Facilitating Children's Testimony: Closed Circuit Television (Part 1‪)‬

CHILD ABUSE INJURES AND DESTROYS children and scars communities. The Bureau of Justice Statistics concluded that the younger the person, the more likely he of she is to experience a violent crime. (2) In 2006, 3.3. million referrals involving the alleged maltreatment of 6 million children were reported for investigation of abuse and neglect, and approximately 905,600 of those children involved cases of substantiated abuse. (3) It is essential prosecutors put children first in making charging and trial decisions. The use of closed circuit television enables prosecutots to protect both the trial record and the child victim of abuse. With the aid of closed circuit television, prosecutors are often able to secure justice for child victims who might otherwise be unable to testify in a court proceeding. Currently, 46 states and three United States territories (Guarn, (4) Virgin Islands, (5) Puerto Rico (6)) allow for the use of closed circuit television or other alternative means for a child to testify without appearing in court. (7) The District of Columbia, Maine, North Dakota, and North Carolina currently do not have statutory authority for the use of closed circuit television for a child's testimony. North Carolina has case law that could be used to argue for the use of closed circuit television for a child's testimony. (8)