It’s no secret that the media likes to portray child abusers and those accused of child abuse as villains. They’re seen as violent, negative people who would be better off getting severely punished. For someone who didn’t commit this crime, the media attention can be devastating emotionally and can result in a reputation being destroyed over false allegations.
It can seem like an impossible task to get through a case where you’re accused of abusing a child sexually, especially if the child decides to give a testimonial. In any case, you have the right to defend yourself, so you don’t get penalized for something that didn’t happen or that you didn’t do.
False allegations of child abuse are very serious and can ruin parents’ right to see their children or their ability to work certain jobs. False allegations can happen for personal gain, like in cases where a parent accuses the other of abuse to prevent him or her from getting custody following divorce, or they can be launched as revenge. Sometimes, the accusation is simply caused by misidentification that has gone too far.
After you’re accused of these crimes, you need to defend yourself. Does the child have an explainable injury? Kids can do some strange things; did you have to remove an object from a child’s sexual organs for their safety? Was this misconstrued as an act of sexuality? Perhaps you were in the kitchen or on the phone with someone, so you can prove you didn’t touch the child at all. These are the kinds of situations you need to fight back against, and you can only do so with a strong and aggressive defense.
Source: FindLaw, “Child Abuse Defenses,” accessed June 04, 2015