Why report child abuse if cases will not be prosecuted?
Members of our family were victims of a child abuse homicide case that occurred in St. George two years ago. No charges have been filed in the county because the Washington County Attorney’s Office told our family: “No charges are filed in cases when there are no witnesses to the crime!” We asked, “If someone brought their child into the hospital with injuries consistent with child abuse and there are no witnesses, would you will not file any charges against the child abuser?” Again the answer was if there are no witnesses to the crime then no, they would not prosecute. I called the victims advocate representative with the police department. I asked her how many child abuse homicide cases does St. George have? She stated, “St. George does not have a record of any ‘child abuse homicide’ cases.” This floored me, as our family knows of three within the past two years.
