OPINION ON THE STATE’S PETITION FOR DISCRETIONARY REVIEW
McCORMICK, Presiding Judge.
The issue in this case concerns the constitutional rights of appellant, Antonio Gonzales, to confront a ten year old witness at his trial for murder. The child, secured in a room away from appellant, testified via a closed-circuit television system. Appellant insists that such violated rights guaranteed him under the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 10 of the Texas Constitution. The Court of Appeals agrees with appellant and has reversed his conviction. Gonzales v. State, 784 S.W.2d 723 (Tex.App.— San Antonio 1990). We granted the State’s petition to review the Court of Appeals opinion and will now reverse.
I.
FACTUAL BACKGROUND
On August 29, 1987, paramedics were called to the home located at 3800 South Zarzamora in San Antonio. There they found the body of five year old Yvette M_wrapped in a sheet on the living room sofa. Upon conducting an initial examination, the paramedics discovered that the child was “very thin with a bloated stomach,” and that she was unkempt — paramedics described her as “filthy” and observed that she had head lice. The child's body was covered with bruises and abrasions; there were lacerations on her head. This aroused the paramedics’ suspicions and they called the police.
When the police arrived they started their investigations by talking to Yvette’s mother and the mother’s live-in boyfriend, appellant. Both the mother and appellant told investigators that the child had fallen in the bathroom while taking a shower. The police tried to interview Yolanda, the deceased’s sister, but she would only cry; there were visible “old injuries” on her face.1 Subsequent investigations, including an autopsy which revealed the child had died as a result of acute trauma to the head2 and the search of the home and seizure from the adult’s bedroom of a three-foot long wooden club with human blood on it, lead to the indictment of both the mother and appellant for Yvette’s death. On June 28, 1988, appellant’s trial on the merits began.
[758]*758Prior to any testimony being heard by the jury, the State moved to present the testimony of Yolanda M_, via closed-circuit television. The motion purported to be based upon Sections 3 and 4, of Article 38.071 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure.3 After conducting a “hearing” the trial court judge granted the State’s motion on June 28, 1988.4 Thereafter, the State began its case in chief but did not call Yolanda to testify. The trial was recessed before the child testified.
That very next day, June 29, 1988, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Coy v. Iowa, 487 U.S. 1012, 108 S.Ct. 2798, 101 L.Ed.2d 857 (1988). Perceiving conflicts between the Coy decision and the manner in which the trial court granted the State’s first motion, the State on June 30, 1988, filed a second motion to have the child testify via the closed-circuit system and therein alleged the following:
“Comes now the State of Texas, through her legal representative the Criminal District Attorney for Bexar, County, Texas, and moves the court pursuant to Article 38.071 Sec 3, and 4, of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, to order that the testimony of Yolanda M_, a child be taken in a room other that (sic) the courtroom, and be televised by closed-circuit equipment in the courtroom to be viewed by the Court and the finder of fact in the proceeding in the above styled and numbered cause for the following reasons:
“1. Yolanda M_, age 10, is the stepdaughter of [appellant] in the above styled and numbered cause. The [appellant] is charged with the murder of Yvette M_, 5 years old. Yvette M_ and Yolanda ML_were sisters.
“2. Yolanda M_is the complainant in 88CR1402, Aggravated Sexual Assault; the defendant in that cause is Antonio Gonzales, the same defendant in the above styled and numbered cause.
“3. The above styled and numbered cause occurred August 29, 1987. The Aggravated Sexual Assault 88CR1402 also occurred August 29, 1987.
“4. Yolanda M_is currently undergoing psychological counseling because of the trauma of seeing her sister, Yvette, beaten with a club about the head and immediately afterwards, seeing Yvette sexually assaulted by the defendant, Antonio Gonzales, on August 29, 1987.
“5. The child, Yolanda M_, is very intimidated by the defendant, Antonio Gonzales and fears that he will kill her for telling what occurred on August 29, 1987.”
There was a hearing on the State’s second motion after the State presented to the jury all of its evidence except the testimony of Yolanda. At that hearing the State [759]*759called Irma Alvarez, who was employed with the Family Violence Unit of the District Attorney’s Office, and Janie Ramos, the child’s grandmother, to testify outside the presence of the jury.5 Both witnesses substantiated the allegations in the State’s second motion.
Specifically, Alvarez testified that it was her job with the District Attorney’s Office to prepare child witnesses for trial by getting them comfortable with the new surroundings of the courtroom. She first talked with Yolanda when the child came to the office for an interview. Although it was out of the ordinary for Alvarez to take the statements of the child witnesses — this being the job of the investigators — she actually conducted the interview with Yolanda after the male investigator determined that he would not be able to get the child to talk with him. Alvarez explained:
“Usually, it is the investigator’s position to take those statements. But ... Yolanda was very traumatized, and the investigator was a male; and she felt very uncomfortable talking with him. She was crying the entire session he was there in the room with her, so he asked me if I would talk to her; and I talked to her for about two hours. And I came to realize that she was very frightened of men.”
Alvarez began meeting with the child about two months prior to the trial and continued to do so on a weekly basis. These sessions lasted for about an “hour and a half or two.” During the last two weeks prior to trial Alvarez spent “about four to six hours on a daily basis” with the child. Yolanda told Alvarez that appellant began sexually assaulting her when she was eight years old and that the last assault occurred the morning of her sister’s death. Alvarez testified that “the mere mention of having to testify against the defendant made [Yolanda] cry very much,” and that Yolanda was unable to be in any room where there was a male present. She testified that “it would hurt [Yolanda’s] emotional stability more than it has been hurt already if she was to confront the defendant once again.” The child was undergoing counseling.
The grandmother testified that Yolanda has been staying with her since Yvette’s death. She testified that Yolanda has suffered emotionally from the incident. She has had nightmares and wakes up in the night screaming. She does not eat. The child will not go into the bathroom alone and does not wish to take a bath by herself. Initially, Yolanda saw a male doctor for counseling. She, however, was afraid of him and a female doctor began treatment. The grandmother testified that Yolanda was afraid of appellant “[b]ecause he told her that he was going to get out very quick and that he was going to take her so she wouldn’t say anything.” She testified that appellant has threatened to kill the child. Because of all of the events in Yolanda’s life, the grandmother believed that if the child were forced to testify in the same room as appellant, such would hurt her emotionally.
After hearing this testimony, the trial court, over appellant’s objections, once again granted the State’s motion and allowed Yolanda to testify via the closed-circuit television system. The judge entered the following findings of fact:
“1. On June 30,1988, a pre-trial hearing was held on the State’s Motion to Use Closed Circuit Television Equipment, pursuant to Article 38.071 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure.
“2. The State proposed to present the testimony of a child witness through closed circuit television equipment situated in the 186th District Court and a [760]*760remote location within the District Attorney’s Office.
“3. The system consisted of two-way audio and video closed circuit system which allowed the child to observe the defendant while she testified from a remote location and further allowed the defendant to simultaneously observe the child while she testified.
“4. The State presented the testimony of a[n] expert technician who detailed the workings of the system.
“5. In support of its motion the State argued a particularized need and a compelling state interest in the protection of child witnesses who are too traumatized by the prospect of testifying in the same room as the defendant.
“6. The State presented the testimony of a child advocate, employed with the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office, Family Violence Unit, whose main duty is to prepare children to testify in the courtroom. The witness stated she was well-acquainted with the child and with the facts of this particular case. She unequivocally stated that through many hours of observation and interaction with the child witness she observed the ten-year-old girl to be very traumatized, very distraught, very frightened of the defendant, was intimidated by him and that the child was undergoing counseling. This witness specifically stated that there was a great need to present the testimony of this child witness from another room other than the one in which the defendant would be present.
“8. The State presented the testimony of the child witness’ grandmother with whom the child has resided since the incident resulting in defendant’s trial herein. She stated that the child has been suffering a great deal, has had nightmares, fears being alone, has been undergoing counseling, that she is not well, and that it would hurt the child emotionally to testify in the courtroom in the presence of the defendant. She further stated that it was her opinion that the child would be Unable to testify with the defendant present.”
The trial court then concluded that as a matter of law:
“1. The closed-circuit system was necessary to further the essential state interest in the protection of this child witness. “2. The presence of an intimidation factor and severe trauma to this child witness created the necessity of presenting her testimony via closed-circuit equipment.
“3. The two-way closed-circuit system employed by the State did not offend the defendant’s right to confrontation of witnesses against him ... and was within the holding of the United States Supreme Court’s decision of Coy v. Iowa....”
Yolanda testified before the jury that on a Saturday morning appellant came into the living room where she and her sister were watching cartoons. Appellant took her little sister into the bathroom. She waited outside the bathroom door where she was able to see inside. Yolanda observed appellant strike her sister on the back and in the head with “a bat.” When appellant noticed Yolanda watching, he called her into the bathroom. Appellant forced Yolanda to hold Yvette’s hands while he repeated the beatings. When he finished battering the child, appellant put Yvette on the toilet and sexually assaulted her while Yolanda watched. Appellant then got a sheet, wrapped Yvette in it and dragged her body out of the bathroom. Yolanda testified that appellant then made her and her younger brother clean up the blood that had splattered on the floor and walls. Appellant told Yolanda that if she ever told anyone what had occurred he would kill her. After being examined by the prosecuting attorney, appellant’s attorney cross-examined Yolanda.6
II.
FEDERAL LAW
In Coy v. Iowa, four Supreme Court Justices believed that “the Confrontation [761]*761Clause [of the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution] guarantees the defendant a face-to-face meeting with witnesses appearing before the trier of fact.” 487 U.S. at 1016, 108 S.Ct. at 2800 (emphasis added), citing Kentucky v. Stincer, 482 U.S. 730, 748, 749-750, 107 S.Ct. 2658, 2669-2670, 96 L.Ed.2d 631 (1987) (Marshall, J., dissenting). However, two members of the Court who joined in the ultimate holding of the Coy opinion — that in that case the procedure of placing a screen between the accused and the child witnesses while the children testified before the jury violated the accused’s Sixth Amendment rights— refused to conclude that the Confrontation Clause always required a “face-to-face” encounter between the witness and the accused.7 Justice O’Connor writing for the concurrence agreed that the accused’s rights under the Confrontation Clause “were violated in this case.” 487 U.S. at 1022, 108 S.Ct. at 2803. Nevertheless, in her opinion “[Sixth Amendment] rights are not absolute but rather may give way in an appropriate case to other competing interests so as to permit the use of certain procedural devices designed to shield a child witness from the trauma of courtroom testimony.” Id., (O’Connor, J., joined by White, J., concurring) (emphasis added). Two terms later, a majority of the Court did find such “an appropriate case.”
In Maryland v. Craig, — U.S. —, 110 S.Ct. 3157, 111 L.Ed.2d 666 (1990), Justice O’Connor, now writing for the majority of the Court, determined that Maryland’s statutory procedure allowing for the use of a one-way closed-circuit television system for the receipt of testimony by a child was not violative of the Sixth Amendment’s Confrontation Clause.8 The Craig majority determined that “[although face-to-face confrontation forms ‘the core of the values furthered by the Confrontation Clause,’ ” — U.S. at —, 110 S.Ct. at 3164, 111 L.Ed.2d at 679, quoting California v. Green, 399 U.S. 149, 157, 90 S.Ct. 1930, 1934-1935, 26 L.Ed.2d 489 (1970), such “is not the sine qua non of the confrontation right.” Id., citing Delaware v. Fensterer, 474 U.S. 15, 22, 106 S.Ct. 292, 295, 88 L.Ed.2d 15 (1985) (per curiam opinion); Ohio v. Roberts, 448 U.S. 56, 69, 100 S.Ct. 2531, 2540, 65 L.Ed.2d 597 (1980); Davis v. Alaska, 415 U.S. 308, 315-316, 94 S.Ct. 1105, 1109-1110, 39 L.Ed.2d 347 (1974); Douglas v. Alabama, 380 U.S. 415, 418, 85 S.Ct. 1074, 1076, 13 L.Ed.2d 934 (1965); Pointer v. Texas, 380 U.S. 400, 406-407, 85 S.Ct. 1065, 1069, 13 L.Ed.2d 923 (1965); 5 Wigmore, Evidence § 1395, p. 150 (Chadbourne rev. ed. 1974). The majority specifically held that:
“Given the State’s traditional and transcendent interest in protecting the welfare of children and buttressed by the growing body of academic literature documenting the psychological trauma suffered by child abuse victims who must testify in court, we will not second guess the considered judgment of the Maryland Legislature regarding the importance of its interest in protecting child abuse victims from the emotional trauma of testifying. Accordingly, we hold that if the State makes an adequate showing of necessity, the state interest in protecting child witnesses from the trauma of testifying in a child abuse case is sufficiently important to justify use of a special procedure that permits a child in such cases to testify at trial against the defendant [762]*762in the absence of face-to-face confrontation with the defendant.” — U.S. at —, 110 S.Ct. at 3168-3169, 111 L.Ed.2d at 685 (citations omitted).
The Court emphasized, however, that the finding of “necessity” must be on a case by case basis. “[T]he trial court must hear evidence and determine”: First, “whether use of the one-way closed-circuit procedure is necessary to protect the welfare of the particular child witness who seeks to testify.” — U.S. at —, 110 S.Ct. at 3169, 111 L.Ed.2d at 685, citing among other cases, Globe Newspaper Co. v. Superior Court, 457 U.S. 596, 608-609, 102 S.Ct. 2613, 2621, 73 L.Ed.2d 248 (1982). Second, the trial court must also find “that the child witness would be traumatized, not by the courtroom generally, but by the presence of the defendant.” Id., citing State v. Wilhite, 160 Ariz. 228, 772 P.2d 582 (App.1989); State v. Bonello, 210 Conn. 51, 554 A.2d 277 (1989); Commonwealth v. Ludwig, 366 Pa.Super. 361, 531 A.2d 459 (1987).9 Third and finally, the trial court must determine that the emotional distress suffered by the child witness in the presence of the defendant is “more than de minimis, i.e., more than mere nervousness or excitement or some reluctance to testify.” Id.10 If the trial court makes these three findings, then “the Confrontation Clause does not prohibit the use of a procedure that, despite the absence of face-to-face confrontation, ensures the reliability of the evidence by subjecting it to rigorous adversarial testing and thereby preserves the essence of effective confrontation.” — U.S. at —, 110 S.Ct. at 3169, 111 L.Ed.2d at 686. The Craig Court observed that the “rigorous adversarial testing” was accomplished in the case before it through the child (1) testifying under oath, (2) being subjected to full cross-examination and (3) being observed by the judge, the jury and the defendant. See — U.S. at —, 110 S.Ct. at 3170, 111 L.Ed.2d at 686.
III.
STATE LAW
Although the issue was not raised and argued by appellant in his brief before the Court of Appeals, that Court decided that the Texas Constitution provided for “face-to-face” confrontation. Gonzales, 784 S.W.2d at 727 (“we do not find that Coy differs that much from earlier decisions reached under TEX.CONST. art. I, § 10”) (dicta), citing Kemper v. State, 63 Tex.Crim. 1, 138 S.W. 1025, 1029 overruled by Robertson v. State, 63 Tex.Crim. 216, 142 S.W. 533, 546 (1911). The State takes issue with this finding. The State points out that “if there has been cross-examination there has been confrontation.” State’s Brief on the Merits at p. 41, quoting from Long v. State, 742 S.W.2d 302, 306 (Tex.Cr.App.1987)11, cert. denied, 485 U.S. 993, 108 S.Ct. 1301, 99 L.Ed.2d 511 (1988), overruled by Briggs v. State, 789 S.W.2d 918 (Tex.Cr.App.1990). The State reasons that because in this case there was cross-examination there was compliance with Article I, Section 10 of the Texas Constitution. We agree.
In Long this Court suggested that the State Constitution afforded greater confrontational rights than those afforded un[763]*763der the Federal Constitution. 742 S.W.2d at 309 n. 9.12 Nevertheless, the State Constitution has never required that the accused and the witnesses against him come “face-to-face” in the trial court in all situations. See, e.g., Porch v. State, 51 Tex.Crim. 7, 99 S.W. 1122, 1124 (1907); Kerry v. State, 17 Tex.App. 178, 182-183 (1884); Greenwood v. State, 35 Tex. 587, 590-592 (1872).13 In fact, we have interpreted the State and Federal Constitutions as not requiring any type of confrontation (much less “face-to-face” confrontation) between certain hearsay declarants and the accused at trial. See, e.g., Porter v. State, 578 S.W.2d 742, 745 (Tex.Cr.App.1979); Coulter v. State, 494 S.W.2d 876, 881 (Tex.Cr.App.1973); Heflin v. State, 274 S.W.2d 681, 684 (Tex.Cr.App.1955); Lane v. State, 59 Tex.Crim. 595, 129 S.W. 353, 357-358 (1910); Taylor v. State, 38 Tex.Crim. 552, 43 S.W. 1019,1020 (1898); Black v. State, 1 Tex.App. 368, 381-385 (1876); Burrell v. State, 18 Tex. 713, 731-732 (1857). As the Court in Garcia v. State, 151 Tex.Crim. 593, 210 S.W.2d 574 (1948), recognized:
“It is generally agreed that the process of confrontation has two purposes. The main and essential one is to secure the opportunity of cross-examination [but t]he granted right is not fixed or immov-able_ Exceptions exist to its application, as evidenced by the receipt of evidence of dying declarations and res ges-tae statements of deceased persons and the reproductions of testimony given by [764]*764witnesses where prior opportunity of cross-examination has been accorded.” 210 S.W.2d at 579 (opinion on rehearing) (citations omitted).
Thus, like the Craig court’s interpretation of the Confrontation Clause, this Court has interpreted the right to confrontation under the Texas Constitution in light of important policy considerations such that, while finding face-to-face confrontation furnishes the greatest assurance of compliance with the Constitution we have not determined that such is the only method of guaranteeing the confrontation rights afforded by Article I, Section 10 of the Texas Constitution.
We understand and readily accept that we are at liberty to interpret our Constitution as providing greater safeguards than those provided under the federal Constitution. Neither appellant nor the Court of Appeals, however, has presented us with compelling arguments for such actions on our part and we do not perceive any justification for doing so in the case before us. As discussed above, the Craig court outlined the important considerations which would justify a departure from a face-to-face confrontation. Those same considerations are equally applicable in the case before us today. Taking into account first, that there was confrontation in the form of cross-examination in the case before us, and second, the exigencies of the particular case before us, we will not read the right to confrontation guaranteed under our State Constitution as affording appellant the right to face-to-face confrontation. In short, we will use the same analysis applied in Craig to determine if the State Constitution has been violated in the case before us.
IY.
APPLICATION OF THE LAW TO THE FACTS
When we apply the Craig criteria to the case at bar, we must conclude that appellant was not denied his constitutional rights as guaranteed under him under either the State or Federal Constitution. That is, in the case at bar where the trial court has made specific findings supported by evidence that the two-way closed-circuit system: was needed to protect Yolanda’s welfare; that absent such a procedure Yolanda would be incapable of testifying in front of appellant; and that if the child were forced to testify in front of appellant such would add to or cause “severe trauma” to the child, we hold the use of the closed-circuit system did not offend either Constitution. We take into account that, albeit in a room away from appellant, the child’s testimony was subject to rigorous adversarial testing. Yolanda testified under oath, was subject to extensive cross-examination, and was observed by the judge, the jury and appellant. See Craig, — U.S. at —, 110 S.Ct. at 3169-3170, 111 L.Ed.2d at 686. Indeed, due to the two-way system that was utilized (unlike the one-way system in Craig), Yolanda was able to observe appellant while she testified. See and cf., Coy, 487 U.S. at 1019, 108 S.Ct. at 2802 (“A witness ‘may feel quite differently when he has to repeat his story looking at the man whom he will harm greatly by distorting or mistaking the facts.’ ”), quoting Jay v. Boyd, 351 U.S. 345, 375-376, 76 S.Ct. 919, 936, 100 L.Ed. 1242 (1956) (Douglas, J., dissenting); Craig, — U.S. at —, 110 S.Ct. at 3174, 111 L.Ed.2d at 692 (“[Ujnwillingness [of child to testify in front of the defendant] cannot be a valid excuse under the Confrontation Clause whose very object is to place the witness under the sometimes hostile glare of the defendant.”) (Scalia, J., dissenting).
The Court of Appeals in this case decided that allowing the child to give her testimony via the closed-circuit system was constitutionally infirm. Specifically, the Court of Appeals — while correctly assuming that the opinion expressed by Justice O’Connor would control disposition of this case— found that use of the closed-circuit system violated the Confrontation Clause because in this case “[t]here is no statute declaring a public policy regarding the situation, nor any legislative finding of necessity.” We cannot agree with this analysis.
The Texas Legislature has sanctioned the use of a closed-circuit system (see footnote 3) but specified that the use of such is for those cases when the child witness is the “victim” of the offense and the offense is one specified within the statute. See Article 38.071, Sections 1 and 3, Y.A.C.C.P. [765]*765Here the trial court judge allowed the child to testify in this murder case by way of the closed-circuit system because he believed that, since she was the victim in a sexual assault case then pending against appellant in another district court, the situation was covered by the statute. The Court of Appeals found that Article 38.071 did not authorize the trial court’s actions because the child was neither the victim of the offense then being tried nor was the offense one that is enumerated in Article 38.071. Gonzales, 784 S.W.2d at 728. This may be so; nevertheless, addressing the question of whether the Legislature intended to extend Article 38.071’s application to such a situation is really unnecessary for resolution of the issues. As the State has pointed out: “the ‘bottom line’ or central legal issue is the same with or without reference to article 38.071(3); the question being did the State’s prosecutorial innovation violate the defendant’s right to confrontation.” State’s Motion for Rehearing p. 4.
True, in Craig, the Supreme Court did talk in terms of the “State mak[ing] an adequate showing of necessity [such that] the state interest in protecting the child witness from the trauma of testifying in a child abuse case is sufficiently important to justify the use of a special procedure_” — U.S. at —, 110 S.Ct. at 3169, 111 L.Ed.2d at 685. And we recognize that in Cog the Court intimated that exceptions to face-to-face confrontation “would ... be allowed only when necessary to further an important public policy.” 487 U.S. at 1021, 108 S.Ct. at 2803.14 But we see no reason why an expression of this important public policy must necessarily be in the form of an act or statute. More importantly, we have found nothing in any pertinent opinion from this Court or from the Supreme Court that would permit only the Legislature to make this “public policy” determination on behalf of the State. Here we recognize that among the general public policy considerations supporting the trial court’s actions in the case before us, are: (1) an expressed legislative concern that “seeks ... [t]o exclude the offender from all hope of escape”;15 (2) an expressed legislative concern to protect children under similar circumstances;16 and (3) the [766]*766expressed affirmation and reaffirmation by the judiciary of this State and the United States that the protection of children is a legitimate and compelling state goal. See New York v. Ferber, 458 U.S. 747, 756-757, 102 S.Ct. 3348, 3354-3355, 73 L.Ed.2d 1113 (1982) (state interest in safeguarding the physical and psychological well-being of a minor is compelling); Globe Newspaper Co. v. Superior Court, 457 U.S. 596, 607, 102 S.Ct. 2613, 2620, 73 L.Ed.2d 248 (1982) (state interest in safeguarding protection of minor victims from further trauma); FCC v. Pacifica Foundation, 438 U.S. 726, 749-750, 98 S.Ct. 3026, 3040-3041, 57 L.Ed.2d 1073 (1978) (government interest in well-being of its youth); Ginsberg v. New York, 390 U.S. 629, 640, 88 S.Ct. 1274, 1281, 20 L.Ed.2d 195 (1968) (state has interest in the welfare of children and safeguarding them from abuses); Prince v. Massachusetts, 321 U.S. 158, 168, 64 S.Ct. 438, 443, 88 L.Ed. 645 (1944) (state may secure against dangers to children). See also Duckett v. State, 797 S.W.2d 906, 916 n. 15 (Tex.Cr.App.1990). Given these legitimate — indeed, unquestionable — state goals or public policies applicable to the case before us today, and given the trial court’s case-specific determination that a certain procedure akin to that used in Craig was needed to protect the child witness, we do not read Coy or Craig as mandating some sort of enabling statute for the trial court’s actions.
The judgment of the Court of Appeals is reversed and the cause is remanded to that Court to address appellant’s due process claims that were not addressed on original submission.