Sex Crimes include, but are not limited to: Child Pornography, Child Molestation, Indecent Exposure, Rape, and Sexual Assault. All carry serious penalties of imprisonment, lifetime registration as a sex offender, and the scorn of the community and loss of reputation.
Child molest charges in 2012 San Diego County are one of the most, if not the most, difficult charges to defend against. The number of false accusations of sexual abuse is on the rise. Law enforcement, prosecutors, and child advocates tend to rubberstamp the child’s accusations of molest as true. The child is usually questioned in a suggestive, reaffirming environment, without regard for the founding principles of “proof beyond a reasonable doubt” and “innocent until proven guilty.” Most juries have a difficult time accepting that children, or most alleged sexual assault victims for that matter, would lie about something so serious. Defense attorneys are sometimes hard-pressed in finding the motives behind why an alleged victim would lie.
Clinical observations, such as “Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome (CSAAS),” are presented to the jury in hopes of explaining anything and everything which doesn’t seem consistent with someone who was actually harmed. It is a situation of “if this happened, that means the child was molested. But, on the other hand, if the complete opposite reaction was present, that also means the child was molested.” CSAAS has become elevated as gospel by the prosecutors and their witnesses, yet denounced as pseudoscience by defense attorneys and others.
