Wayland Baptist University
Lubbock Campus

Child Molestation: Does the punishment fit the crime?

Justice Administration 3300
Criminal Law
Professor Shupe

By
Lance Sumrall
October 18, 2010

Imagine a child, a little girl about the age of 10; she has just walked in the door from a fun day at school. She is surprised to find that mom is not home, only her new step-father. She goes to her room to put away her book bag and take off her shoes. She turns around to see her new dad standing in the doorway with a strange look in his eye. In the moments to come, the innocence of a precious child will be destroyed forever. Studies show that two out of ten girls and one out of ten boys will be sexually abused before their fourteenth birthday, and children that are abused are much more likely to be abused by a family member or close friend not a stranger off the street.
While child molestation is a common phrase used by the media and public when discussing sexual abuse of children, the actual crime is called child sexual assault. The National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect defines child sexual assault as “contacts or interactions between a child and an adult when the child is being used for sexual stimulation of the perpetrator or another person when the perpetrator or another person is in a position of power or control over the victim.” These “contacts or interactions” include inappropriate physical contact, forcing a child to view pornography or people performing sexual acts, using a child in making pornography, and exposing an adult’s genitals to a child. When referring to a child, it is generally considered anyone under the age of 14. Children in their teens are less likely to be sexually abused, and the age of consent starts to come in to play in some situations.
The crime rates for child molestation are hard to determine. The definition used to describe molestation can be very different from study to study. Additionally, researchers believe that many instances of assault or molestation go unreported. The effects of sexual abuse on a child are numerous and long lasting. A child as young as 2 or 3 cannot comprehend the nature of what is going on and that it is wrong, but the overstimulation will still cause the child to develop issues. Older children that are abused by a family member or care giver are trapped between the affection they have for the abuser and the knowledge that what is happening is wrong. These are two simple reasons why many instances of abuse are not reported.
Fortunately, many instances of sexual assault get reported because a teacher, nurse, or doctor notice something wrong and take the initiative to investigate and report the abuse. Without these people paying attention, many victims would continue to suffer for months and months before it finally stopped. The abusers often threaten the victims with violence to them or their family if they report the abuse to the authorities, which obviously hinders the reporting and stopping of the abuse too.
Sexual abuse not only strips the innocence from a child, it causes long term psychological damage. A child that is subjected to prolonged sexual abuse often develops a low self esteem and feel that something is wrong with them or their body. Furthermore, they begin to have nightmares or other sleeping issues and many become suicidal. Sexual assault and abuse on children ruin what should be some of the happiest years of their lives. Additionally, children that experienced sexual abuse have a difficult time relating to others except for in a sexual manner. Also, those that have been abused are more likely to become abusive as they get older or participate in deviant behavior such as prostitution. Approximately 95 percent of the teenage prostitutes in America were sexually abused at home before they turned to prostitution.
One thing is certain; the punishment for child molesters is not severe enough and to many, any punishment less than death is not harsh enough. Child molesters should face much more severe punishment simply for the nature of their crime. People that sexually abuse children are very likely to repeat their crimes until caught, and once they are released from prison they have a higher recidivism rate than many other criminals. Until recently, the punishments handed out to child molesters were not an effective deterrent. However, over the last 5 years many states have cracked down on people that sexually abuse children and are implementing much stiffer penalties.
If constitutionality were not an issue regarding the punishment of child molesters, the punishment would be much more severe. Prison sentences would be a welcomed instead of what should be done to people that assault innocent children. Punishment that includes dismemberment, castration, and stoning come to mind as appropriate. These types of punishments would get our society closer to being rid of this type of crime than any prison sentence ever will.
Child molesters do not fit into one specific category; they have many differences when looking at personality, background, life experiences, and criminal history, there is no one child molester profile. Statistics illustrate that child molesters are predominately men, one report stated that in 96 percent of the child molestation reports filed the offender was male. Additionally, 77 percent of the offenders were adults with juvenile offenders accounting for only 23 percent of sexual assaults on children. Lastly, the sexual molestation will most likely come from someone known to the victim. Only 7 percent of reported assaults were committed by a stranger, which means 93 percent were committed by either family or friend. Trying to profile a child molester beyond these three facts gets very complicated.
Moreover, there are two different classes of child molester. The first type is a situational child molester. This type feels no sexual desire for children and has very few victims, sometimes only one victim throughout their entire life. Situational child molesters are more likely to respond to counseling and be rehabilitated. The second kind of child molester is classified as preferential. These individuals are the ones that have numerous victims and have a strong sexual desire for children. These people probably will not stop assaulting children until they are caught. They are more commonly known as pedophiles and can have similar obsessive-compulsive traits that fantasy driven serial killers possess. Both types of child molesters are very dangerous predators deserve the harshest punishment available.
The generally accepted purpose of today’s prison system is to punish and rehabilitate criminals and to deter the crime from being committed again in the future. If the standard punishment for a child molester was severe enough, then logic would lead to the conclusion that child molestation reports would decrease on a yearly basis until only very few if any assaults were being committed each year. According to the United States Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families, almost 70,000 children were sexually abused in 2008. These numbers indicate that the child molestation remains a serious issue.
The punishment for a child sexual assault conviction can be different from state to state, but a typical punishment for a first offense is 5 to 20 years imprisonment but the judge can choose to probate the sentence and recommend counseling. Any subsequent offense would be punishable of 10 to 30 years in prison. Additionally, an aggravated sexual assault of a child can be punished with 10 to 30 years for the first offense. These punishments might seem reasonable, except that child molesters have been known to attack again as many as 20 years after being released from prison. Furthermore, recidivism rates for child molesters have been known to be as high as 40 percent. These statistics are just further proof that the old laws were not working nearly well enough.
Over the last few years, several states have taken steps towards increasing the length of incarceration and level of punishment for child molesters. In 2005 Florida passed “Jessica’s Law” which strengthened their laws regarding child molestation. Anyone convicted of lewd acts on a child under 12 is subject to a mandatory minimum 25 year prison sentence and a lifetime of electronic monitoring. Furthermore, anyone convicted of rape or sexual battery of a child under 12 can be punished with life imprisonment without parole.
Florida’s law has been the basis for legislation in almost every other state, as well as at the federal level as well. Oklahoma passed a law that allowed an offender to be put to death if they were convicted for a second time of raping a child under the age of 14. Furthermore, South Carolina passed legislation allowing the death penalty for two convictions of rape of a child under the age of 11. Texas already had strong laws on the books prior to Jessica’s Law. Texas has a two strike policy towards child sexual assault that sends a convicted offender to life in prison. The first offense of aggravated sexual assault in a child in Texas is punishable up to 99 years in prison. These few examples are proof that lawmakers are tired of our children being victimized and are doing what they can to help prevent the abuse.
The people in charge of making and enforcing laws would like to implement even more severe punishments when sentencing child molesters, but in today’s society too many people think any punishment more severe than what has been passed constitutes cruel and unusual. Many times a child molester has to be separated from the general population while in prison because they are viewed as the lowest form of criminal within prison society. If a child molester is not kept separate, or is placed in a building with certain other offenders, the fellow inmates might take it upon themselves to inflict further punishment on the child molester since the current justice system seems to be somewhat lenient.
Many people consider sexual assault of a child to be a more heinous, vile crime than murder. The way most of the old statutes were written, punishment for a first offense of sexual abuse on a child without aggravating circumstances, offenders could potentially be punished with only probation and counseling. The rate of recidivism, while not as high as once believed, is high enough that it caused citizens and lawmakers to take notice.
Megan’s Law and Jessica’s Law were two solutions to the issues facing how the states should deal with child sex offenders. They originated in single states and were quickly adopted by most of the others. Megan’s Law requires people convicted of sexual assault of a child to register with the state as a sex offender and report their current addresses for public records database. Convicted sexual offenders are also not allowed to be within certain distances of daycares, elementary schools, or playgrounds. If they are caught in these areas, it is considered a violation of parole and they can be sent back to prison. Jessica’s Law makes sentencing and punishment much more severe for repeat offenders. It is named after a little girl in Florida that was kidnapped, raped, and killed by a sexual predator that had already been in prison once for sexual assault of a child. Offenders convicted of a second instance of child sexual assault can be punished with either death or life in prison. These changes have had an impact on the crime rates and the number of assaults seems to be going down.
Parents, teachers, family members, and friends can help reduce child molestation by paying attention. Everyone needs to be sure and notice any major changes in behavior and attitudes. They should learn the warning signs of sexual abuse such as depicting molestation in drawings or pictures, not wanting to go to school, delinquency, and increased secretiveness to name a few. If the people that truly love children are vigilant, maybe some kids will be spared the torture of being abused. Furthermore, as a parent do not always assume that because someone is a relative, they are safe. Remember that most sexual assaults are done by family members or family friends.
The punishment for people convicted of sexual abuse of a child should not be allowed to continue to live. They should be punished with death immediately following their convictions. Since this is America, this type of punishment is not allowed. Every prisoner, no matter how evil and twisted they are, is protected from cruel and inhumane punishment and there are plenty of lawyers ready to make sure of this. The new laws have strengthened the punishment for child molesters as much as is allowed in today’s world. Child molestation is a crime that needs to be totally eliminated, but that will never happen so until then hopefully the newest laws are harsh enough to increase the number of potential offenders that get deterred.
References

American Academy of Child and Adolescence Psychiatry. (2009). Retrieved October 13, 2010, from American Academy of Child and Adolescence Psychiatry: http://www.aacap.org/page.ww?name=Child+Sexual+Abuse&section=Facts+for+Families
Child Molestation Research & Prevention Institute. (2010). Retrieved October 4, 2010, from Child Molestation Research & Prevention Institute: http://childmolestationprevention.org/
Hylton, H. (2007, May 2). TIME. Retrieved September 30, 2010, from TIME: http://www.time.com
Kelly, M. (2002, August 1). Keeping Our Children Safe. Retrieved October 15, 2010, from The American Partisan: http://www.american-partisan.com/cols/2002/kelly/qtr3/0801.htm
Knight, R. A., Lee, A. F., & Prentky, R. A. (2010). National Criminal Justice Reference Service. Retrieved September 25, 2010, from National Criminal Justice Reference Service: http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/163390.pdf
Nancy Faulkner, P. (2009). PANdora's Box: The Secrecy of Child Sexual Abuse. Retrieved September 25, 2010, from http://www.prevent-abuse-now.com/stats.htm
Oklahoma Okays Death Penalty for Child Molesters. (2006, June 9). Retrieved September 29, 2010, from Talk Left The Politics of Crime: http://www.talkleft.com
Snyder, H. N. (2010). Bureau of Justice Statistics. Retrieved October 3, 2010, from Bureau of Justice Statistics: http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/saycrle.pdf
The Free Dictionary by Farlex. (2010). Retrieved September 28, 2010, from The Free Dictionary by Farlex: http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families. (2010). Retrieved October 10, 2010, from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families: http://www.acf.hhs.gov
United States Sentencing Commission. (2010). Retrieved October 5, 2010, from United States Sentencing Commission: http://www.ussc.gov
USLegal, Inc. (2010). Retrieved October 1, 2010, from http://definitions.uslegal.com/c/child-sexual-molestation/
Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia. (2010). Retrieved October 15, 2010, from Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org

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[ 1 ]. Child Molestation Research and Prevention Institute, 2010
[ 2 ]. Uslegal.com, 2010
[ 3 ]. Uslegal.com, 2010
[ 4 ]. American Academy of Child & Adolescence Psychiatry, 2009
[ 5 ]. American Academy of Child & Adolescence Psychiatry, 2009
[ 6 ]. American Academy of Child & Adolescence Psychiatry, 2009
[ 7 ]. American Academy of Child & Adolescence Psychiatry, 2009
[ 8 ]. Faulkner, 2009
[ 9 ]. Knight, Lee, Prently, 1997
[ 10 ]. Snyder, 2000, p. 8
[ 11 ]. Snyder, 2000, p. 10
[ 12 ]. Kelly, 2002
[ 13 ]. US Department of Health and Human Services, 2010
[ 14 ]. USlegal.com
[ 15 ]. Thefreedictionary.com
[ 16 ]. United States Sentencing Commission, n.d.
[ 17 ]. Wikipedia.com
[ 18 ]. www.talkleft.com
[ 19 ]. Hylton, 2007
[ 20 ]. American Academy of Child & Adolescence Psychiatry, 2009