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Letter
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Photos by David Weible
Letter of Concern
March, 2007
Are you aware that in Kansas it is less of a crime to sexually abuse your own child than your neighbor’s child?
At this time, the Alliance to Recognize and End Abuse is actively working to change part of the criminal statute which covers incest. We feel that this legislation would provide justice to victims not protected by Jessica's Law (Jessica’s Law was passed in 2006 and mandates minimum 25 year sentences for violent sexual predators. It was designed to protect our children but failed to address incest).
Legislation regarding this issue, SB233, was introduced this session to the Kansas Senate Judiciary Committee but was held over for further work this summer by a legislative interim committee.
We believe that the penalties for incest should be the same as for rape. Children who are incested suffer unique psychological and physical damage as a result of being deceived and betrayed by someone who should have protected and cherished them. Recent statistics
show that up to 50% of child sexual abuse victims are abused by family members. The crime should be called what it is —incest. It should carry the same penalty as rape.
SB233 currently covers only children ages 14 to 18. It needs to be expanded to cover all victims of incest under age 18. The penalty section of SB233 asks that the crime be a penalty level 1. We agree, but by adding the words “non-drug, off-grid” penalty level 1, the bill will carry a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years. We would like your support of SB233 with these changes.
A.R.E.A. is a statewide coalition of professional and lay citizens who believe that abuse of any kind is wrong but the abuse of children is intolerable. We further believe that perpetrators of child abuse should be held fully accountable for their crimes.
Our Alliance has made extensive studies of the incredible costs of not preventing child abuse which amount to over $400 million annually in Kansas. (click here to see our Position Paper). At the same time, we acknowledge the potential costs in changing the statute. However, the cost of abuse to even one child cannot be measured in dollars and cents. We are a civilized and compassionate society and we simply cannot allow the continued abuse of our children, nor should we continue to tolerate and overlook this terrible crime of incest.
Send your letters of support for an expanded SB233 to A.R.E.A. and we will carry them to the legislative interim committee summer 2007. You can also contact your state legislators and ask them to support an expanded SB233 at www.kslegislature.org.
With respect,
Alliance to Recognize and End Abuse (A.R.E.A.)
P.O. Box 162
El Dorado, KS 67042
Mary Jo Grant, Ph.D.
Arlys-Marie Gilchrist, Incest Survivor
www.area-ks.net
116 W. Pine
P.O. Box 162
El Dorado, Kansas 67042
Incest is Biggest Sexual Abuse Problem
by Ervin E. Grant
as found in the Wichita Eagle 2/14/06
Kansas is missing the point. While the Legislature is commendably addressing the problem of sexual predators and how best to punish them, we are lagging behind other states in recognizing the lifelong devastating effects of sexual abuse of children.
Our society does not seem to be aware that 84 percent of sexual perpetrators are family members or trusted authority figures, according to the National Center for Victims of Crime; 1 in 3 females and 1 in 5 males will be sexually abused by the time they are 18.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Medical Association and the World Health Organization have identified violence in the family as a major threat to public health. The cost to society of this violence is enormous; child abuse and neglect costs Kansas about $438 million a year. Of those in prison today, 85 percent were victims of child abuse, according to Voices in Action, Inc.
Kansas has a long legislative history of looking the other way when the word "incest" is used. Past Legislators have seemed to consider sexual assault a legal matter if it occurs outside the home, but a family matter if it occurs in the home. This is demonstrated by the severe penalty set by the Legislature for the crime of rape (level 2) but the relatively lesser penalty for the crime of incest (level 7 to 10). There is no incest statute for a child under 16, yet statistics show that in the United States, 32 percent of forcible rapes are committed on children between the ages of 11 and 17, according to Connecticut Sexual Assault Crime Services.
This same attitude appears when we consider various legal statutes of limitations (time limitations on bringing civil actions). If a person is a minor when a right to pursue a property claim accrues, Kansas law allows that person 23 years to file an action. But only three years are allowed if the claimant suffers from the results of childhood sexual abuse.
It would seem that society is saying that we are more concerned with property rights than with injuries to children. By contrast, Connecticut allows 30 years, Oklahoma allows 20 years, Illinois 10 years and Nebraska has no statute of limitations for child abuse cases.
Kansas needs to make changes in the civil statute of limitations as well as the sexual predator laws. All perpetrators need to pay for their actions.
Ervin E. Grant of El Dorado, an attorney and former state lawmaker,
is a member of the alliance to recognize and End Abuse.
