In the Sunday, April 26th edition of the Gannett Suburban Paper it was reported that "There are people out there who spend their days thinking of ways to get young kids in their clutches," said Joe Mahoney, a spokesman for the state attorney general, Dennis Vacca. This comment was made after it was learned that a 63 year old pedophile, Velders, a person classified as a sexually violent predator accused of sodomizing a five year old child, failed to register under New York State’s Megan’s Law. It is for this reason that society must find a way to close the loop-holes that allow pedophiles like Velders to "not register" and to put into effect the notification aspect of the law. It is an unfortunate fact the child molestors do not respond to treatment and repeat this crime. The concern of courts and civil libertarian organizations about protecting constitutional rights of convicted offenders shows little or no concern for the rights and protection of our children. We have to consider whether the rights of innocent children outweigh the concerns about the rights of convicted criminals.
Supporting Meagan’s Law is an attempt at dealing with a larger problem. Statistics indicate the averagechild molester victimizes an average of 117 children. Most of these victims do not report the crime. Since Meagan’s Law deals only with the convicted child molestor, there are many others out there who are never brought to justice. Sexual abuse remains the big secret.
Realizing that a good number of cases of abuse are never reported, we need to be more vigilant in prosecuting the cases that are reported. However, this is not always easy. Sexual assault cases are often difficult to prosecute when the child is very young and is the only witness to the criminal conduct. New York State Criminal Procedure law provides that a defendant may not be convicted solely on the unsworn testimony of a child. Therefore, the child must be able to relate the events that took place in a legally sufficient fashion. The Family Court Act (FCA343.1) states that "a child less than twelve years old may not testify under oath unless the court is satisfied that he understands the nature of an oath."
Besides a child’s age, what further complicates a child’s ability to give testimony is the effects the abuse has on their being. Children often suffer from sleep disturbances, memory and concentration difficulties, depression, anger, alienation, and self-destructive behavior. Psychologically speaking, they therefore might be considered poor witnesses based on the very symptoms of their abuse. Because they are suffering from the effects of the abuse, it might appear that the child does not possess sufficient intelligence and capacity to justify the reception of testimony. Or the child might not be considered a good witness by prosecuting attorneys because they feel that they could not successfully undergo cross examination. For example, a child might be asked how many times the abuse took place and give an answer. But after repeatedly being asked the same question, the child might change the answer to a different number. This would allow the defense attorney to tear the case apart.
It is particularly alarming if courts feel unable to prosecute cases where young children of sexual offenses when we considered the statistics:
The implications of this are that a good number of child molestation cases are never brought to court allowing suspected perpetrators back on the streets to prey on other children. This also suggests that young children are unprotected by the judicial system when there is a lack of substantial physical evidence or the death of a child. It also means that young children are particularly vulnerable to attack since molesters must also be aware of how easy it is for them to get away with the crime without fear of prosecution.
In summary, our state needs a fully operational Megan’s Law to warn unsuspecting parents of a sexual predator living in their midst so that they can safeguard their children. However, we also need to address how these cases are being handled in the judicial system. Having the law in effect does little good if we are unable to convict the pedophiles who prey on our children. Answers are needed from our legislators to address the issue of how laws need to change. It is my hope that our system can change to better protect society’s most precious resource, our children.
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