Fordham Law Review Volume 63 Issue 2 Article 7 1994 "The Best Of All Possible Worlds"': Balancing Victims' and Defendants' Rights in the Child Sexual Abuse Case Meredith Felise Sopher Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/flr Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Meredith Felise Sopher, "The Best Of All Possible Worlds"': Balancing Victims' and Defendants' Rights in the Child Sexual Abuse Case, 63 Fordham L. Rev. 633 (1994). Available at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/flr/vol63/iss2/7 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by FLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and History. It has been accepted for inclusion in Fordham Law Review by an authorized editor of FLASH: The Fordham Law Archive of Scholarship and History. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. "THE BEST OF ALL POSSIBLE WORLDS"': BALANCING VICTIMS' AND DEFENDANTS' RIGHTS IN THE CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE CASE MERIDITH FELISE SOPHER INTRODUCTION "It hurts emotionally, and it hurts physically and once that happens, once that intercourse2 or that molestation takes place, that's the end of childhood. We know that." "There are a lot of people who sexually offend their own children who are excellent parents, despite that one little hangup.... People think the worst thing that can happen3 to you is sexual abuse, but it's not. It's being removed from your parents." Although the views expressed above are clearly contradictory, they share the emotional fervor characteristic of the topic of child molesta- tion. The past two decades have witnessed the birth of both the battle against child sexual abuse4 and the backlash against that battle.5 Although child molestation has existed throughout history,6 the hor- rific nature of the crime traditionally discouraged its recognition.7 In the last ten years, however, the American media has focused intently on the issue of child sexual abuse.