Confronting the challenge of child sexual exploitation
How does one go about investigating and prosecuting perpetrators for some of the most horrific types of offenses – those against innocent children? That is precisely the skills that area investigators and prosecutors have the opportunity to hone in May, thanks to a ‘free’ intensive three-day seminar by the National Law Center for Children & Families and being hosted by theSafe Harbor Child Advocacy Center. Sexually-related crimes against children can be some of the most daunting to investigate and prosecute but, still yet, all victims, especially children, deserve justice.
And, for these reasons, Safe Harbor has worked for months with the National Law Center (NLC) to bring this national training curriculum to our area, the first time it has ever been offered in Tennessee and, more specifically, in East Tennessee.
“We are very excited about the opportunity to host the NLC and its staff in our district”, says Barry Fain, a founding member and President of Safe Harbor’s Board of Directors. “NLC has served as an agent of change and education for years in the area of child sexual exploitation, advocating for laws and law enforcement agencies across the nation. And, we are certainly grateful for their willingness to join us here in East Tennessee”, adds Donna Koester, also a founding member and Executive Director for Safe Harbor.
NLC is a non-profit law center formed in 1991. TheNational Law Center has played a major role in congressional efforts to strengthen protections for children and families against pornographers who exploit computer technology. NLC attorneys advised the sponsors of nearly all major bills of the last 15 years, including the Communications Decency Act of 1996, Child Pornography Prevention Act of 1996, Child Online Protection Act of 1998, Children’s Internet Protection Act of 2000, Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, and PROTECT Act of 2003, and assists on child sexual exploitation and obscenity-related legislation on the state and federal level. NLC staff members have also been called as witnesses before congressional committees.
“Barry was able to work closely with some of NLC’s associate counsel, Keely Knipling and Tiffany Richards, to design the curriculum for this rigorous three-day seminar”, notes Koester. “Some topics will have breakout sessions specific to participants’ individual roles as either investigator or prosecutor, to give them insight into their unique aspects of a child exploitation case. Other topics will be joint sessions to further the team approach for successful investigation and prosecution of child sexual exploitation cases”, adds Fain.
Investigators and prosecutors will whet their skills in areas including, but not limited to: Obscenity investigation and prosecution; Child pornography investigation and prosecution; Internet forensics for obscenity and child pornography; On-line enticement; Identifying trafficking; Child victim/witness interviews; Basic computer forensics; The Adam Walsh Child Protection & Safety Act of 2006; and Various other child sexual exploitation issues.
“We’ve had a solid response from law enforcement agencies in our district”, adds Fain. “We hope that area prosecutors are able to find time to register for this seminar and take advantage of this unique training opportunity. It is filling up very fast. In just over a week’s time, we were at about 50 registered participants, roughly half of our total number for the seminar. I suspect that, in about another week, we will be at capacity and closing enrollment, except for a standby list, if someone has to withdraw their registration for unforeseen reasons.”Not only has this nationally recognized seminar been brought to our area free-of-charge, law enforcement and prosecutors will likely have the opportunity to receive credit for annual training requirements they must fulfill. NLC has submitted the seminar curriculum to the Police Officer Standards and Training (POST) Commission and the Tennessee Commission on Continuing Legal Education (CLE) and Specialization for training credit for investigators and prosecutors, respectively.
Safe Harbor Child Advocacy Center is a non-profit organization serving child-victims of sexual abuse and other forms of severe abuse and neglect in Tennessee’s Fourth Judicial District. To learn more about their efforts to serve child-victims in Jefferson, Cocke, Grainger, and Sevier counties, visit their website at www.SafeHarborCAC.com or call their offices toll-free at (866) 774-1778. “It should never hurt to be a child”, concludes Koester. “Everyone can help make the lives of innocent child-victims better with their time, talents and/or money. We all have something to offer, even if we don’t immediately realize it
May 29, 2007 at 5:47 pm
Thanks for getting the training through the NLC set up. The training was very informative and covered many aspects that had not been covered at any of the trainings that I had gone to previously.
Thanks Again!