Florida Senators Lizbeth Benacquisto and Wilton Simpson sponsored Senate Bill 542 relating to interception of wire, oral, or electronic communication. The addition to Florida statutes to take effect July 1 this year to paraphrase says children under 18 may secretly record someone else committing or threatening to commit violence against them. As the law stands now, Keith Ann Campbell, executive director of Santa Rosa Kids’ House (SRKH), said many abuse cases come down to the victim’s word against the accused. She spoke on this issue and how SRKH helps the county’s youngest abuse victims.
SRKH, Campbell said, handles all the investigation and prosecution of child neglect and abuse cases in Santa Rosa County. The vast majority of child abuse cases are the child telling his or her story Campbell said. When children have to repeat their story several times for different authorities, they sometimes change and so lose credibility according to Campbell.
Another facet of recorded conversations, video depositions, Campbell said would greatly assist in child abuse prosecution. In a recent lost case, a child locked up in court and didn’t give her damming statement, Campbell said, an example of when a submitted statement could have changed a case’s outcome, and also kept a child from repeating the traumatic story in open court.
While Campbell said Santa Rosa County sees less cyber crime than other areas, she said SRKH is in the middle of working a case involving a confiscated phone. She said SRKH provided the victim another phone in the meantime. If the Benacquisto bill becomes law, Campbell said SRKH would definitely help victims with secret recordings should a case require such. She said SRKH has access to several grants and funding sources related for technological items.
Before the SRKH opened in 2008, children routinely had to tell their stories to the doctor first if brought to the hospital, then to a detective, a Department of Children and Families investigator, and the state attorney. With all of these entities operating out of SRKH now, according to Campbell, victims have a less threatening environment to tell their story and need not do so several times in different places. At the time, Campbell said an abuse case “was really difficult to prove [and] often not taken to trial.” Since SRKH opened, Campbell said the prosecution rate in abuse and neglect cases has doubled holding today at 98 percent.
Now SRKH has nurses and investigators on call and victims are welcome around the clock, Campbell said. The facility also has an inviting medical examination room, and an interview room with a camera for depositions.
Funded originally by Mary and Howard Burris in 2005, with continual support by the Burris family, Campbell said SRKH’s case load grew from 12 cases in 2013 to 34 cases last year.
According to Campbell, In 2014, the Department of Children and Families investigated over 1,600 cases of child abuse (physical abuse, sexual abuse and neglect). In addition, the Santa Rosa Sheriff's Office investigated 122 sexual offenses against juveniles, 12 internet crimes against juveniles, and 57 child abuse and neglect cases. There were 34 cases open for prosecution at the end of 2014. SRKH conducted 92 forensic interviews and 78 medical exams.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Santa Rosa Kids’ House boosts child abuse prosecution