Messmer Column: Protecting Child Victims

Jasper- On this week's Messmer Column, State Senator Mark Messmer (R-Jasper) talks about protecting child victims.

With less than two weeks to go before the start of the 2023 legislative session, lawmakers from around the state are putting the finishing touches on legislation they will work on in the coming months.

Some of the legislation I am focusing on this year will follow up on bills I have authored during previous sessions.

In 2019, I authored Senate Enrolled Act 551 – a comprehensive victim's rights bill that had several new protections for child sex abuse victims.

Then in 2020, I authored Senate Enrolled Act 206, to require the presence of the prosecuting attorney during a deposition concerning a child sex abuse victim. In most cases, the bill does not allow the person accused of the abuse to be present during the deposition.

Defense attorneys challenged its constitutionality, and on June 23, 2022 the Indiana Supreme Court upheld the law.

Since then, defense attorneys have been trying to sidestep the law by saying they are not deposing the child victim, but only interviewing them.

By doing this, the lawyers avoid oversight by the judges and prosecutors. Defense attorneys can then aggressively interview the child victim and traumatize them to the point that prosecutors can't get them to testify in court.

I have been working with Indiana prosecutors this fall on a bill that I will be filing for the upcoming session to close that loophole, and give child sex abuse victims the protections legally intended in Senate Enrolled Act 206.

This bill would help guard the most vulnerable members of our society from undue harm, and I hope it will be successful in accomplishing that protection.

Feel free to contact my office directly with your questions and concerns by email at [email protected] or by phone at 800-382-9467.