Cable documentary follows New York Sex Crime Unit

More than all other accusations, being accused of a sex crime in Jacksonville or anywhere else carries a lifetime of potential problems. In most of the cases I have handled as a Duval County Sex Crime Attorney, there is little to no physical evidence. All it takes is one person saying they were violated.

HBO, Home Box Office, has just released a documentary about the first prosecutor unit dedicated to sex crimes exclusively. “Sex Crimes Unit” follows district attorneys in Manhattan as they prosecute all types of sexual crimes. This Manhattan office was the first in the United States to commit a separate division to these particular crimes. The state attorney’s office in Duval, Clay and Nassau Counties also has a unit, called the Special Assault Division whose attorneys handle primarily sex crimes.

There are many crimes in Jacksonville that are in the category of “sex crimes”. The most commonly known crime is Duval County sexual battery or rape. In order to prove that a Jacksonville sex battery occurred, the state attorney’s office must prove that the defendant committed an act with the victim in which the defendant’s sexual organ penetrated or had contact with the anus, vagina or mouth of a victim without consent. The consent must be intelligent and voluntary and cannot be coerced by the defendant. The victim does not have to physically resist the attack. Most other Florida sex crimes are crimes against children. When a child makes any kind of sexual accusation in Jacksonville, the police take the child to be interviewed by “experts” at the First Coast Child Protection Team. These interviews are supposed to be free of suggestion and the workers take the child’s word as true. At that point, the police will attempt to speak to the person accused of the sex crime. When contacted by a sex crime detective in Jacksonville, immediately contact an experienced Jacksonville Sex Crime Attorney. As I have written in prior blogs, the police are not there to help you, they are there to make an arrest in Jacksonville.

There are several different sex crimes in Florida involving children. They are crimes such as Lewd or Lascivious Battery, which means engaging in sexual activity with a child under sixteen years of age. Lewd or Lascivious Molestation means touching a child over twelve years of age but younger than sixteen in a lewd or lascivious manner. Under this Florida sex statute, the defendant cannot intentionally touch the breasts, genitals, genital area, buttocks or the clothing covering any of these body parts. There are also computer sex crimes, such as Possession of Child Pornography and Lewd or Lascivious Exhibition over the Computer. All of these crimes are Jacksonville sex felonies and if convicted, the defendant is facing prison time as well as being labeled a sex offender or sex predator for their entire life.

If you have been accused of a sex crime in Duval, Clay or Nassau County, call our experienced sex attorney, Victoria “Tori” Mussallem at (904) 365-5200. Our Jacksonville Sex Crime Law Firm is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.