It Is Happening Today, Robin Sax Releases Second Book

by Women in Crime Ink

Bestselling author, former prosecutor, and Women in Crime Ink contributor Robin Sax has a new book. It Happens Every Day: Inside the World of a Sex Crimes DA is in bookstores now. With a foreword by famed defense attorney Mark Geragos, the book promises to be another big hit for Robin!

According to Department of Justice crime statistics, in 2008, 67 percent of sexual assault victims were juveniles and an astonishing 93 percent knew their attackers. This is far from news to veteran prosecutor Robin Sax. As an attorney who specialized in sex crimes against children, she personally reviewed at least five new cases every day.

What really happens when law enforcement decides to prosecute a child sexual assault case? In this revealing, informative, and disturbing book, Sax shows readers how the criminal justice system works, in terms you rarely hear about on the news. She candidly assesses what’s right about the system and what needs to be changed. Her hope is that, knowing the strengths and weaknesses of our current judicial system, we’ll all be in a better position to protect our children.

Dividing the work into three parts, she begins with “Behind the One-Way Mirror,” which deals with the investigation portion of child sexual assault. She defines exactly what constitutes sexual assault and then presents the ingredients of what makes a case “fileable.” She also explains why some cases never get filed.

In the second part, “Behind the Counsel Table,” Sax sheds light on the whole court process. She discusses a range of issues, including mandatory sentencing, plea bargains, unsupportive parents, using children’s testimony to prosecute the perpetrator, DNA evidence, the importance of corroboration, and the weaknesses of the jury system.

In the final section, “If We Could Change the Law,” she identifies aspects of the criminal justice system that should be changed. Besides her own perspective as a prosecutor, she shares the valuable insights of a detective, a judge, a therapist, a juror, and a victim, to learn how each would legislate if they were judge, jury, and lawmaker.

This gritty, in-depth discussion from an insider on the front lines of law enforcement’s campaign against child sexual assault makes an important contribution toward protecting society’s most vulnerable citizens from a crime that is reaching near-epidemic proportions.

It Happens Every Day is available in bookstores and online. For more of Robin’s books, see her web site.

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