CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — There are hundreds of child abuse cases sitting on the desks of Nueces County prosecutors.
A jury reached a guilty verdict in one of the child abuse cases Tuesday night and gave a John Reyes a 70-year prison sentence for killing his 4-month-old son.
Prosecutors say there's no shortage of child abuse cases. They do try and get convictions, but another mandate they have is that they're trying to head this problem off before it gets to a courtroom, and there's a child that's dead.
"We just don't want to send people to jail, we want to correct behavior, so it ends the cycle of abuse," said Elizabeth Tagle, Assistant District Attorney for the Child Protection Unit.
Tagle and the violent crimes and gang prosecutor Jared Horton agreed to sit down with 3News about the child abuse problem in Nueces County
"This is a rampant problem not only in Nueces County, in Texas the entire Country. According to the CDC, one in five of children are the victims of child abuse sometimes in their lives," Tagle said.
So what's the driving force behind this epidemic of violence against children?
"Domestic violence in the home is strongly suggestive of a home that is likely to include child abuse as well, and those are problems that go back generations, they're generational problems," Horton said.
Tagle showed 3News her office and all of the children abuse cases that are stacked up all over the place. There are also file cabinets full of even more cases out in the hallway.
"I will tell you that I have a full caseload, and there's a lot of physical abuse going on here in Nueces County," Tagle said.
Prosecutors say it's important for people to speak out about child abuse when they first spot it that way, they can make sure the offender is punished. The courts can order the defendant to get the counseling and other help they need before a child is seriously injured or killed.
"It's really important that if someone sees something or hears something or notices something suspicious that they're making the proper reports to the proper agencies," Horton said.
According to prosecutors, they are simply trying to give a voice to abused kids in the hopes of ending the cycle of violence against children.
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