My daughter was assaulted by her uncle two years ago. Our happy, innocent girl became a a broken shell. We wanted the man punished. Then the police told us that to get justice, she'd have to go through a terrible experience...

In WV, kids have to testify in the same courtroom, at the same time, as their abuser.   Our daughter would have to testify while her abuser sat a few feet away from her.  She was already so traumatized, we couldn't do that to her. So we didn't press charges. Her uncle got away with it and went on with his life. But our daughter has spent the last two years in therapy because of what he did.

Help us stop this.

Allow children to give their testimony separately in a separate court room away from their abuser. The courts could use a system like Skype so that the defense lawyers could question the victim without the child having to be in the same room as the man/woman who abused them.

This would allow us to protect the rights of the accused without traumatizing the child all over again.

Until we stop making victims sit in court with their abuser, victims will be too afraid to testify and sexual predators will keep getting away with it.

Note: I  am not giving my name to protect my daughter's privacy.