Is It Possible to Convict Child Molester Without Victim Statements or a Confession

[VArenter83]

My question involves criminal law for the state of: New York

Recently, my wife found out that her 22 year old half-sister (on her Mother's side) has been having intercourse with her father, which began as molestation when she was 8 years old and has continued through the years. Furthermore, my wife herself was molested by the same man (her step-father at the time) between the ages of 4-6 before she told her grandmother. My sister-in-law had not told anyone about the relationship until a recent boyfriend, who has brought it to light. Upon revealing this information to other family members, we all discovered that 2 of his other children had been molested by him over the same time-frame, and he recently has tried to have sex with yet another of his daughters, who declined and stopped speaking to him. All of this has happened while he still remains on the sex offender registry with the highest risk level of repeating.

My wife's grandmother contacted the authorities, who opened an investigation, interviewed his two youngest daughters and my sister-in-law's boyfriend. He attempted to interview my sister-in-law, who would not get back in contact with him. We tried to convince her to turn him in, but she refuses, as she doesn't want her younger sisters to see their father in jail. His youngest daughters both told the investigator that nothing had happened, but he expressed very clear doubt. We last heard from the investigator over a week ago, as he told us that while there likely was molestation happening, there is nothing that can be done about it unless a victim gives their statement and the molester confesses. The only proof we have at this point is text messages from my sister-in-law and a video recorded by her boyfriend of her confession.

At this point, all of his victims refuse to give a statement out of empathy for him and a fear of shame (we feel there is a brainwashing/Stockholm syndrome element as well). However, we know he is still hurting young children and it needs to stop. What are our legal options going forward?

Thank you all in advance for any help you can give us at this point!

[Dogmatique]

Unfortunately, the investigator is correct.

You can't force the issue, nor can you make any of the alleged victims make a statement.

I absolutely understand your frustration, anger and grief - and I'm thinking that perhaps one of the most positive things you can do is get your wife and yourself into therapy.

Unfortunately - and I say this with a heavy heart - molestation cases are amongst the hardest cases of all to successfully prosecute. Helping your family heal might be the most positive step you can make at this point.

[cdwjava]

The first step will be to get these victims into therapy. Through counseling they might come to understand that they are not bad, that their father is not worthy of their protection, and they might develop the strength they need to come forward.

I have spent a good deal of my career investigating and prosecuting these types of cases, and they are not easy. When I was a child, we had a predator on my street who was estimated to have taken almost 200 victims before he was finally caught (he was a Girl Scout troop leader!!) and prosecuted. Only ONE of two victims actually followed through to court and the defendant took a plea deal (3 years probation). Of all his prior victims, about 30 possible victims were contacted, three wrote notes to the court to be read at sentencing, and one testified at his sentencing hearing. Because of the PRIOR victim testimony - the one who came to court to confront him - the probation offer was rejected by the court and he was sentenced to 5 years in the state prison. Unfortunately, the SOL had long since passed so he could not be prosecuted for the prior victimizations.

These girls are not alone in their reluctance to pursue the matter as there is a host of emotions at work in this equation - emotions that no one can entirely appreciate unless you have been in the victim's shoes.

I strongly recommend counseling for the victims. Then, in time, as they heal they should develop the strength to finally speak out about what happened.