This resource explores the unique challenges of prosecuting clergy who sexually abuse children, including religious grooming tactics, spiritual trauma, and community dynamics. Using a detailed case study, it offers practical trial strategies and guidance for prosecutors and MDT professionals.
The article examines grooming patterns in adolescent sexual abuse, analyzing how perpetrators exploit emotional bonds to maintain control. It details five grooming stages and warning signs, explores cultural factors, and explains why teens often struggle to identify abuse due to emotional manipulation and consent confusion. These insights help professionals detect abuse and support victims.
This article explores how prosecutors can navigate the Supreme Court’s Counterman decision by leveraging digital evidence and comprehensive investigative strategies to prove a defendant’s awareness of their threatening communications.
This essential guide presents seven key prosecutorial themes for child abuse cases, providing prosecutors with practical strategies to build compelling narratives that resonate with juries while advancing justice for victims.
In July 2021, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court vacated the conviction of William Henry Cosby. The prosecutor who pursued the criminal case that resulted in that conviction made a difficult but necessary decision to pursue justice for the victims. Every day, prosecutors are required to make complex decisions that require a careful balance of law, advocacy and ethics.
This comprehensive guide examines how parentification and adultification biases can affect child abuse investigations, highlighting how children who appear more “adult-like” – whether due to circumstances or racial/cultural stereotypes – may have their abuse disclosures taken less seriously or face additional barriers in receiving appropriate support and protection.
This publication explores how digital evidence can be leveraged to build strong cases in non-stranger sexual assault investigations, particularly when eyewitnesses are absent. It offers practical guidance for prosecutors and law enforcement on identifying, preserving, and utilizing digital evidence to corroborate survivors’ accounts and address key questions about events, consent, and consciousness.
The guide helps prosecutors sensitively and professionally inform crime survivors when charges won’t be filed, while providing resources and maintaining dignity throughout the process.
Seen as an emerging ethical dilemma, this paper addresses the options for forensic interviewers who may be asked to interview transgender children whose caregivers are supportive of their gender-affirming care.
This publication explores best practices in child maltreatment evidence collection, alongside highlighting new considerations for child abuse evidence recognition and investigative collaboration.
This publication is a practical companion to our treatise on Child Statement and Forensic Interview Admissibility. The publication synthesizes case law, state statutes, and hearsay exceptions, into 11 basic strategies for prosecutors to admit forensic interviews and child statements into evidence.
This new publication explores the nuanced techniques necessary for cross-examination in child abuse cases. The guide provides 22 techniques split into four categories ranging from fundamental to advanced tactics. Each technique includes sample lines of questioning for easy adaptation by frontline prosecutors.
This scholarly publication will discuss how trauma informed care provides a framework for the use of child sexual abuse materials during a forensic interview. It further assists forensic interviewers in identifying alternatives to this potentially harmful practice.
As court cases increasingly involve the use of digital evidence, the demand for experts who can evaluate how that evidence was collected and analyzed—and then explain that process to the court— has also grown. This article provides attorneys with a baseline understanding to help them better assess potential digital forensic experts.
This new publication from Zero Abuse Project discusses best practice and different modalities for conducting forensic interviews. We can no longer only consider single, traditional forensic interviews as best practice. The article will discuss three different options for conducting purposeful and legally defensible interviews, specifically follow-up interviews.
Trial exhibits can tell a story, compare and contrast, persuade, and help jurors reach judgments. This paper is how trial lawyers can show in order to tell.
The article provides practical tips for cross examining a defense expert called to critique the quality of a forensic interview. The importance of using the direct examination of the forensic interviewer to set up the eventual cross examination of the defense expert is also discussed.
“Interviewing Lucas” is a case-study on polyvictimization that examines the importance of screening for all forms of maltreatment during child forensic interviews and highlights the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to allegations of child maltreatment.
This article explores the research on the sexual abuse of boys and offers concrete suggestions for conducting forensic interviews with these children, investigating crimes against boys, and presenting these cases to a jury.
This article provides 7 advanced strategies for prosecutors, as well as guidance for dealing with cloud providers and other stakeholders. Zero Abuse Project developed this article to serve as a reference for prosecutors and investigators facing challenges when working cases involving remotely stored data.
This article provides 8 introductory considerations for prosecutors, and addresses the complexity and challenges faced when working cases involving remotely stored and encrypted data. It also explores investigative procedures and legal process best practices when obtaining electronic evidence.
Prosecutors handling cases involving children with disabilities must be prepared to serve and advocate for individual child victims’ unique physical, cognitive, and/or emotional needs. This guide will address each of these components of the prosecution, and conclude with sample motions to implement recommendations.
This article offers factors to consider when forensic interviewers and child abuse multidisciplinary team (MDT) members are preparing the forensic interview and MDT process for children with disabilities.
Even though signed search warrants are legally binding court orders, Big Tech still may not comply. This guide acknowledges common privacy concerns that make data more difficult for the government to obtain, and lays out six strategies for prosecutors confronting objections from electronic service providers.
Seeking to introduce a forensic interview is not an ancillary matter in child abuse prosecution. In many cases, it is the most critical, persuasive piece of evidence for the jury’s consideration. This guide will equip entry level prosecutors with an understanding of relevant admissibility law in their jurisdiction, and encourage seasoned prosecutors to take a fresh look at the several viable options for forensic interview admissibility.
Zero Abuse Project is a 501(c)(3) organization committed to the elimination of child sexual abuse. Our programs are designed to provide training and education to professionals and students, and to help transform institutions to effectively prevent, recognize, and respond to child sexual abuse.
