The Children's Corner
| Publication year | 2013 |
| Pages | 27 |
| Citation | Vol. 39 No. 3 Pg. 27 |
Fall, 2013
PROTECTING CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES REQUIRES SYSTEMIC CHANGE IN OUR LEGAL SYSTEM
Christina Rainville, Esq.
The Bennington County State's Attor-ney's Office began prosecuting sexual abuse cases for children with disabilities six years ago on a promise to an eight year-old girl who had been repeatedly sexually assaulted by multiple abusers but could not speak about it. We promised her we would prosecute her case and put her offender in jail so she would feel safe, and we moved forward despite the challenges caused by her communications disability. Six years later, what was, at best, a hopeful experiment on behalf of one little girl has become a determined commitment to all our disabled children, and to our community as a whole.
Studies all over the world show that children with disabilities are at greatly increased risk of sexual and physical abuse. Last summer, the World Health Organization reported that children with disabilities are 3.6 times more likely to be victims of physical violence than their non-disabled peers and 2.9 times more likely to be victims of sexual violence.[1] Our numbers in Bennington County follow that trend: well over 50% of our child sexual abuse cases involve child-victims with disabilities, and nearly 100% of our male sexual abuse victims are disabled. Disabilities that affect the child's ability to report—like autism, intellectual disability, deafness and other communications disabilities—top the list.
Prosecuting cases for children with disabilities poses unique challenges, but we have learned the disabilities the children were born with are just the beginning of the difficulty. The overwhelming majority of our sexual assault victims develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which is a disabling neurological response to trauma. PTSD makes trying these cases extremely difficult, as many children simply cannot appear in court.
In addition, a large percentage of our child-victims who are removed from their homes due to physical/sexual abuse and are placed in foster care develop Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD), which is another disabling neurological response to trauma. RAD makes a child unable to have normal attachments to caregivers, and makes the child especially difficult to work with for the lawyers.
By the time we get to trial, it is common for us to be working with a child who has an underlying disability, and, on top of that, has developed full-blown PTSD and RAD. The efforts required to support these I children through the court process can be overwhelming.
Historical Failure to Prosecute Only Leads to More Victims
We have seen, unfortunately, what happens when these cases are not prosecuted.
We have one case now where a man in his forties was accused of sexually assaulting four vulnerable teenage boys in the 1990s. The boys all had significant learning disabilities. The defendant gave alcohol to two of his victims until they passed out in his car, and they both woke up to being sexually assaulted. Two other similar reports came in around the same time, with two more boys. The defendant was charged for the assault on only one of the four boys. He was then allowed to plead nolo contendere—not even guilty—to a misdemeanor lewd act. He never spent a single day in jail.
The four victims never had their day in court, and they suffered immeasurably. One of his victims committed suicide. Another became addicted to drugs and has been in and out of jail ever since.
The new case is much like the four cases in the 1990s. The defendant, now sixty years old, was charged with repeatedly sexually assaulting a fourteen year-old boy in his car. This boy, like the others, has significant learning disabilities. And now, he has also developed a terrible case of PTSD. His suffering is immeasurable.
The most tragic thing is that it never should have...
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