Kenneth Ellman

Detective Kenneth Ellman Felony Hearing Transcript from 1980.

People v. Chapman.

This 34 page Felony Hearing Transcript from February 20, 1980 is interesting in that  parental attacks upon children were not normally part of the Criminal Justice System at that time.

Most of the physical assaults upon children by parents, particularly incidents such as “belt discipline whippings” resulted in allegations being filed under Article Ten of the NY Family Court Act. The Child Abuse Petition would allege “Excessive Corporal Punishment.”. That is if the Social Services system sought Court protection for the Child Victim at all, which Social Services frequently did not.  Therefore the crime would be diverted into a quasi-civil Child Abuse Petition,  instead of a Criminal Action or never go to Court and just be a Social Services case. Many children continued to be injured because of such Social Services failures.   The crime against the Child was frequently not looked upon as a crime at all but as a Social Services  problem.  Therefore the Child Victim failed to receive the protections that any ordinary citizen would receive. Our Office was the only law enforcement agency capable of filing both an Article Ten Petition in the Family Court and a Criminal Complaint in the appropriate Criminal Court.   This allowed the child and the societal interests to be protected in both settings.  The Family Court could address the necessary interventions in the home life of the Child Victim so that protective actions could be taken to avoid future attacks and the Criminal Court could address the overt Crime committed against the Child and punish/sanction the offender which allowed further and additional protections for the Child Victim.  The Social Services system strongly opposed such protection for the Child. Frequently the Social  Services workers would seek to protect the Criminal Offender at the risk of further injury to the Child Victim.

Then Assistant  District Attorney Jeanine Pirro pioneered such prosecutions with our Office to the great advantage of the children at risk in our jurisdiction.

Additional material and other cases prosecuted by our Office will be made available to explore this history and conflicts in the Child Protection System.

Detailed material and accounts will be made available in future books/publications.

For any additional information feel free to contact Kenneth Ellman at Box 18, Newton, New Jersey 07860. Email:ke@kennethellman.com.