Years ago, when I was a prosecutor, I tried a case of sexual assault on two young girls, aged nine and eleven.  A live-in boyfriend of their mother was accused—he denied everything.  We had problems at the trial, but now there is help for sexual assault victims.

At the trial, the girls, in front of a court room of adults, testified about the sexual assault acts the defendant had done to them.  They testified truthfully and well.  I was sure we could convict the accused.

Unfortunately, the jury came back with eleven votes to convict and one for not guilty—a hung jury.  Which meant we had to retry the entire case.  At the second trial, the young girls identified the perpetrator but froze and couldn’t describe the man’s acts that constituted sexual assault.  The jury came back with a Not Guilty.

Today things have improved to provide new help for sexual assault victims.

One of the most helpful has been services which interview the alleged victims prior to trial.  In Minnesota, where I work, there is a service called Corner House.  When a child, boy or girl, makes an accusation of sexual assault, the police start the investigation.  If they feel the child’s accusations are probably true, a perpetrator is identified.  The next step would be to use Corner House.

The child goes to an interview at Corner House with a parent.  A room that resembles a home living room is set up with sofas and chairs.  A video camera is hidden but able to record the interview.  A trained interviewer conducts a conversation with the child while it’s filmed.

The interviewer knows the facts of the alleged sexual assault and also knows the name of the perpetrator.  The purpose of the interview is to have the child describe what happened and tell who did it to them.  Dolls with male and female genital parts are also used to make it easier for the child to demonstrate what happened.  The dolls are even colored to reflect the victim’s race.

Corner House’s purpose is not to investigate the crime.

Here’s how it could have helped in my trial. At the point the girls testified and couldn’t say the words that technically described the sexual assault acts, I could have stopped the testimony.  Instead I could have played the video of the girl’s interviews at Corner House—where they would have identified the perpetrator and shown the acts he did to them by using the dolls.

The jury, watching the video, would have made their decision—guilty, I’m sure.  Do you know of ways that technology or advances in crime investigation has made it easier for sexual assault victims today?