The Unflinching Courage of Taylor Cadle
December 23, 2024 at 04:30PMWhen Taylor Cadle was 12 years old, she told a detective with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office that she had been sexually assaulted by her adoptive father. After police mishandled her case, Cadle was charged with false reporting. Her situation isn’t unique; as part of a multi-year investigation, the Center for Investigative Reporting identified hundreds of instances in which people who reported sexual assaults ultimately faced false-reporting charges. What is unique, however, is the story of how Cadle rescued herself from her abuser after police failed to do so—and then, years later, helped reporters from Mother Jones reveal the missteps of the detective who investigated her claims.
Through dozens of freedom of information requests, we amassed a first-of-its-kind trove of audio and video evidence documenting the police practice of criminalizing those who report sexual assault. We found examples of police officers lying, deploying interrogation techniques meant for criminal suspects that, when used on unsuspecting, traumatized people, can undercut their credibility and even cause them to recant.
Last year, we sent Taylor a message on Facebook, explaining our investigation into police turning the tables on victims and asking if she’d like to talk about what happened to her. . . . There were few public records tied to the case due to confidentiality laws meant to protect children. So Taylor wrote records requests, signed release forms, and notarized documents to obtain case files and recordings from the sheriff’s office, the juvenile court, the circuit court, the Department of Children and Families, and the Department of Juvenile Justice. Then she shared them with us.
from Longreads https://longreads.com/2024/12/23/the-unflinching-courage-of-taylor-cadle/
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