August 24

On August 24, 1993, police starting investigating allegations of child abuse involving Michael Jackson.

Child abuse cases are very complicated to prosecute. Child abuse cases require all kinds of exemptions from the rules of evidence, and an exemption to the Constitutional right to confront one's accuser.

Children are allowed to testify at any trial as long as they understand the truth, are able to communicate, and have first hand knowledge. This can be problematic for very young children.

If the child is traumatized by the experience, the child may be excused from testifying and a transcript used instead. The courts generally prefer an available witness to testify because of the right to confront an accuser, but under certain circumstances (not specific to molestation cases) this can be exempted under hearsay rules.

In general, evidence of similar crimes is excluded in trial, unless it is a specific element of the crime in question. In molestation cases, there is a lot more leeway over what may be introduced into the record, and it doesn't need to be a particularly close match.

The biggest obstacle in prosecuting child molestation cases is probably the court system itself. The law is slow and deliberate, and a child may have to relive the experience multiple times. While the court system tries to minimize the impact on victims, the rights of the accused still need to be answered as well, and the accused is entitled to a defense.

Settlement may seem the best answer for everyone, regardless of what really occurred, which was the final result of the Jackson investigations.