Supreme Court ruling on child rape strikes a blow to human rights.

Last Wednesday the Supreme Court ruled, 5 to 4, that sentencing someone to death for raping a child is unconstitutional. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy stated, "The death penalty is not a proportional punishment for the rape of a child."
What does proportional punishment mean? The Supreme Court decision allows death sentences to be imposed for crimes such as treason, espionage, and terrorism. Obviously protecting our children is not as important as crimes committed against the state.
I am a survivor of child sexual abuse. Throughout my life, I listened to people minimize what happened to me by saying, "At least you can get on with your life, you lived." As if being able to breathe is a better alternative to death. As I worked through my own abuse issues, there were many times that I wished to die.

There is no crime more heinous than child rape. Child rape is a form of murder; the body can physically recover, but the mind and soul are forever affected. I am not debating the constitutionality of the death penalty in this article, but rather the need to take child rape more seriously.
Child rape and the broader issue of violence against children can cause incredible psychological damage and sets up enormous economic and social burdens for our country. Early studies found that "one-third of juvenile delinquents, 40 percent of sexual offenders and 76 percent of serial rapist's report they were sexually abused as youngsters." Child sexual abuse perpetuates a cycle of violence. When will we really get this concept and create significant change to break this cycle of violence?
How do you feel about child victims of violence? Do you know a child that has experienced violence? If so, have they led a normal childhood? Did they get the kind of support they needed to create a healthy life? Or were they blamed or discarded for what happened to them?

At no time should a child be blamed for the circumstance of their violence. Yet, not only do we force the child into addressing issues way beyond their emotional capacity but we place them into a government system that fails to adequately protect them. The children walk though the process more vulnerable and leave with a heavy burden for the rest of their lives; a burden that we inherit too.

Sexual assaults begin at an early age. A male child is most likely to be a victim of sexual assault when he is 4 years old. Take a moment to think about the unthinkable, and tell me what you think should happen to the perpetrator? How many times was a child raped or violated before the perpetrator got caught for the first time?

If a perpetrator gets caught and IF they go to trial, they may get life in prison. How many years is the average sentence of life in prison today? For the victim the life sentence is until death. The victim never is free from the fear, from the smell and sounds of the assault. We are confined and relegated to a tainted cage not of our own making; an enclosure that can never truly be removed or discarded.

Violence against children is not only caused by human poverty but spiritual poverty as well. For who with an open heart can actually force a despicable and violent act on a four year old child? We need to examine and understand the root causes of violence and find a better way to deal with rapists and molesters. If we can find a way to create a system of prevention, then we will not be forced to testify against our fathers, our mothers, or our cousins.

Unfortunately, my childhood included sexual abuse. I was victimized by three people. I knew every one of them personally. My earliest recollection of abuse occurred when I was 7 years old.

It took me years to get through the process of grieving for what happened to me as a child. How did I get through it? I came from good stock and was very determined. I refused to have my life be defined by what happened to me. I wanted my life to be about how I handled the cards that were dealt to me.

Those cards represent me as a part of a disease so widespread as to be almost incomprehensible. I am referring to sexual violence against children. This epidemic of violence represents one of the most pervasive, yet silenced problems facing the United States and international community.

In February, I spoke at the United Nations regarding global violence against women and children. http://www.unmultimedia.org/photo/detail/170/0170474.html

The U.N. is a leader in establishing the human rights of children. In 1990, the U.N. inaugurated the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The CRC acknowledges the basic human rights of children, which includes the right to life and survival, protection from abuse and exploitation, and forbids capital punishment of children. The United States has never ratified the CRC. We are in good company though. The only other country that has failed to ratify the CRC is Somalia.

As a country, we are not legally bound to protect human rights for children. Our country's refusal to ratify the CRC is not only an international embarrassment but it weakens our effectiveness in U.S. foreign policy and sends the message that we are not serious about protecting the human rights of children at home or abroad. The Supreme Courts ruling just adds another example of how out of touch we are on the issues that affect our children. All of our children.

The numbers that represent the amount of violence against children in the United States are staggering. The solution to these crimes is very complex. So many cases of violence against children go unreported. Too much burden is placed on a child in these cases and ultimately we place the decision in their laps. Do I tell someone, or not? The biggest issue that we need to confront is why the violence comes from people we know?

Think about some of these statistics:

• Every two minutes in the US, a child is sexually assaulted.

• It is estimated that there are 60 million survivors of childhood sexual abuse in the United States.

• Most disturbing is that 14% of all sexual assault victims reported to law enforcement agencies were under the age of 6 years old.

• Females are more likely than males to be victims of sexual assault: 86% of all sexual assault victims are females.

Statistics are used to define important social problems, shape debates about them, and decide public policies. Clearly, violence against children in the United States is a huge problem. The percentage of our population that is affected by this kind of violence is astronomical.

Although statistics are helpful and important, they do not capture the consequence and impact that violence has on a child. This affects everything from self-esteem to depression. The results can cause eating disorders, substance abuse, suicide, promiscuity and prostitution, and many other behavioral disorders.

You may recall Elliot Spitzer; the X-Governor of New York who got caught when he hired high priced prostitutes. His behavior forced him to resign from public office. Harvard Law Professor, Alan Dershowitz, a man who taught Spitzer, was quoted as saying that "Prostitution is a victimless crime." His exact wording can be found at: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/652043/spitzer_report_dershowitz_says_prostitution.html

As a Harvard Law Professor, you would think he would be more responsible and know the facts. I wonder if he knows that 95% of child prostitutes are victims of child abuse. If I was a student at Harvard University, I would be a little nervous about being taught by someone who reflects on issues with such careless disregard for the facts. A "victimless" crime indeed! Perhaps Dershowitz might want to have a conversation with Spitzer's wife and daughters, perhaps they can shed light on a different perspective.
I would like the Supreme Court to explain what proportional punishment entails. To be clear, I am not advocating the death penalty; this article does not discuss the merits of capital punishment. However, if we agree that capital punishment exists and it is used as a deterrent, then why would child rape not be high on that list of offences?
As I see it, violence against children is a human rights plague; a plague that as a society, a country, a continent, and a globe we have show blatant ignorance. We need do more to protect children's rights, and not simply rely on the justice system. We MUST understand and address the root causes of violence in order to create a brighter future for our children.

Follow Michealene Cristini Risley on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@mcrisley

Comments

[batguano]

I feel empathy for your personal experiences, but as heinous as the crime of child rape is, there are many cases of false accusation that make the ultimate penalty a travesty as well. The cases of false prosecution & evidence tampering by over-zealous prosecutors are well known; the infamous McMartin preschool trial leaps to mind, where the testimony of children was manipulated; they even came to believe it was the "truth". Some child "memories are characterized as "often nothing more than fantastic pseudomemories implanted or reinforced in psychotherapy". If those innocent accused people had been put to death we might never have known the truth; a modern Salem Witch Trials. The mental illness of certain "religious" people and their inability to seperate fact from fiction is another arguement against allowing people to be put to death for acusations of this kind....I would add that the death penalty for any crime is not a measure of a nations or societies development or morality. I have wrestled with the thought that some who commit crimes of hideous depravity have lost their right to life and should be removed from us, but when governments are the most notorious killers and do so with impugnity from "justice", the death penalty for civil crimes seems out of balance; the "colateral damage"......murder and rapes.....in Iraq and the hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths is an example.

Please read these cases of false accusations.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_care_sexual_abuse_hysteria

[jvarga]

So let me get this straight. You're saying pro-state sanctioned murder is pro-human rights?

Lets see what other nations fall into your description of human rights champions: "Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Botswana, China, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Kuwait, Libya, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, USA, Vietnam, Yemen.

[jhamm1]

As one who had been raped at age 3 whose social spectrum has included multiple support groups spanning multiple survivors in childhood sexual traumas, I can state with complete certainty that you speak neither for me nor any other victim I can think of by advocating the death penalty as the mandatory means of dealing with this problem.

"Females are more likely than males to be victims of sexual assault: 86% of all sexual assault victims are females. "

So the reports state, at the very least. However, multiple psychologists have spearheaded studies which contend that not only do boys comprise a significant portion of childhood instances of rape and sexual abuse, but that women are more likely than originally believed to be the perpetrators of such crimes.

"Professor, Alan Dershowitz, a man who taught Spitzer, was quoted as saying that "Prostitution is a victimless crime." As a Harvard Law Professor, you would think he would be more responsible and know the facts."

Therein lies the myth of Harvard's so-called reputation for academic excellence. Personally, I'm hardly surprised, considering that an actual review of the various theses and disertations concocted by Harvard graduates and professors over the years indicates that these so-called "experts" tend to be regarded with very low esteeem within the academic community.

[bgregs]

Michealene,

I must first say that my heart goes out to you for your own abuse, and I agree that more needs to be done to prevent this heinous crime.

I must also state, however, that I agree with the court on this one, the death penalty should either never be used (since it is rather ineffective as a preventative tool) or should be limited to those particular cases where the crime is so horrible that no reasonable person would choose otherwise for the punishment. Generally speaking, the crimes at that level are limited to murder, espionage which can be shown to have caused death, and treason during times of actual declared war. There may be an individual child rape case which deserves the death penalty, and allowing the judge and jury to decide that on a case by case basis should be encouraged.

You also ask about whether we know anyone...... Yes. My then 12 year old daughter was walking to a friend's house, and was raped in broad daylight in an alley. The police have never found the men who did it. She made it through by a combination of a loving household, and therapy. She's now a happy, loving, well rounded young woman, and while I wouldn't say that she never thinks about it, she never lets what happened to her lead her life.

[standforpeace]

My heart goes out to you in your struggle to overcome the horrible things that were done to you. Your desire for vengeance on those who committed these crimes is understandable. However, the simple fact is that vengeance killing is always counterproductive. When we use violence as a policy prescription, we only end up further devaluing all human life. So anytime that we reject the death penalty we are making progress toward a more humane society. At the same time, we have an obligation to protect the most helpless members of our society and to make it plain that child abuse is a horrendous soul destroying crime. We know that there is a high recidivism rate for child predators so it seems like it would be justifiable to increase the sentences and even real life sentences. However, the difference between life sentences and the death penalty is the difference between a just society and one grounded only in revenge.

[oldpotsmuggler]

We're in the process of trying to evolve from a more blood thirsty country into a less blood thirsty one. In my lifetime it has been a slow gradual process taken only in baby steps. In fact we're only barely past the bad old days of "if a few innocent people have to die so that we can the largest possible number of guilty ones so be it". In my mind, however, the ultimate goal is still to have a society in which we don't want government to murder anyone.

If you can't personally find your way to viewing that as a worthy milepost on the human journey, then I wish you all good luck in finding the resources to help your healing process.

[SiberianRat]

While I'm so sorry to hear of your childhood experience, I do have to say that I don't think the death penalty is the answer, nor do I think that it means the SC doesn't care about children. We MUST do all we can to protect children, but it has been shown over and over again that the death penalty isn't a deterrent; furthermore, having prisoners on death row is more expensive to taxpayers than having them in the general population. Also, it has been well documented that child molesters (aka "short eyes") often get severe punishment from fellow inmates in prison. As a "civilized" (and I used the world loosely) country, we cannot continue to put people to death, something not done in nearly all other developed countries.

[Rosanneofpgh]

Im happy that you survived your multiple sexual assaults and came out of it a stronger person. You are to be commended to want to help others in your situation.

It doesnt surprise me that the bush supreme court doesnt believe that children should be protected from predators and that those predators shouldnt be severely punished.

Statistics show that pedophiles are never cured. They go on to rape more children

I dont see anything that would stop those despicable criminals except the death penalty. .

I do believe in the death penalty for horrific crimes particularly if the guilt has been proven beyond doubt. After all, the Bible says and eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. It may not make the pedophile's current victims feel better, but it would certainly prevent future crimes.

[oldpotsmuggler]

I'm a devout atheist and even I've heard of the difference between "an eye for an eye" and "turn the other cheek".

[Vista2020]

While I am against Capital Punishment under any circumstances, I do believe that Federal Law should mandate life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for any person who rapes any child. Death is a quick escape. As you so clearly point out, the trauma of the victim lasts their entire life. The perpetrator, once caught, should spend the rest of their life imprisoned and suffer the repeated rape that they will certainly encounter within the confines of their prison for the remainder of their pathetic life.

[SpoxLogic]

I'm sorry that you went thru what you didm Ms , but you state "Child rape is a form of murder; the body can physically recover, but the mind and soul are forever affected". There are other ways that you can kill the mind and soul that doesn't involve rape. Would that be murder as well? It's very ahrd for me to argue against you, because the subject is so mind numbingly sick. But, it is because iof the emotions involved that we need to step back.
By your argument, what would be the sentence for someone found guilty of beating the crap out of the child? That can kill the mind and soul too can't it? Would you prescribe the death sentence for that? And would there be an age limit? Would it be death if done to a 8 year old or younger? Would you give death if the crime was committed against a 14-year old?
I could go on. But, my point is, leave capial punishment for cases of actual murder.