In recent years, as the issues of domestic violence and sexual abuse of women and children increasingly became topics of national concern, the Georgia Legislature passed a series of laws designed to provide for more accurate reporting of these crimes by law enforcement and to address the concerns of victims of these types of abuses. However, these provisions alone proved sadly lacking in truly confronting these terrible crimes as the legislation only related to aspects of the problem such as arrest requirements, victim notification, and potential compensation. Further, it was clear that a system designed to address the physical safety, economic well-being, and emotional needs of victims of these crimes was a long way off. It became evident that a more "holistic" approach to the prosecution of these types of offenders was needed-and perhaps nowhere more so in Georgia than in Fulton County.

Some brief statistics bear this out: In 1990 and 1991, approximately 1,739 rapes were reported in Fulton County. However, only 10% of these incidents were ever indicted by the then-Fulton County District Attorney. Of those that were indicted and tried, only 25% resulted in a conviction. Further, in 1996, this Office allowed approximately 1,200 victims of abuse and sexual assault to sign waivers of prosecution, thereby terminating the investigation and prosecution of their cases.

Offenses against children in Fulton County often met with the same fate. A terrible and well-known example of this is the sad case of five-year-old Terrance Bailey. Terrance had a long history of abuse, much of it reported to authorities, at the hands of his mother's boyfriend, Quinton Hunnicutt. In 1993, when one such instance of abuse was reported to this Office, the case was overlooked, and nothing was ever done to secure the child's safety. As a result of these missed opportunities, in 1996, following a terrifying hostage situation in which Hunnicutt held captive Terrance and his mother, the years of abuse culminated in Terrance's death at the hands of his abuser.

The perception that this Office was unwilling to or uninterested in prosecuting such crimes-after so many years of overlooking them-was widespread and firmly entrenched. Thus, it was painfully clear to current Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard when he took over this Office in January of 1997 that sweeping, immediate change was necessary if he was to restore public confidence in this Office's ability to protect its most vulnerable citizens.

As a result of this personal commitment to combating domestic violence and child abuse and in order to restore the community's trust, one of the first official acts of District Attorney Howard's administration was to end the use of waivers of prosecution. But reforms did not stop there.

In the most far-reaching of these, the District Attorney created a "Crimes Against Women & Children Unit," which adopted an entirely new approach to the prosecution of these types of offenses.

The Crimes Against Women & Children Unit is currently composed of one deputy district attorney who heads the unit, one chief senior assistant district attorney, seven other assistant district attorneys, six investigators, three specially assigned members of the Office's Victim-Witness Assistance Program, and a liaison with the Department of Family & Children Services, Jacquelyn Drake. Five administrative and clerical staff members are assigned to assist the unit. The squad exclusively screens and develops cases involving sex offenses, domestic violence, and the abuse/homicides of children.

"Vertical prosecution," a technique also practiced by the Office's Major Felony Unit, is utilized to address the sensitive nature of these cases. Vertical prosecution depends upon early intervention, another key factor in the successful prosecution of cases of sexual abuse, domestic violence, and those involving children. The technique allows trained prosecutors to utilize checklists and protocols designed to elicit valuable information shortly after these offenses occur. Victims in these cases, for a variety of reasons, may ultimately decline to cooperate with authorities once the trauma initially surrounding these events subsides. Consequently, it is difficult to deal with evidentiary issues that arise during litigation, unless such cases are carefully investigated and charged from the beginning.

The Director of Counseling Services for the District Attorney's Victim-Witness Assistance Program works closely with the unit to coordinate services to victims who may otherwise be without shelter, clothing, medical care and mental health services. The unit educates victims about the manner in which the criminal justice system operates and advocates on their behalf throughout the process.

Also, in a further effort to more aggressively pursue allegations as well as confirmed cases of child abuse and criminal neglect, close cooperation with the Department of Family & Children Services (DFACS) has been established. A full-time DFACS staff member is officially assigned as a liaison to this Office and works within the unit in order to insure that abuse/neglect referrals are not overlooked and that cases are prosecuted as effectively as possible in the best interest of the child involved.

In 1998, the unit began to focus on the disturbing trend in metro-Atlanta of pimps preying upon girls as young as 11-years-old, trapping them in the city's underground sex industry. The Office worked closely with State legislators to pass a new law making the pimping of minors a felony in Georgia and has secured the convictions of a number of these dangerous sexual predators.