Law, Crime & Justice

» sosnet - Myths and Facts About Child Sex Abuse

What is the difference between Jerry Burke Inman, John Evander Couey or Joseph Edward Duncan III and over 90 percent of the folks on a Sex Offender Registry? To answer this question, we need to look at the intent of Megan’s and Jacob’s Laws. They mandated a SOR (sex offender registry) and community notification for states, designed to keep track of the high risk or most violent and predatory offenders. The men mentioned above are high-risk or predators. Additionally, they were intentionally absconding from the system at the time of their most recent crimes. (In Mr. Inman’s case, he is registered in two states, his Florida registration showed he was in Tennessee, and his North Carolina registration showed he was in Michigan.) The conditions of their bail, probation, or parole did not matter to them. Noteworthy is the fact that according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, predators represent around three percent of all sex offenders and child killers are less than one percent of all offenders.

Driven by higher ratings, it seems the media in general refuses to deal with the sex offender issue in a fair, accurate, and responsible manner. From assignment reporters to national correspondents and network anchors, the current paradigm is nothing short of disgraceful. Respected journalist of past, such as Chet Huntley, David Brinkley, John Chancellor, Peter Jennings and many others must unquestionably be turning over in their graves, and giants like Walter Cronkite, Bill Moyer, Dan Rather, and others must be shaking their head in disbelief.

When one looks at the facts, the some in the media continually subjugates the truth to myths. Here are some examples:

Myth – All sex offenders are child molesters and all child molesters are predators.

Fact – The FBI-UCR, National Crime Victimization Survey reveals that only 23% of sex crimes are against someone under 18; and the Bureau of Justice Statistics shows that predators represent around three percent of all sex offenders and child killers are less than one percent of all offenders.

Myth – All child molesters are pedophiles.

Fact – Pedophile means someone attracted to and obsesses of pre-pubescent children. Studies by the U.S Department of Health and Human Services show that less than twenty-nine percent of sex offenses are against children under age twelve.

Myth – Strangers are lurking at school bus stops or around playgrounds looking for children to molest.

Fact – According to all reliable resources, around 90% of all child molestation cases involve someone who is a family member, or someone who is close to or trusted by the family.

Myth – Depraved adults commit all sex crimes.

Fact – Over 40% of sex crimes committed against someone under 18 are by a juvenile; most are consensual sex by teenagers, others are older siblings acting out against a relative.

Myth – Sex offenders have the highest recidivism rate (some quote 95%) and allowing them back into society is a mistake.

Fact – Again, according to the U.S. Dept. of Justice and other studies done since 1994, sex offenders commit another crime, of any kind, at a rate of just thirteen percent, while those convicted of property theft reoffend (steal again) at an average of 75%. People convicted of drunk driving will reoffend at a rate of 51%, while a convicted murderer will reoffend at a rate of 41%. Ex-convicts with a non-sex offense charge are 87% more likely to commit a sex offense than a convicted sex offender in therapy is.

Myth – Sex offenses are increasing and are becoming an epidemic in our society.

Fact – Using the Bureau of Statistics, U.S. Dept. of Justice own figures, over the past 16 years, sex offenses have declined around 35%. What you are not told is state and local governments receive federal funds (Byrne Grant and LEBG) based on the number of people they have on sex offender registries, creating a financial incentive to add more names each year. As proof, from 1998 to 2001, Georgia saw a 280% increase in its SOR, Alabama a 659% increase, and Washington a 993% increase. Is this a result of more offenders being caught or more “crimes” like public urination being classified as a sex offence? If the DOJ statistic is true, then the only conclusion has to be with the latter.

Myth – Sex offender treatment is too high and ineffective.

Fact – Sex offender treatment cost is exponentially lower than incarceration and has proven to be an effective way to monitor sex offender activity. The statistical average nationwide of incarceration is around $22,000 per year per inmate. Factor in the cost of welfare for the inmates family members, and the cost jumps to $48,000 per year. The cost for treatment and community monitoring is less than $5,000 per year per offender. It is just more fiscally responsible to treat low risk offenders different, and it preserves tax revenue for government treasuries.

Myth – All sex offenders are the same.

Fact – Sex offenses are as varied as the people who commit them. It is irresponsible to cast a broad net and classify all sex offenders the same. Categorizing all offenders, the same is a miscarriage of justice and impacts society adversely by wasting law enforcement resources on low risk offenders in place of a concentrated effort to track high-risk offenders and predators.

In case people are not convinced, it is all about ratings and dollars; they just need look at the latest Nielsen Media Research figures for NBC’s Dateline. Chris Hansen of Dateline quotes “1 in 5 online teenagers are approached about sex”. However, he never tells rest of the story. The survey he quotes shows that in over 70% of the time it is other teenagers, not adults trolling the internet for sex, who are approaching them. A lie of omission is still a lie.

Many as a means to harass offenders use community notification. Since 1993, thirty-nine offenders have been killed because their identities were published. According to the Jacob Wetterling Foundation (www.jwf.org)

• Community Notification is not about chasing sex offenders out of our neighborhoods.

• Experts agree that sex offenders are less likely to re-offend if they live and work in an environment free of harassment.

• Most offenders return to their original area of residence, or they are released to an area because they have family support there, or because they have found a job in that area.

• Many sex offenders live in an area due to its proximity to their therapy provider; sex offenders in therapy have the lowest recidivism rate. Chasing them away from their therapist and support network is not in the best interest of public safety.

A report to the Unites States Senate Judiciary Committee by SOhopeful International (www.sohopeful.org) stated, “It is because of these misunderstandings about the real nature of sex crimes, victims of sex crimes and sex offenders that Federal and some State governments are spending large sums for ineffective policies that do not increase public safety.” The public needs to be more concerned about high-risk sex offenders and absconders, not the low risk offenders who are working hard to comply with their probation and therapy guidelines or who have paid their debt to society and are on the Sex Offender Registry by law. Because of law enforcement needing to spending precious resources tracking low risk offenders, two girls, and a young woman are now dead. Additionally, hysteria created by media misinformation and hyperbole, has a devastating and demoralizing effect on the families of low-risk offenders, including the unintended practice of revealing the identity of victims of intra-familial abuse, traumatizing children a second time.

Roughly, 90 persons (out of 100) who are deemed low risk for re-offending must register (some for life) as a sex offender. Why do the media and politicians want to put all sex offenders in the same group? What has not been publicly discussed is the impact of registration on those 90% of registrants. Specifically their families and children - many times (remember DOJ stats show 40%), the offender is a child, and the victim is a younger sibling. These victims are doubly victimized when their family or older sibling is humiliated and ostracized.

The SOhopeful International web site brings to our attention the plight registered sex offenders children or siblings must face. “Children cry themselves to sleep at night knowing that Daddy has to sleep in his car at a rest stop in below zero temperatures because some politician decided that even though Daddy's therapists deemed him no threat to any children, Daddy can't live at home.

Children who are forced to move over and over due to harassment at school each time a fellow student's parent sends to school a stack of flyers of Daddy's or brother's SOR listing (*this is illegal in most states) and gets beat up at school after school, losing all social support structure that is so crucial for healthy development.

How can you look into the eyes of a child and tell them that they somehow deserve to be homeless, harassed, beaten, humiliated, stigmatized and made a pariah for the remote chance at saving some other child? Whose children are worthy? Only those of others? Or do the children of registrants even count?”

Let’s replace myths, lies, and fear mongering with rational thought and truth through education programs and factual reporting. Let’s tell the truth about proximity laws, they are unjust to wives and children, parents or families of low risk offenders and do not make society safer, they encourage high-risk offenders to abscond. Additionally, they go against the original intent of Megan’s Law. Because of new harsher proximity laws in many states, intra-familial offenses will go unreported in order to keep families together. The victims and offenders of unreported intra-familial offenses, who do not receive therapy, create opportunities for more offenses and victims. How in the world can this make children safer? The good news is that there are solutions, we can put an end to the panic and better manage sex offenders. Some of these solutions are outlined below and are just a starting point for a safer society for all families.

The SOhopeful International report to the United States Senate Judiciary Committee offers these solutions; they include a common sense approach to low-risk intra-familial offenders:

• Treatment of high-risk separately from that of low-risk offenders.

• Civil commitment for high-risk offenders and predators.

• Treatment programs for low-risk offenders and victims.

• Prevention programs for teens and young adults to prevent sex abuse through development of successful coping skills and through understanding of appropriate boundaries.

I advocate these measures and in taking them a step further. To insure we protect all families we should also:

• Employ standardized national reporting and risk level guidelines making monitoring easier for law enforcement.

• Implement a five-tier risk level; to include NO RISK, LOW RISK, MEDIUM RISK, HIGH RISK, and PREDATOR.

• Immediate removal of community notification for NO RISK and LOW RISK offenders (teenage consensual sex and one time intra-familial) increasing its effectiveness to law enforcement, state corrections, and the courts.

• Develop better training and standardized investigative techniques, creating an accurate litmus test to determine false allegations (the American Psychological Association estimates this around 30 to 70% where custody dispute is involved in a divorce) from factual sex abuse cases.

• Provide separate sex offender correctional facilities and mandatory ATSA (Association for the Treatment of Sexual Offenders) approved therapy prior to release.

• Assess risk level prior to reentry into society, implement GPS monitoring and bi-annual assessment of medium risk offenders until their determined risk is lowered.

• No parole life sentences for second (non-technical) offenses and deliberate absconders.

• For NO RISK and LOW RISK offenders, provide education programs and skills training, to increase employability making re-entry back into society more certain.

A five-tiered risk level system allows offenders to earn the right to return to society. It separates risk level in an understandable fashion, making enforcement more efficient and community notification more understandable. It allows jurist to consider the merits of each individual case and rule appropriately. Additionally, parents (notice the onus is on the parents not the government) will know how safe their neighborhoods are and better able to educate their children who to avoid.

We also need to increase the penalties for using the registries to harass or intimidate offenders. These actions are nothing more than vigilantism. Registries are most effective when individuals use them to educate their children of where offenders are living in a neighborhood. Currently in most states, it is only a misdemeanor offense and it is never enforced. Individuals who use the registry to notify others of an offender’s presence in a neighborhood should be charged with felony reckless endangerment, punishable by up to five years probation, community service and restitution.

We must have more faith in ourselves than in government to solve the sex abuse problem. Citizens, communities, journalist, media personalities, and legislators should demand a National Sex Offender Public Policy Forum to address these issues. This would help state and local governments formulate workable, cost effective laws that protect the rights of all citizens. Forums should include mental health professionals, jurist, law enforcement and corrections personnel, victims and their families, offenders and their families. The offender’s families are secondary casualties of ill-conceived laws. In lieu of fostering a fearful witch-hunt mentality for advertising dollars and higher ratings, the media needs to step up to this societal challenge. They should strive to dispel the myths and create the environment for policy and subsequent legislation to succeed, creating a safe society for all children.

Why are we comfortable with myths than facts? How does demonizing an entire group of people create value for society? What is next for sex offenders and their families? Internment camps fashioned after the “relocation centers” for Japanese Americans during World War II. What is gained by knee jerk legislation? Where is Edward R. Murrow when we need him most?

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-- posted by sosnet

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