Only a small percentage of suspected crimes against children are prosecuted in Virginia, and very few of those cases result in meaningful prison sentences, a child advocacy group says in a new report.
The National Association to PROTECT Children sent the report this week to members of two legislative committees that will meet today to interview judges who are up for reappointment. The 2012 Report on Virginia Judicial Performance said three of the seven circuit court judges who will appear before the House and Senate Courts of Justice Committees “show troubling and potentially dangerous patterns of sentencing on crimes against children.”
But the report suggests the problems extend well beyond those judges, in part because of lax sentencing guidelines — including one that treats child sex abusers lighter if the victim is their own child — and the extensive use of plea bargaining.
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According to the organization’s data, more than 66,000 suspected incidents of child abuse were reported to social services agencies in the last fiscal year. More than half were accepted, more than 10,000 were investigated, and just over 4,000 those complaints ultimately were labeled “founded.”
Results varied widely. For example, the percentage of referrals accepted ranged from 35 percent in Chesterfield County to 94 percent in Washington County, and the percentage of founded cases of child abuse ranged from 16 percent of those investigated in Chesapeake to 66 percent in Rockingham County.
“We shouldn’t have this kind of disparity and differences in accepted cases,” said Camille Cooper, director of legislative affairs for PROTECT.
The report singled out the practices of Judges Isaac St. Clair Freeman of Smyth County, Junius P. Fulton III of Norfolk and William R. O’Brien of Virginia Beach. It said they imposed effective sentences of no time behind bars for defendants convicted of indecent liberties with a minor, and Fulton and Freeman gave no jail time in cases of aggravated sexual battery of a victim under 13 and aggravated sexual battery of an incapacitated person. None of the three immediately returned telephone messages seeking comment.
