FBI still failing to properly handle child sex abuse cases, watchdog says
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Federal Bureau of Investigation seal. Photo: Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images
The Justice Department's internal watchdog warned in a new report Thursday that the FBI continues to fail to properly investigate child sex abuse cases, years after the Larry Nassar scandal at USA Gymnastics shined a spotlight on the issue.
The big picture: Authorities stated in the report that "significant issues with the FBI's response to serious allegations involving suspected child abuse" remain.
- As part of an audit of the FBI's handling of such cases, the DOJ's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) reviewed a sample of 327 incidents and flagged 42 cases from the past three years that required "immediate attention" from the FBI.
- The FBI struggled to meet expectations in a number of areas, including mandatory reporting to other agencies, lack of investigation, victim services and the sharing of tips between FBI field offices.
Case in point: The FBI received a tip that a registered sex offender was committing child sexual abuse, but the report stated the bureau failed to take "appropriate investigative action" for more than a year or to refer the case to the appropriate authorities.
- "During this period, the subject allegedly victimized at least one additional minor for a period of approximately 15 months," it added.
By the numbers: In 47% of the cases reviewed by the watchdog, the FBI had failed to comply with mandatory reporting requirements to alert relevant state or local authorities.
- In 50% of cases, they failed to report to social services agencies.
- Even in cases the FBI did report, only 43% of the reports were made within the required 24-hour window and only 17% of the reports were "fully documented."
What they're saying: "The FBI's efforts combating crimes against children are among the most critical and demanding undertakings we do," the FBI told Axios in a statement.
- "We are committed to maintaining the public's trust by implementing the necessary improvements to ensure the important changes we made to our Violent Crimes Against Children program in 2018 and 2019 have the intended effect of promoting the highest level of compliance and effectiveness," it added.
Catch up quick: The findings come three years after the Justice Department's inspector general issued a report criticizing the FBI's handling of the Nassar case.
- Since the Nassar case, the bureau has instituted new rules regarding how it should handle child sex abuse cases.
Zoom in: The report on the past three years identified staffing issues and high caseloads as part of the problem.
- It also made 11 recommendations for how the FBI could improve its handing of child sex abuse cases, including improving oversight for compliance with mandatory reporting rules.
Go deeper:
- DOJ watchdog report highlights FBI's mishandling of Larry Nassar case
- Sexual assault survivors seek $1B from FBI over failure to investigate Nassar allegations
Editor's note: This story has been updated with comment from the FBI.
