[lbo-talk] Do tough sex laws help or hurt?

Dennis Claxton ddclaxton at earthlink.net
Tue Oct 23 12:39:28 PDT 2007


From a series in the Dallas Morning News:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/102107dntexsexoffend.c073d8.html# Do tough sex laws help or hurt?

State's crackdown easier to apply to strangers; 93 percent of offenders know victims

11:27 AM CDT on Sunday, October 21, 2007

By DIANE JENNINGS and DARLEAN SPANGENBERGER / The Dallas Morning News

Even at 46, Deena Harbaugh says it's hard to see her father as a monster.

She loved the "good Daddy" who took her for rides on his motorcycle and watched sports with her. She hated the "bad Daddy" who came into her bedroom at night and molested her for years.

As a sexual abuse survivor, the Dallas woman understands the emotional appeal of harsher sentences for child abusers. But she says the new get-tough Texas laws promise more than they can deliver because they won't affect the vast majority of sex offenders.

"We're focusing on stranger danger," she said of the crackdown, which includes 25-year minimum sentences and the death penalty for some child rapists. "That's not who's molesting the vast majority of our children."

According to federal statistics, juvenile sexual assault victims know their perpetrator a staggering 93 percent of the time. Often, it's a family member. Frequently, it's another child. Rarely is it a stranger.

Texas' push to increase punishment for sex crimes was driven by top state officials wanting to send a "no tolerance" message. Although the laws are politically popular, most such crimes are never reported; those that are prosecuted often end in a plea bargain with a relatively light sentence, and about a third of sexual offenses are committed by juveniles not covered by the enhanced penalties.

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