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.
A place for buyers and sellers turned out to be more than a family bargained for after an Indianapolis man began messaging a 12-year-old girl. “What is scary is just how fast the communication moves between the child and the offender from something innocent to something much more sinister,” said Kristina Karabov, a senior attorney with Zero Abuse Project.
An alumni group representing students from Hillcrest School in Jos, Nigeria announced that eight Christian organizations have agreed to help fund an investigation into allegations of sexual abuse. Zero Abuse Project will conduct the investigation and promised to consider allegations dating back to the school’s founding.
The former owners of a downtown Minneapolis hotel are being sued in a lawsuit brought by attorney and Zero Abuse Project founder Jeff Anderson for allegedly letting former GOP donor Anton “Tony” Lazzaro sex-traffic underage girls at his condominium inside the hotel.
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.
“A through line in the arc of my career and my life so far is a drive to ease the suffering caused by trauma, to ensure that survivors of that trauma are believed, validated, and never have to walk alone.” Zero Abuse Project’s Survivor Support Specialist shares her moving story of survival and resilience.
In the Fall 2024 CAST Quarterly Newsletter, explore our new program trailer, preview the upcoming Faith-Based Toolkit, catch highlights from our Virtual Seminar, and discover how you can help shape CAST’s future through our annual program survey.
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, head of the Church of England and spiritual leader of the global Anglican Communion, resigned Tuesday after an investigation found that he failed to tell police about serial physical and sexual abuse by a volunteer at Christian summer camps as soon as he became aware of it.
“Thirty-five years ago on this day—October 22—our 11-year-old son Jacob was stolen from us and our lives changed forever.” In the years after Jacob’s disappearance, his mother, Patty Wetterling, helped found the Jacob Wetterling Resource Center, which provides victim assistance to families of missing children and adults, as well as educates families and communities to prevent the abductions and sexual exploitations of children.
Many states have laws designed to keep children away from convicted sexual offenders on Halloween night, such as curfews for those on offender registries and requirements to keep their porch lights off. But a Missouri law mandating a sign at the offender’s home was a step too far, a judge ruled. “These public signs may give a false sense of security to families while not actually preventing child abuse,” said Alison Feigh, Director of Jacob Wetterling Resource Center.
National Coalition to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse & Exploitation, a partner of Zero Abuse Project, highlights the exciting new programs we’re launching this fall, and the important work being done in the field right now.
A coach in Kokomo, IN is accused of having sex with one of his players. This comes three months after a former teacher from the same school was charged with a child sex crime. “For most offenders, grooming looks like getting to know a child,” says Zero Abuse Project and Trauma-informed Prosecutor Project Senior Attorney, Kristina Korobov, in a recent story about a school coach accused of an inappropriate relationship with a student. “Figuring out what their wants and what their needs are for attention, affection, or appreciation…and then they just start to push those boundaries of the child.”
Zero Abuse Project announced the opening of The Center for Faith and Child Protection (CFCP), a new program designed to transform and empower faith communities to respond to cases of child abuse in a trauma-informed manner.
Child grooming is a pervasive yet rarely discussed topic in our society. Through her personal experience and collected research, Julia Teves demonstrates the urgent need for awareness education and policy change as the first line of defense against predators in this TED Talk.
The FBI has continued to mishandle allegations of child sexual abuse in the years after the bureau’s notorious bungling of the investigation into disgraced USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar, according to an audit by the Justice Department’s inspector general released Thursday.
An IMPD sergeant has been arrested on 12 counts of child exploitation after Zero Abuse Project’s Internet Crimes Against Children received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploitation Children. Kristina Korobov, senior attorney with the Zero Abuse Project, said this kind of crime can happen in any profession and that there isn’t a type. “It is truly a crime that has no borders. It’s a crime that knows no limits. Really, an offender can be in any profession. It’s always concerning when that person is in a position of trust, though,” Korobov said.
A Zebulon, North Carolina couple faces child abuse charges after their 4-month-old baby was found to have 10 broken ribs. “This kind of abuse happens behind closed doors so it’s not often seen by the community,” said Alison Feigh, Director of Jacob Wetterling Resource Center, a program of Zero Abuse Project.
Around the Twin Cities, photos of missing people are being featured on billboards with the hope that they could shake loose new information and remind the public that their families are still waiting for answers. “When families have been waiting for answers for 20 years, 30 years, sometimes people ask, ‘Why are they still pushing? Why are they still asking?’”
James Morris, son of the Gateway Church senior pastor and founder Robert Morris (pictured) who has been accused of sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl, has resigned from his position to succeed his father. In comments, Center for Faith & Child Protection director Victor Vieth says there is no quick-fix to the problem, and that congregants are at a “significant risk to be spiritually wounded and perhaps leave the church or even abandon their faith altogether.”
The volume of sexually explicit images of children being generated by predators using artificial intelligence is overwhelming law enforcement’s capabilities to identify and rescue real-life victims. “It’s going to require more human moderators to be looking at images or to be going into chat rooms and other servers where people are trading this material and seeing what’s out there rather than relying on automated systems to do it,” said Kristina Korobov, Senior Attorney with Zero Abuse Project.
After a four-year legal battle, Gateway Church agreed to settle a second lawsuit alleging child sexual assault carried out by one child on another. “The behavior thrives when we don’t shine a light on the fact that it could happen,” said Alison Feigh, Director of Jacob Wetterling Resource Center.
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.
