Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Part I: Searching for justice

Please Note: There are two errors in the series:

First, My father did not serve even one day in jail - he was arrested, booked and arraigned all in the same day and was released on a 1k PR bond.  Secondly, the missing documents were first noticed in 1987 when TWO copies of the official transcript were ordered and BOTH were missing the page that would have explained the plea deal and the relevance of the confessions.

Searching for justice

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Posted: Monday, August 26, 2013 11:00 am | Updated: 10:38 am, Wed Aug 28, 2013.

Note: This is the first in a three-part series detailing the experiences of Owosso-native Lana Lawrence in her quest for answers related to charges brought against her father for abusing her as a child.


For more than three decades, Lana Lawrence has believed that her father got away with years of abusing her physically and sexually.

Now, the Shiawassee County Prosecutor’s Office has admitted that aspects of the 1977 criminal sexual conduct case that left her with emotional scars were “troublesome” and that a first-degree charge, which could have put her father behind bars for life, could have been pursued rather than the fourth-degree charge to which he later pleaded no contest.
Shiawassee County Prosecutor Deana Finnegan reviewed the decades-old case at the request of former Owosso resident Lana Lawrence.
Finnegan recently issued an apology letter to Lawrence on behalf of the prosecutor’s office, in which Finnegan noted several “red flags” in the case, including confessions by Lawrence’s father, Walter Lawrence Sr., that seemed to be ignored.
“Having prosecuted child molestation cases for over 20 years, I can honestly state that your case is one of the most heinous I have ever encountered,” Finnegan wrote in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Argus-Press.
The case began with a report to a school counselor and later revealed multiple alleged rapes and other abuse before finally concluding with a series of inexplicable proceedings in court. In the end, a case that could have resulted in life in prison resulted in no jail time, outside of 38 days the father was held in jail during court proceedings.
Lawrence Sr. was sentenced to two years probation and was ordered to continue therapy.
Finnegan recently said Walter Lawrence Sr. “got away with it.”
In 1977, Walter Lawrence Sr. pleaded to a single count of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct (sexual contact or “fondling”), a misdemeanor punishable by a maximum of two years incarceration. Fourth-degree CSC is the lowest-level CSC charge available.
Lana Lawrence also was ordered by the court to attend therapy and, as a result of probate court hearings, was placed into foster care after her mother and father’s parental rights were terminated. Lawrence said she chose to go into foster care to get away from her father, who also allegedly beat her. In addition, the court placed her under a “no contact” order regarding not only her parents, but her siblings as well.
“I felt as though I was being punished,” she said. “I was the one getting bounced around from foster home to foster home and his life didn’t change.”
Lawrence Sr., now 81, still resides in the city of Owosso. In a phone interview, he would not comment on whether he engaged in forced sexual intercourse with his daughter, but said he was apologetic for “screwing up her life.”
“I do regret it and I want to say I’m sorry. I tried to tell her I’m sorry,” he said, adding he considered the therapy to be a sufficient sentencing.
“I already screwed up one life and if I went to jail I would have messed up more lives,” he said, speaking of his family. “(The therapy) cleared my mind up from wanting to molest.”
The arrest and issuing of charges
The police investigation began after Lana Lawrence disclosed accusations against her father to then-Owosso High School counselor William Black.
According to the police report, Lawrence Sr. was arrested June 21, 1977, by then-trooper Michael Greene on suspicion of first-degree CSC for alleged repeated rapes of Lana Lawrence, dating back to at least the age of 8.
“My father raped me every way that you can rape a person; orally, anally, vaginally,” said Lana Lawrence, who was 16 at the time of the case. “To tell you the truth, I can’t even count the number of times that man raped me. I can think of four times on one trip.”
According to the police report, Lawrence Sr., after being read his rights, admitted to the trooper in an interview he had sexual intercourse with Lana Lawrence about three times, anal intercourse twice and oral sex on several occasions.
Lana Lawrence told Greene she was forced to have sexual intercourse with her father on at least one occasion and that he had attempted anal and oral intercourse on several others, according to the report. She told The Argus-Press she was fearful, at first, of the repercussions from her parents for speaking out about the abuse.
“I recall being terrified that I was telling the state trooper that my father was abusing me, and I feared that nothing would happen to him because he was a former cop, and he would retaliate against me when he got the opportunity to do so, just as he did when I told my mother,” she stated in an email to The Argus-Press from her home in coastal Delaware. “I finally told them that my father anally raped me often, and that it was how he preferred to abuse me.”
Finnegan said that allegation alone could be enough to warrant first-degree charges.
“In the police report, certainly there is a basis to charge first-degree criminal sexual conduct and that certainly is what we would have charged now,” she said. “The defendant, Mr. Lawrence, made statements implicating himself.”
Scott Ryder, who was an assistant prosecutor at the time, handled both the criminal and probate cases related to the allegations. The investigation was conducted by Michigan State Police, because Lawrence Sr. was a former Owosso police officer, though he left that position in 1965, according to city records.
A warrant issued by Ryder dated June 21, 1977, reduced the first-degree charge recommended by Greene to fourth-degree CSC. Lawrence Sr. was arraigned in district court and bound over to circuit court on the fourth-degree charge.
Finnegan, in the letter to Lana Lawrence, stated she “found the charge troubling, since the offense involved the repeated rape and molestation of a child.”
Ryder — who served under then-prosecutor Gerald D. Lostracco, who is now seated as 35th Judicial Circuit Court Judge — said in a phone interview he did not recall the specific case, but stated there would have been valid reasons for pursuing only fourth-degree.
“If a fourth-degree (charge) was allowed, there had to be a good reason for it, other than he was an Owosso police officer,” Ryder told The Argus-Press. “I can never recall any incidents where the status or position of a potential criminal defendant ever resulted in any deals. We just did not do that. We had more integrity than that.”
He added that — while he was the only prosecutor present at any of the hearings, both in criminal and probate court, outside of three adjourned arraignments in which Lostracco attended — he would not have been able to approve such a deal himself.
“There was no way this was my decision alone,” he said. “No high-profile case would ever have been pleaded without a complete examination of that case and complete review by the prosecutor, at that time that’s (Gerald) Lostracco.”
Ryder — who is now the court administrator and Indian Child Welfare Act attorney for the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi near Athens, and previously served as juvenile court director in St. Joseph County and chief juvenile court referee in Kalamazoo County —  declined a request made by The Argus-Press to review the case file.
Lostracco said he did not remember the case or “anything about the case that Scott handled for us.”
Ryder, as well as Lostracco, said there must have been conversations between attorneys or the court that resulted in the fourth-degree charge, but neither would expand on what that might have entailed.
Lawrence Sr. was not represented by an attorney until at least after the probate court preliminary hearing — which, according to court documents, took place the day after his arrest. By that time, the charge had already been reduced to fourth-degree.
‘Red flags’
Finnegan said she has several concerns with the case, noting the primary issue is that officials seemingly disregarded admissions of intercourse.
On June 22, 1977, the day after Lawrence Sr.’s arrest, a probate court hearing was held to review the petition by Greene for the court to terminate the parental rights of Lana Lawrence’s parents.
According to the petition, Greene alleges much of the same sexual abuse and rape as he did in the police report, but also accuses Lawrence Sr. of physically abusing Lana Lawrence, to the point of bruising her face.
In an audio recording of the preliminary examination in front of then-juvenile court referee Don Peters, Lawrence Sr. admitted to all of the allegations in the petition. Ryder, child services representatives, Lana Lawrence and her court-appointed attorney Harry Kurrle, both parents and Greene all were present at the hearing, which took place three months prior to Lawrence Sr.’s criminal no contest plea.
It’s unknown whether his admission could have been admitted in criminal court, but Finnegan, who listened to the audio recording, said she believed it, as well as the admission to Greene, could have. Lawrence Sr. was informed of his right to an attorney, as well as the right to remain silent (Ryder can be heard at least once stopping proceedings in order for the parents to again be read their rights).
But according to the transcript of Lawrence Sr.’s circuit court arraignment from Sept. 20, 1977, those admissions weren’t presented to then-Circuit Court Judge Peter Marutiak. At the hearing, Marutiak asked Ryder whether any oral or written confessions had been made. After defense attorney Clark Shanahan stated there were no written ones, Ryder was asked again if there were any oral confessions.
Ryder’s response was, “I was just checking, your honor... I don’t believe so.”
In an interview with The Argus-Press, Ryder offered no insight into why he did not present either admission. “If that was said, I don’t know why I would say I don’t recall. I just don’t remember,” he said.
Marutiak accepted the plea agreement Sept. 27, 1977, during a hearing in which prosecutors agreed not to pursue a third-degree charge, a 15-year felony, against Lawrence Sr. in exchange for pleading no contest to fourth-degree. Prosecutors also agreed not to make a recommendation on sentencing.
Oftentimes, plea deals in CSC cases are arranged in order to avoid requiring assault victims to appear on the witness stand, Ryder said. Since admissions on record are not always sufficient in securing a conviction, he added, the victim’s willingness to testify becomes vital.
But on Sept. 27, 1977, Lana Lawrence took the stand in circuit court in order to provide a factual basis for the charge her father pleaded no contest to, something both Lostracco and Finnegan said was uncommon in a plea case. Usually, Lostracco said, a factual basis in that situation can be provided by the police report.
Lana Lawrence — who remembers her testimony with vivid clarity, even recalling the outfit she wore 36 years ago: navy blue dress slacks and a light blue, cowl-neck sweater — said she had prepared herself to give full testimony on multiple rapes by her father.
“It wasn’t as though (Ryder) didn’t have a strong witness to take into court to tell of my father’s crimes. We know that I was strong because he put me on the stand during the (no contest) hearing,” she wrote in an email to The Argus-Press. “We know that I was determined because I never missed a court date, or an interview, or a meeting with respect to this case.
“I remember being terrified, but determined to testify because I wanted to stop my father from harming any more children, and I wanted him to go to jail because I did not feel safe living only two blocks from him in my foster home,” she said.
Instead, Lana Lawrence, according to a transcript of the proceedings, was asked approximately 10 yes-or-no questions addressing just one incident in which her father had carried her to a bed, held her hands down, touched her in an intimate area and did so without her permission. Lana Lawrence confirmed she knew the charge against her father, fourth-degree CSC, but told The Argus-Press that as a 16-year-old, she did not know what that meant.
On Nov. 7, 1977, Lawrence Sr. was sentenced by Marutiak. In the transcript, Marutiak considered “the prosecutorial recommendation that there be no prison commitment,” despite Ryder stating during a previous hearing that no recommendation would be made. According to the transcript, no prosecutor is listed as attending the hearing and none spoke during the sentencing.
Lostracco said all information in the case, including the two admissions, would have been included in the sentencing report for the judge’s consideration.
“In my 24 years of prosecution, I have never known of a sentence for a high-court misdemeanor being carried out without the presence of a prosecuting attorney,” Finnegan wrote in the letter to Lana Lawrence.
Shanahan, after reviewing the case file at the request of The Argus-Press, recently said he considered his former client “a lucky man” for avoiding first-degree charges and jail time.
While he did not recall the case specifically, he said he likely argued in court that sending Lawrence Sr. to prison would devastate “what was left of the family,” something he admitted “would not fly” in today’s court system.
Lawrence Sr. was a security guard for General Motors at the time, and the sole provider for his family.
“Apparently the establishment felt keeping what was left of the family together was better than the alternative of putting him away,” said Shanahan, who served as probate court judge from 1956 to 1964 before returning to private practice. “That concern was to the benefit of the defendant.”
Lana Lawrence said she’s never come to grips with the fact that her father was not incarcerated. She described feeling devastated after reading the sentencing report and couldn’t help feeling it had something to do with his time as an officer.
For years, she blamed Marutiak, but after reviewing the case decades later, she said she felt it had more to do with the prosecution of the case.
“I wish someone would have given me as many breaks as my father got from the county. I wish someone would have seen me for the traumatized girl that I was at the time, and would have worked hard to see that my justice was served, and not given away, gift wrapped, with a bow on top,” she stated in an email. “The prosecution knew that I wanted my father to go to prison because I told Scott Ryder that I did.”
Ryder, when asked about the accusations by Lana Lawrence, denied ever considering her father’s law enforcement past by virtue of those kinds of considerations not being how he operated. Lostracco said no one in his office would have conducted business in that manner.
“I’m very proud of the record we had as a prosecutor’s office,” Lostracco said. “We never would sell any victim short or down the drain, most of all a CSC victim.”
Lana Lawrence said her experience left her feeling victimized a second time.
“The end result is that the victim was given the message that she holds less value than a child molester,” she said. “I held less value than a child molester with the judicial system in my home county... That’s a difficult message to hear and to ever recover from.”
— See Tuesday’s paper for Part 2 of Lana Lawrence’s story, which covers the trauma she suffered as a result of her abuse, as well as the lack of closure she had with her father’s sentence.

Sidebar to main story: Missing Documents add mystery to case


Missing documents add mystery to case

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Posted: Monday, August 26, 2013 10:27 am | Updated: 10:29 am, Mon Aug 26, 2013.


Another twist in the case came when Deana Finnegan, in 2012, requested the case file be retrieved from storage with a company in Saginaw County, where the court stocks older case files.

Missing from the file were the four pages that included Lana Lawrence’s testimony in circuit court. Finnegan was able to restore the testimony from documents provided by Lana Lawrence, who, along with The Washington Post obtained the entire case file in 1987 for a piece she wrote for the publication regarding her childhood abuse.
Lauri Braid, who has been Shiawassee County Clerk since 2001, said she has never come across documents missing from files.
“I was very surprised and dismayed that that happened,” she said. She worked along with Finnegan to restore the testimony. “I hate to think somebody would have specifically taken something out of there, I just don’t have an explanation for it.”
Braid said it was “very unlikely” documents were lost in the transfer to storage, the timing of which is unknown.
“They’re put in boxes, the whole file. The boxes are sealed up and they’re either taken upstairs in the attic or we have another local storage site. Again, that’s locked up,” she said.
Lana Lawrence said the situation was not the first time documents appeared to be missing from her case file.
When The Washington Post in 1987 requested the case file through the Freedom of Information Act, two pages of the circuit court arraignment in which the plea deal was struck were not provided. Those documents were present, however, when Finnegan requested the file.
Braid said one explanation for that could have been an error made in copying the documents. Files from that era were printed on “onion paper,” which could have stuck together when the court made copies for The Post, she said.
Because at the time there was no documentation of who views public records, no investigation was conducted.
Braid said as a result of this case, the clerk’s office has changed the procedure for viewing public records. Those who access files must now sign them out.
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Part II: Coping with the aftermath


Coping with the aftermath

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Posted: Tuesday, August 27, 2013 11:00 am | Updated: 10:38 am, Wed Aug 28, 2013.

Note: This is the second in a three-part series detailing the experiences of Owosso-native Lana Lawrence in her quest for answers related to charges brought against her father for abusing her as a child.
Hitting her “like a ton of bricks,” Lana Lawrence read the words of her father’s sentencing report with disbelief. How could her father, who admitted to police and the court he raped her multiple times, not be sent to prison?

To Lawrence, it felt like she was serving out a sentence; the abandonment by most of her family, decades of depression and a feeling that she, a 16-year-old victim, had been betrayed by nearly everyone in her life.
“I read through it and saw what the sentence was and just felt devastated,” Lawrence said. “It was at that point most of my problems occurred, mostly depression.”
In the months following her father’s sentencing, Lawrence began acting out; partying, drinking heavily and taking drugs. In the two years she spent in the foster care system, Lawrence was placed in four different homes, none of which lasted long.
Lawrence twice attempted suicide by swallowing prescription pills. Her stomach had to be pumped during a three-day stay in intensive care in order to save her life.
“I think I had to find any way I could to escape everything that was going on,” Lana said. “The issue was I no longer felt safe. I didn’t understand what went wrong.”
Dr. Jennifer Freyd, a professor of psychology at the University of Oregon who specializes in trauma and has authored two books on the subject, said it is common for victims of abuse by someone they normally trust, such as a parent, to have behavioral issues. She’s coined this as “betrayal trauma,” where the victim battles between the hateful feelings toward their abuser and their dependence on them for their livelihood.
“It’s not unusual that people who have these experiences, are more likely to have a host of problems where their mental and physical health are affected. They are more likely to have symptoms of depression and anxiety. They are more likely to be sick, physically,” said Freyd, who has known Lawrence for 20 years through victim advocacy. “Betrayal trauma is toxic above and beyond other trauma. We already know trauma is not good for you, but betrayal trauma is particularly not good for you.
“This is important for understanding why people who get abused by someone they trust, like a parent, are so often not able to function well and suffer so much in life. It seems to be very destructive.”
Rhoda Hacker, director of SafeCenter in Owosso, said the longer the experience of abuse or betrayal, the more devastating for the victim.
“It has been shown to release those negative chemicals into the brain. It definitely has a long-term impact, and the longer the experience, the greater the impact,” she said. “We know it definitely can cause depression, suicidal thoughts and other mental conditions, and even physical.”
For Lawrence, this carried over to the judicial system. She entrusted the court — especially assistant prosecutor Scott Ryder, who handled both the probate and criminal court cases for Lawrence — with her well-being. In a vulnerable state, the 16-year-old victim found comfort in the fact someone was fighting for her.
“I recall Scott Ryder seeming very competent, and I felt that finally, someone was doing something to protect me,” she said. “I didn’t understand much of what was going on legally, however it seemed as though a lot of people were on my side because many people from CPS attended, as well as the state trooper and assistant prosecutor.
“He (Ryder) became a quasi-parent, if you will, because he’s the one in probate court who worked to keep me in foster care.”
But that feeling faded over time, after learning decades later her father was potentially undercharged and could have faced life in prison. Ryder has maintained he acted in the best interest of the victim in all of his cases, and had no reason to believe otherwise in Lawrence’s case, where he did remove her from an abusive home. But for Lawrence, what she calls his failure in criminal court was devastating.
“There’s only so many abandonments you can take in one life,” Lawrence said. “To think that a prosecutor was not acting in my best interest was hard to believe.”
Freyd, who said she has not reviewed Lawrence’s case, said this can leave a victim feeling as though what happened to them wasn’t that harmful.
“If the judicial system gives them a slap on the wrist, but without real consequences, that can certainly be perceived as a harmful betrayal because it’s hypocritical. It’s like, ‘we’re going to take this seriously, but not really,’” she said. “It truly fits with what we would hypothesize would be very damaging.
“We’re in a society where we believe the punishment should be commensurate with the crime. If the punishment is finer, we implicitly say that what happened wasn’t that bad. I think there is a huge difference to people. Some people may not pay attention to that message, but some people who are sensitive and trying to make sense of what happened to them are going to look at that and say ‘gee, maybe what happened to me wasn’t perceived to be that bad, because they really didn’t have a big consequence.’”
For decades, Lawrence said she dealt with the repercussions of the betrayal she experienced in her life. At times, she was able to move on from it, and has had times of joy and success.
Lawrence, a freelance photographer, had her photos of the Pentagon following 9/11 exhibited in the Library of Congress and they will soon appear in the 9/11 memorial in New York City.
She has become a national advocate for abuse victims, helping found support groups and even testifying in state legislature’s advocating for video recorded forensic interviews with victims. She also was sought out by national television news agencies as an expert on sexual abuse victims.
Lawrence for nearly a decade was a practicing funeral director, helping families cope with their loss. She wrote pieces for the National Funeral Director’s Association on bereavement in HIV/AIDS related deaths.
But during other times, the pain of the memory of the abuse and her father’s sentence returned; never more so than as she lay in the hospital with post-op Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) from a gall bladder removal. Lawrence has, to-date, had several medical conditions likely linked to the sexual abuse she endured.
After her gall bladder surgery, she developed not only MRSA, but had peritonitis (an inflammation of the tissues lining the inner wall of the abdomen), sepsis, which resulted in multiple organ failure, disseminated intravascular coagulation (which leads to formation of blood clots in blood vessels throughout the body), and had three abdomen abscesses removed.
Lawrence came close to death, she said.
“I thought about being on my death bed and not having my family there,” she said. “I just remember feeling very sad there wasn’t anybody there other than my partner.
“It was because I lost my family, and why? Because my father didn’t go to jail.”
That is what set Lawrence off on her journey to find the truth. She opened her case file, as tough as it was to bring the memories back up, and began reading. With more questions than answers, she brought it to Shiawassee County Prosecutor Deana Finnegan.
With Finnegan’s apology, Lawrence said, she’s begun to move on from the pain she felt as a result of the case.
“That beautiful apology letter is doing what it was meant to do — tell the truth in the light of day — and it has given me a new lease on life for which I am eternally grateful. My heart is so much lighter and I finally feel a real sense of deep healing that is sticking with me.”
— See Wednesday’s paper for Part 3 of Lana Lawrence’s story, which addresses how society has changed with increased awareness about abuse and the trauma caused by it.

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Part III: Society has made progress dealing with assault cases


Society has made progress dealing with assault cases

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Posted: Wednesday, August 28, 2013 12:00 pm

Note: This is the final story in a three-part series detailing the experiences of Owosso native Lana Lawrence in her quest for answers related to charges brought against her father for abusing her as a child.
As Lana Lawrence continues to try to heal from her abuse, society itself marches down a path to better understanding how victims are affected by such a traumatic experience as sexual or physical abuse.

“Overall our society has been gaining knowledge and awareness of trauma and abuse. That is certainly, I think, a very important increase in holding people accountable. I think the reaction this whole country had to, say Penn State, is actually a very good sign,” said Dr. Jennifer Freyd, professor of psychology at the University of Oregon. “People don’t like it and want to stop it.”
There was a time when abuse within a family went either unnoticed or swept under the rug, said Shiawassee County Prosecutor Deana Finnegan, who considers child abuse to be the No. 1 priority of her prosecutor’s office.
“Thirty-seven years ago this was a dirty secret nobody wanted to talk about or admit what was going on,” she said. “We’ve become more aware that this is going on.”
And not only aware of the issue, but intolerant to it.
“I think awareness is directly related to tolerance. In many respects, we just don’t tolerate it in our society like we used to,” said Tom Dignan, Probate/Family Court Judge in Shiawassee County.
As a result of that shift in mindset, additional resources such as the Child Advocacy Center, SafeCenter, Crime Victim’s Right Act of Michigan (established in 1985), the Sex Offender’s Registration Act (established in 1995) have come about to not only help those already victimized, but to prevent future abuse.
“It’s made it easier for victims to come forward and it’s de-stigmatized it,” Dignan said. “It’s created a marketplace for the help, and treatment for this is not one-size-fits-all. It’s given the opportunity to find the best form of treatment that works for them.”
Lawrence, who has dealt for decades with the trauma caused by the abuse by her father, said these resources were not available to her in 1977, but would have made a huge difference in her life. They are support services she now uses, and finds great comfort in, she said.
“I am quite impressed with SafeCenter and wish that this resource had been available to me in 1977,” she said, adding she utilizes the center’s counselors to help her through her search for answers in the criminal case against her father.
The potential of recharging Walter Lawrence Sr. in the alleged abuse of his daughter, Lana Lawrence, is not possible, according to Prosecutor Deana Finnegan.
Double jeopardy, which prohibits being charged twice for the same crime, and statute of limitations prevent the recharging, Finnegan wrote in her letter to Lana Lawrence.
“They are helping me as I go through this difficult public disclosure, and I am impressed with the quality of services that they provide.”
Not only have things changed in the public eye, but court systems are becoming more cognizant of trauma caused by abuse, and especially locally, are taking steps to better ease victims through the process.
“It’s very important there is justice for everybody. You want justice by your defendant, but you also want justice for your victim,” Finnegan said. “They are apprised of every phase of the hearings. They’re also allowed input. We have final say in the prosecution, but we do get victim’s input.”
Finnegan in April gained approval from the county board of commissioners to participate in the Canine Advocacy Program, through which the county has acquired a “therapy dog” to work to accompany children during forensic interviews in cases of abuse and neglect.
Children now are interviewed once by a trained forensic interviewer at the Child Advocacy Center. Finnegan said it used to be common for child victims to have to describe their abuse to a law enforcement officer, child services, a prosecutor and then potentially a court while on the stand.
“The most glaring difference is the forensic interview process, which we do at the Child Advocacy Center,” Dignan said. “There is now a process for interviewing, to determine not only the accuracy, but to get the completion of what went on.”
From August of 2011 to August of 2012, the prosecutor’s office has pursued 46 counts of criminal sexual conduct, most of which earned convictions of third-degree CSC or higher, partially due to improved interviewing techniques.
“Clearly, the prosecutor’s office is making a tremendous effort to deal with sexual and domestic violence crimes in ways that are most healing for the victims. The changes that Deana has instituted since being elected are remarkable, and I am happy to hear that we now have a SANE (Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner) program, as well as the leader dog program for children who are being interviewed and/or testifying in court,” Lawrence wrote in an email. “I also feel that Shiawassee County is now ahead of the national curve when it comes to prosecuting these difficult cases.”
“We’ve done a lot of really positive things to make this experience less traumatic,” Finnegan added.
But as society continues to move forward in talking about abuse and make aware its affects — there are still one in four females and one in six males who face abuse — officials said there is still a long road ahead.
“The more people who talk about it and come forward, the more things continue to change,” said Rhoda Hacker, director of SafeCenter of Shiawassee County. “But things need to continue to change. People are still victimized and not believed.”
She said advocacy and awareness is the key to continuing to make things better.
“It’s happening at an astonishing rate and we need to know about it and we need to talk about it and let perpetrators know we’re watching them,” she said.
The most important thing, Lawrence said, is that victims feel comfortable coming forward and talking about their abuse.
“I believe that I would have been able to come forward and would have been believed if my case were to come before the system today. I believe that services would be in place to assist me that would have minimized the amount of trauma that I endured,” Lawrence said. “My greatest wish is that this series of articles allows others to come forward and report abuse. Whether a victim, or someone who suspects abuse, coming forward and continuing to tell of the experiences until someone acts is the best way to reduce the trauma to the child or adult survivor. I could have been spared many rapes had I been believed the first time I disclosed to a person in a position of authority, and I must impress upon readers the importance of believing children and acting in order to get them to safety.”
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