LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – The pursuit of justice is one of the many constants inside of the Lubbock County Courthouse.
This rings especially true for the Crimes Against Children & Sexual Assault division of the Lubbock County District Attorney’s office.
Cassie Graham serves as the chief prosecutor for the division. She told KCBD when handling child abuse cases, she’s focused on more than justice at the end of the day. She cares about how the trial process could impact the child’s life.
“My number one thing on all of these cases is that if a kid doesn’t want to move forward or doesn’t want to go through with this, I will honor that,” Graham says. “I’m never going to make you because you deserve to have a voice in how this is resolved when you didn’t have a voice in it at the beginning.”
Graham says it’s crucial to build a relationship with each child as she’s handling their case, so she can provide justice in the most meaningful and the least traumatizing way possible.
“Think about what a kid has to go through,” Graham explains. “They have to come into a room full of grownups that they’ve never met and have to talk about being sexually abused. The topic, in and of itself, is embarrassing. They typically feel shame and a whole bunch of emotions. Not only that, they have to do that in front of the person they are accusing.”
The Lubbock County DA’s Office wants to protect each child from being retraumatized. Graham believes one of the best ways to do that is by striking a plea agreement.
“I will 10 out of 10 times plead a case to a number; that I believe is justice,” Graham says. “And, probably they would have gotten more from a jury or a judge, but if it prevents a kid from having to go in and be retraumatized and live through that again in front of the person who did that to them – I am going to do that.”
Parents and guardians are likely involved in a child’s case as a witness. Graham says that more often than not they unknowingly had a relationship with the child’s abuser and will have to testify to that.
“I have so many cases where the parents of the victim are like ‘I would have never guessed this,’” Grahams says. “There were no signs. I thought that this person was just a wonderful person who was pouring into our family, you know? And, those are the people who are gaining the trust of the parents, gaining the trust of the victims and then using that for nefarious purposes.”
Graham is calling on parents and guardians to monitor and have hard conversations with their child, and if it comes down to it, be ready to step in for them.
“This is our kid’s only chance at being kids, and to prevent them from ever having to deal with this is what our job is as parents,” Graham says.
The Lubbock County DA’s Office says the first step toward justice is to report known or suspected abuse.
Those reports can be filed online through the Lubbock Police Department’s P3 system or by calling Crime Line at (806) 741-1000.
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