Haven Connecticut was 10 years.  I suppose we should consider ourselves fortunate with only 4 years.

What’s Real

The reality is that courts are over capacity and in today’s economy, there just isn’t enough money to prosecute.  One of the things we found was that 5 of the courts in Connecticut did not have victims advocates despite being mandated by state statutes.  When we pushed the issue we were told by the Office of Victim Services that unless we could prove that our civil rights were being violated, they could’t do anything about it.  We eventually got one after about a year and a half, but this is just one of the ways economics affects the abuse process.

In the normal course of budget shortfalls you will routinely see positions go unfilled for as long as people can stand the inconvenience.  With today’s economy, things are a little different.   In Topeka Kansas the county has elected to no longer prosecute misdemeanor crime.  4th degree child sexual assault and risk of injury of a minor generally fall into this area.  In addition to pushing these cases off the books the city council is considering “repealing the part of the code that bans domestic abuse” .  What an easier way to reduce the cost of fighting crime.   Eliminate the activity as a crime and then you don’t have to prosecute it.

If You Don’t Like the Answer…

In Hartford, CT the schools started asking children if they had been sexually abused.  The system couldn’t handle the number of cases.  So what did they do?  They stopped asking the question.   Several years ago I spoke before a state senate panel regarding child sexual abuse.  During the session I directed a question to the Commissioner of the Department of Children and Families and was told “if the child is safe in their home, we can’t help you”.  I’m paraphrasing, and I don’t mean for it to sound cold, it’s just how things are setup.  And I actually worked for the Department of Children and Families at the time.  Organizationally, if you aren’t arrested or in foster care your service choices are limited.

So where does that leave us in a time when state and local budgets are being cut back to the bare bones?  First advocate for your child in whatever systems you have available to you.  Second educate yourself to help your child through whatever challenges they are likely to face in their lifetime.   And third try to find a success path for your child that is not dependent on government services or the outcome of a trial.  The cavalry isn’t always going to come to the rescue.   Even when they do, that isn’t always the key to long term success.  Ultimately the tools are within you and your child.  You just need to find them and figure out the right path.  And what’s the cost of that…priceless!

Let us know if we can help you dealing with your family’s sexual abuse victim situation. For ideas to get started please check out our book on what to do during the early days after disclosure.