Child safety: Parent or state responsibility?

My baby sis forwarded to me an email that got under my skin. She is a damn good mother; she doesn’t talk about how much she loves her children, she shows everyday the depth of that love. She asked my opinion on the email and after I gave it, she said I could post it here. I left out her friend’s name, but here is the forwarded message:

Hello Everyone,

I was really moved by the Oprah show today as it was concerning child predators and how to protect our children. I’m asking everyone to just take a minute and download the following letter that is attached; then sign and send to our state lawmakers (senators and govenor). It is a letter asking for funding for the Adam Walsh Child Protection Act. It is disgraceful how our laws are so poor concerning the protection of our children and it is time that we demand that they begin to change! It will only take a few minutes time and will contribute to bringing about much needed changes in our poor laws. Thanks!!

To make it even easier here are the addresses too!

Senator John Warner (R)
225 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-4601

Senator James Webb (D)
C1 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510-4604

Governor Tim Kaine
State Capital , 3rd Floor
Richmond, VA 23219

Also, please feel free to pass this on if you would like.

Let’s do what we need for our children!!!

My response to her was this:

Hey L! I am happy to hear from you. I got the constituent letter you sent regarding more stringent “child protection” laws and wanted to give you some information. You know that I care deeply about child safety, especially with regard to sexual assault, but I take issue with a few points in the attachment. The first issue is with the appeal itself.

To ask the government to fund any mandate for the “protection of children” is to abdicate parental responsibility to the state. Such mandates do not work and only fleece the taxpayer for monies, which in the best of situations is wasted on bureaucracy and in worst, totally misappropriated. The government has ruled time and time again that it has no duty to protect your family. You need only review Supreme Court cases involving right to POLICE protection to see that the state cares nothing for your safety or that of your children.

This link will take you the decision of the Supreme Court regarding the murder of a CO woman’s children by her ex-husband. The court decided that she had no right to police protection even though she had an enforceable restraining order.

This link will take you to another Supreme Court decision regarding a boy who was beaten and permanently injured by his father. There were many complaints filed about the abuse and the state did nothing to protect him. “a) A State’s failure to protect an individual against private violence generally does not constitute a violation of the Due Process Clause, because the Clause imposes no duty on the State to provide members of the general public with adequate protective services. The Clause is phrased as a limitation on the State’s power to act, not as a guarantee of certain minimal levels of safety and security; while it forbids the State itself to deprive individuals of life, liberty, and property without due process of law, its language cannot fairly be read to impose an affirmative obligation on the State to ensure that those interests do not come to harm through other means. Pp. 194-197.”

You should also know that national registries are effective for little more than public stigmatization. Many “sex offenders” on the registries are not pedophiles at all, but young men and women who were of majority and had consensual sex with another teen not yet of majority. In such cases, many prosecutors vigorously pursue a plea agreement which results in sex offender registration. This is seen in the Genarlow Wilson case.

The law already has mechanisms in place to deal with child sex offenders. They are the courts and prisons. What we need to do is hold our courts accountable. It is my opinion that prosecutors should avoid the slam dunk plea deals in the marginal cases like Wilson’s, and concentrate on maximum sentencing for true offenders. Wilson refused the deal made by prosecutors because of the “sex offender” registration. He was 17 and had consensual oral sex with a 15 year old. He is serving 10 years because he refused the deal. How many truly violent pedophiles do you think will walk because of the resources wasted in cases like Wilson’s?

Finally, most child sexual assault is committed by someone close to the child. 89% of child sexual assault causes involve persons known to the child, such as a caretaker or family acquaintance. Source: Diane Russell Survey, 1978

Oprah means well with her public service announcements, but her business is to engage viewers. Anytime you talk about child safety, parents sit at rapt attention. Demanding more ineffective laws, paid for by John Q. Taxpayer is the wrong solution. You know that I love P. and M. so much and that is why I am asking you not to buy the hype. Only parents can protect their children; indeed, it is the primary responsibility of parenting. Watch them closely and when they are older, pay attention to what they do online. I am asking you, for the sake of my niece and nephew, not to abdicate your responsibility to the state. All you will get for it is a false sense of security.

Love,
Miche

I post the exchange here because I wonder how many parents really believe that sex offender laws work. I wonder if any of my friends feel the same as I, or if they fall into the camp of the original emailer. Does the average parent really think that more government will protect their children?

~ by Miche on February 23, 2007.