Child abuse cases in Sullivan County, Tennessee hit record totals in 2003

Monday, January 12, 2004

By BECKY CAMPBELL

BLOUNTVILLE - While the number of child sexual abuse cases reported to authorities in Sullivan County was down in 2003, the number of physical abuse cases went up, giving the county a record high number of overall abuse cases to investigate, according to a year-end report by the District Attorney General's Office.

In totality, the county's two Child Protective Investigative Teams (CPIT) reviewed 450 cases last year -243 were not validated, 43 were resolved with action other than prosecution, 63 are still pending and under investigation, and 101 were prosecuted.

Since the Children's Advocacy Center of Sullivan County began in 1987, the number of referrals - or reported cases of abuse - has increased from 290 to 450.

Likewise, the number of substantiated and prosecuted cases has increased from 25 cases prosecuted in 1987 to 101 last year. Staubus said the difference in reported and prosecuted cases - 101 versus 450 last year - is not really an issue.

"Some cases are not founded. Some we can't build the case or gather the evidence necessary to prosecute.

"A child has to be a certain age to be competent to testify and sometimes unable to get the forensic evidence we need," he said. "In other cases, we provide alternative services, particularly in physical cases where a parent or caregiver may strike a child.

"In some of those cases we decide not to prosecute in lieu of other types of prevention services," he said.

All reported cases are investigated by one of two CPITs which are comprised of law enforcement, prosecutors, physicians, mental health providers and state child protective services.

Barry Staubus, one of two assistant district attorneys assigned to the CPIT, said various things affect the number of reported cases each year.

"I don't know why they're up this particular year, but the trend has been an increase in cases," (year to year), Staubus said.

Some reasons for more cases could be that Advocacy Center employees who are well-trained are able to develop better cases, the center's done a good job at educating the public to report cases, people are more willing to report cases, and changes in society have made children more vulnerable and more accessible to abusers.

Kathy Fields, executive director of the Advocacy Center, said she doesn't believe there's necessarily more abuse occurring, but people are continuing to be more educated about reporting it.

"Truly, I think it is more awareness. We spent a lot of time this year on educating the public. The (CPIT) team itself was out more helping us with that and participated with the schools more," Fields said.

"With that - and I think people know now what they need to do - I don't think it's necessarily an increase, but people know the avenues they need to go through to report," Fields said.

She said in 2003, the center presented more than 200 child sexual and physical prevention programs to 13,549 people in "schools or we were out talking to them at churches, fairs and civic clubs.

"I do think education continues to be the big plus for us. We're getting better at that and reaching more people.

"When you couple that with the way we're facilitating the multidisciplinary team, that helps the prosecutor do their job more effectively."

Another trend in abuse cases, according to Staubus, is the increased number of Internet-related sexual abuse crimes.

"With the Internet, the explosion of pornography, we're going to see more violations of the law involving materials that depict children involved in sexual behavior," he said.

"It's not unusual to prosecute someone who molests children and find that they possess or have a real interest in child pornographic materials. "Often individuals who obtain these materials on the Internet are consumed with having sexual contact with children," he said.

The District Attorney's Office prepares the report each year as an update for the state legislature. Staubus said all DA offices are required to submit a report.

2003 Kingsport Times-News.

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