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Reveal: Child Sex Abuse Lost In The System

Reporter Tennessee Watson takes us inside the arduous process of seeking justice in her own child sexual abuse case. Her story exposes discrepancies in prosecutors’ responses and spotlights a lack of accountability.
Anna Vignet
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Reveal
Reporter Tennessee Watson takes us inside the arduous process of seeking justice in her own child sexual abuse case. Her story exposes discrepancies in prosecutors’ responses and spotlights a lack of accountability.";

In light of the conviction of former USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar, we’re revisiting an award-winning investigation from 2016.   

Reporter Tennessee Watson says she was sexually abused by her gymnastics coach when she was a kid in the 1980s. More than 25 years later, when she learned he still was coaching children, she called the police. Her inside account of the painful process of seeking justice in her own case exposes discrepancies in prosecutors’ responses to reports of child sexual abuse and spotlights a lack of accountability.

In this hour of Reveal, we meet Tennessee, who decides to confront the man she says abused her decades earlier. As she pursues her case, she gets an unexpected response from a police detective and a prosecutor – they believe her and want to take her case seriously. And as her case snowballs, police find other victims.

Tennessee’s search for answers leads her back to one of the people who often shapes the outcome of child sex abuse cases: the prosecutor. But will she get the justice she’s looking for?

Reveal is a weekly radio program produced by The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX. For more, check out Reveal's website and subscribe to the podcast.
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