ACTION In Washington - Contact your legislator! Is your legislator on the House Rules Committee? Call!
Senate Bill 5832 - Allowing the prosecution of sex offenses against minor victims until the victim's twenty-eighth birthday if the offense is listed in RCW 9A.04.080(1) (b)(iii)(A) or (c).
After three years, we know that good bills often die in well-intended committees! Call your legislators and ask them to support this bill! Let them know we'll be following-up to see who said nice things but did nothing, and who actively worked to bring justice to the victims of child sexual assault.
If you prefer to email, or if you want to organize your community and do some dedicated and polite emailing, you can use this link: All member list. If you go that route, please be polite and don't spam.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Testimony on Behalf of WA SB 5832
Last year, our membership told us that the Statutes of Limitation for Child Sexual Assault was a priority for them. We were told that they (SOL on CSA) were too complicated, they weren’t long enough, they weren’t fair, and they weren’t realistic.
We spent a considerable number of hours over March and April of 2008 learning enough to form a reasonable opinion. We spoke with social workers who work with child victims, memory researchers, psychologist child trauma specialists, law school teachers, police officers, legislators, adult survivors of CSA, and defense lawyers. We went out and learned, and came back and worked through it all, and formed an opinion.
We know that most victims of CSA were abused by their father or a close male authority figure.
We know that victims of CSA are raised in dysfunctional environments, often with more issues than just the CSA.
We know that predators work to create an environment where kids tolerate and/or accept the abuse, because of threats or training.
We know that children who are abused by one person are much more likely to be abused by another person. It’s called polyvictimization, and it’s something dealt with by foster kids, and by children who have been trained to think that sexual exploitation is normal.
We know that these children often feel tremendous shame for what was done to them, and what they want more than anything else is to feel safe and secured from the constant risk that is their life.
We know that these children are likely to have issues with authority, to be self-destructive, to have post traumatic stress disorder, to tolerate abuse because abuse and love aren’t dissimilar to them.
We know that therapy, depending on the age of onset, duration, and extremity of abuse, may take two years or 20 years to achieve a ‘healthy’ emotional balance.
And we expect them to overcome all of this in the three years between 18 and 21?
For our community, for the children of our community, we ask you to move SB 5832 forward. We ask you to actively support SB 5832 as it makes its way through the house and is signed into law.
We spent a considerable number of hours over March and April of 2008 learning enough to form a reasonable opinion. We spoke with social workers who work with child victims, memory researchers, psychologist child trauma specialists, law school teachers, police officers, legislators, adult survivors of CSA, and defense lawyers. We went out and learned, and came back and worked through it all, and formed an opinion.
What do we know?
We know that, according to the DOJ, in 2007 67% of all reported sex crimes were committed upon minors. 14% of all reported sex crimes were committed upon children under 6. The Crimes against Children Research Center has stated that the crime is likely very under-reported.We know that most victims of CSA were abused by their father or a close male authority figure.
We know that victims of CSA are raised in dysfunctional environments, often with more issues than just the CSA.
We know that predators work to create an environment where kids tolerate and/or accept the abuse, because of threats or training.
We know that children who are abused by one person are much more likely to be abused by another person. It’s called polyvictimization, and it’s something dealt with by foster kids, and by children who have been trained to think that sexual exploitation is normal.
We know that these children often feel tremendous shame for what was done to them, and what they want more than anything else is to feel safe and secured from the constant risk that is their life.
We know that these children are likely to have issues with authority, to be self-destructive, to have post traumatic stress disorder, to tolerate abuse because abuse and love aren’t dissimilar to them.
We know that therapy, depending on the age of onset, duration, and extremity of abuse, may take two years or 20 years to achieve a ‘healthy’ emotional balance.
And we expect them to overcome all of this in the three years between 18 and 21?
The Statutes of Limitations, as they stand, are not just. They do not serve justice.
The current SOL on CSA are not reasonable. SB 5832 shows reason. SB 5832 provides more time to achieve economic independence, social independence, and therapy, so that the child may mature and safely report.For our community, for the children of our community, we ask you to move SB 5832 forward. We ask you to actively support SB 5832 as it makes its way through the house and is signed into law.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Sexting - Bethan is on a tirade
From Wikipedia:
Sexting (a portmanteau of sex and texting) is the act of sending sexually explicit photos electronically, primarily between cell phones. It is practiced primarily by young adults, though it is known to occur amongst children as young as middle-school age.
MSNBC Article on Sexting: Teen ‘sexting’: Youthful prank or sex crime?
When you're thinking about sex crime legislation, especially with regard to how it may apply to minors - take a minute to contemplate how you would feel if it was applied to your child. We know our kids, and most of us are not compulsive apologists for our beloved sociopathic offspring - we can be honest about theoretical situations, right?
So, theoretically, your kid, Jane, gets caught at school with a naked picture of 17 year old John on her phone. What's a reasonable consequence for Jane? Prison? 25 years of mandatory offender reporting, potentially having to move out of your house because your other children are minors?
Applying child pornography laws to consensual sexting is ludicrous. Because - remember, please- we have laws that say teenagers within a certain age range of each other CAN consent to acts committed with each other, so long as they are both unimpaired. If those laws can apply to the actual act of sex, then they should apply to a teenage girl sending her boyfriend a naked pic via text message.
We need legislation to reflect the spectrum of stupidity represented by sexting, rather than apply consequences that were written for something entirely different.
Because child pornography is different than sexting. In my opinion, charging someone with possession/distribution of child porn for consensual sexting is a gross misrepresentation of justice, and diminishes the horrific criminality of those who have actually sexually exploited children for profit.
When is sexting something other than sexting?
Technology is wonderful thing, and there's no doubt that it's changing society. There are some things that have not changed, however, and I'd like to list them here:
Common sense. That's what we're going for. Technology is a wonderful thing, and it's developing at a remarkable rate. Parents really need to keep up.
Check out Linda Criddle's website, Look Both Ways.
Sexting (a portmanteau of sex and texting) is the act of sending sexually explicit photos electronically, primarily between cell phones. It is practiced primarily by young adults, though it is known to occur amongst children as young as middle-school age.
MSNBC Article on Sexting: Teen ‘sexting’: Youthful prank or sex crime?
When you're thinking about sex crime legislation, especially with regard to how it may apply to minors - take a minute to contemplate how you would feel if it was applied to your child. We know our kids, and most of us are not compulsive apologists for our beloved sociopathic offspring - we can be honest about theoretical situations, right?
So, theoretically, your kid, Jane, gets caught at school with a naked picture of 17 year old John on her phone. What's a reasonable consequence for Jane? Prison? 25 years of mandatory offender reporting, potentially having to move out of your house because your other children are minors?
Applying child pornography laws to consensual sexting is ludicrous. Because - remember, please- we have laws that say teenagers within a certain age range of each other CAN consent to acts committed with each other, so long as they are both unimpaired. If those laws can apply to the actual act of sex, then they should apply to a teenage girl sending her boyfriend a naked pic via text message.
We need legislation to reflect the spectrum of stupidity represented by sexting, rather than apply consequences that were written for something entirely different.
Because child pornography is different than sexting. In my opinion, charging someone with possession/distribution of child porn for consensual sexting is a gross misrepresentation of justice, and diminishes the horrific criminality of those who have actually sexually exploited children for profit.
When is sexting something other than sexting?
- Guy takes a pic of his girlfriend when she's sleeping, and sells copies of the image to his friends, or in any way distributes it to a wide group of people, texting or otherwise.
- Minor girl decides that selling naked pics of herself is a better way to make money than the local fast food place, and uses her phone to distribute the images.
- Younger or impaired minor is photographed by significantly older person, or non-impaired peer. Younger/impaired person is not able to provide consent, so this is exploitation.
Technology is wonderful thing, and there's no doubt that it's changing society. There are some things that have not changed, however, and I'd like to list them here:
- They're teenagers - they will, in some way at some time, be indiscreet, juvenile, and maybe even brutally mean. It will almost certainly pass.
- The cell phone is one more tool, in an age-old list of tools, with which teenagers will be stupid.
- I can't find privacy mentioned in the Bill of Rights. This may be an indicator that your kids don't have a right to privacy, especially where their ability to wreak massive amounts of havoc are concerned. Let them know you will look through their phone and internet records. And then - look through their phone and internet records. Really.
Common sense. That's what we're going for. Technology is a wonderful thing, and it's developing at a remarkable rate. Parents really need to keep up.
Check out Linda Criddle's website, Look Both Ways.
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