A catalog of sexual discrimination that lead to appalling discrimination against sex abuse victims has lead to a federal investigation into the Missoula County Attorney’s prosecutors and the way they treated often grossly serious sex abuse cases.
“Boys will be boys” was one alleged response provided to the mother of a five year old rape victim.
According to a report, the mother of the child said she wanted to know why the boy who raped her daughter was only getting a slap on the wrist.
Missoula County Attorney Fred Van Valkenburg (pictured) has denied the claims in a report that prosecutors routinely discriminated against sex attack victims
The U.S. Department of Justice found Missoula County Attorney’s prosecutors refused legitimate cases, pushed sex crimes to the lowest of priorities and belittling women who came to them for help., the Daily Mail reports.
It added that sex assault cases rarely make it to the courthouse, because they are a low priority to county prosecutors.
ocelyn Samuels, acting assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, said: ‘We uncovered evidence of a disturbing pattern of deficiencies in the handling of these cases by the County Attorney’s Office, a pattern that not only denies victims meaningful access to justice, but places the safety of all women in Missoula at risk.’
The department began an investigation in 2012 into the county attorney’s office, Missoula Police Department and the University of Montana’s Office of Public Safety.
