The Underreported Crime

As staggering and as disturbing as the reports of alleged and actual incidents of child sexual abuse by members of the clergy is another more common and underreported classification of sex crimes against children.

A 37-year-old West Virginia man is charged with 208 offenses of sexual assault against his 13-year-old daughter. A 35-year-old New York father and a 44-year-old man are indicted on 69 counts of various sex acts with the father’s 4-year-old daughter. A 53-year-old Wisconsin man is convicted for sexually assaulting his two daughters and a son over a nine-year period. A 27-year-old Louisiana woman is charged with repeatedly raping her 7-year-old son. A Wisconsin husband and wife are arrested for having sex with their 6-year-old son. A Pennsylvania man is charged with fathering his own grandchild. An Ohio woman is charged with having sex with her 5-year-old son. A Kentucky man is arrested for incest from 27 years ago. A 37-year-old Louisiana man is convicted of fondling his 12-year-old son and forcing the boy to touch him. A 29-year-old Colorado father of quintuplets is charged with sexually assaulting a 10-year-old family member. A 33-year-old Louisiana man is sentenced to prison for molesting his teenaged daughter. The Louisiana father and uncle of a teenage girl are convicted of aggravated incest and aggravated crime against nature. A 49-year-old Wisconsin man is sentenced to prison for having sexual contact with his daughter. A 41-year-old Wisconsin woman admits to incest and sexual exploitation of her 8-year-old daughter.

The prevalence of childhood sexual abuse is part of the nation’s consciousness, thanks to the media’s coverage of the actions of a few sick men and their misguided superiors. The media and the general public, however, have become obsessed with attacks on children by clerics and have generally ignored the considerably larger and disturbing number of abusive acts committed against children by family members.

Sexual abuse within familial relationships is the cold and clinical terminology for a much older and uglier term: incest.

The governor of Massachusetts signed into law in February a bill that amended the state’s incest statute by covering all forms of sexual contact between immediate family members. The legislation was introduced after a Supreme Judicial Court ruling overturned incest charges against a man who forced his daughter to perform oral sex on him. The court said its ruling “undoubtedly offends both common sense and fundamental decency,” but said it was compelled by the statutory definition of incest that only included traditional sexual intercourse.

Since 1980, the Massachusetts Department of Social Services (www.state.ma.us/dss) has substantiated more than 25,000 cases of incest, using the old criteria.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families (www.acf.dhhs.gov) in April released national statistics on child maltreatment for 2000. ACF estimates state child protective services agencies received about three million referrals of possible maltreatment in 2000, of which 879,000 were substantiated.

Ten percent, or nearly 88,000 substantiated cases were sexual abuse. Fathers acting alone were responsible for 22 percent of the confirmed sexual abuse. Other family members were responsible for 19 percent of the cases of sexual abuse. Add it up: 41 percent of the sexual abuse cases were incest, or about 36,000. That’s consistent with previous years, according to ACF.

The Commonwealth Fund Survey of the Health of Adolescent Girls (www.cmwf.org/programs/women/boysv271.asp), which included boys and girls in grades 5 through 12 in nearly 300 schools across the country from December 1996 to June 1997 goes into more detail, particularly about the male victims of incest.

Thirty-five percent of reported sexual abuse against boys happened in the home with family members making up 45 percent of the abusers. Asian-American boys were three times more likely than Anglo boys to report sexual abuse. Hispanics boys also reported higher rates than Anglos. The abuse rates were similar among African-Americans and Anglos.

Fifty-seven percent of the girls in the survey who had been physically or sexually abused said their attackers were family members, and 53 percent said the abuse typically occurred in the home.

Local and national journalists unwittingly did a service by bringing to light the subject of child sexual abuse by clergy, but they have done the nation a disservice by underreporting incest. The accusation, but not conviction, of a single priest headlines the national papers and leads the network newscasts, but only local news outlets cover the stories mentioned above. Few reporters and editors, it seems, have the will or the resources to delve into the moral epidemic that claims the innocence of 36,000 children every year.

The real abettors, however, are the rest of us who make it easy for family predators, because we have ignored the cries of the children. Jetta Bernier, executive director of Massachusetts Citizens for Children (www.masskids.org), is calling for a broad commitment to prevent child abuse. “Proposed reforms to prevent clergy sexual abuse are clearly necessary,” she wrote in a recent article in the Boston Globe (www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/153/focus/A_battle_plan_to_shield_the_young_from_sex_abuse+.shtml), “but they are too narrow to address the fundamental and pervasive problem in the state.”

A report by her organization contains elements that must be adopted by every community in this country. Schools should complement the role of parents as primary educators of children in matters of sexual abuse. Comprehensive and timely evaluations of suspected child abuse victims must be guaranteed. Zero tolerance for zero treatment should be the battle cry.

If we expose and vilify pedophile fathers in the church, why do we ignore incestuous fathers and relatives in the homes? No child should fear the night. There is no reason and no excuse for our collective disregard of the safety of our children. In the words of the Massachusetts court, it “undoubtedly offends both common sense and fundamental decency.”

John David Powell is an award-winning writer and Internet columnist, professional speechwriter, and contributor to the Christian Millennium History Project. His email address is: johndavidpowell@yahoo.com.

Great Article.
Incest is not only underreported, it's also more commonplace than most would think. In yahoo clubs there were people who would put together these clubs(chat forums) devoted to incest and even include pictures depicting this disgusting and immoral activity. When this and other yahoo clubs devoted to all sorts of deviant behavior(even by today's "enlightened" standards.) were given media and pro-family group attention, the negative publicity forced yahoo to shut down these clubs.
There are also underground incest publications as well as a line of pornographic incest "fantasy" videos properly titled "Taboo."

BTW, I do not regard this matter as being in any way more serious than the homosexual syndrome; both are an abuse by subsumation; both are in animal nature but not morally upright, there is not any good in it.

"What do you propose?"

This is a good question?

Mr. Powell you supply us with feel good slogans like "Zero tolerance for zero treatment should be the battle cry." (Huh? What does this mean?) and then place blame as in "The real abettors, however, are the rest of us who make it easy for family predators, because we have ignored the cries of the children." Excuse me, I have not heard the cries of any children, and if I did I certainly wouldn't ignore them.

If you are to be taken seriously, try taking a less emotional approach, and if you have real world solutions, then tell us about them. Making us 'feel' guilty about something and then not doing anything about it is a liberal solution to problems. (That is to say, no solution.) You should aspire to do better.

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