AMONG HUNDREDS of new laws that went into effect at the beginning of the month in California, one quietly ended a sordid era in which a class of convicted child sex abusers never served jail time, and the children they abused were often forced to help in their attempts at rehabilitation.
This sorry chapter in the state's history began in 1981, when an "incest exception" law was passed by the Legislature. It allowed judges to grant probation to men (and women) even though they had been convicted of abusing their sons, daughters, stepchildren, nephews, nieces, cousins or grandchildren, all because incest was deemed different -- and less criminal -- than "stranger" pedophilia.
Activists, victims and prosecutors have lobbied over the last few years to change the law and similar statutes in 36 other states. By 2003, North Carolina, Illinois and Arkansas had repealed their incest exception laws; it's hoped that California's change will increase the ripple effect.
Why would a crime that usually results in an automatic prison sentence \o7ever\f7 have been given a free ride? Because two decades ago what was most crucial to many family activists was keeping families intact. Groups such as Parents United lobbied for the incest exception, claiming that relatives who abused children were "situational offenders," not pedophiles. Life stress was said to have induced them to abuse once or twice. With a little therapy, it was claimed, situational offenders would never abuse a child again.
Hank Giarretto, a psychologist and the executive director of Parents United in 1981, testified in Sacramento that lawmakers needed to be careful that the "father offender" who "had, usually, a very outstanding career both in industry and in his place in his community," was not mixed up "with the type of offender, the predator, the type of fellow who stalks his victims or who sets up situations through which he can molest these children."
By 1994, however, the American Psychiatric Assn. had rejected the idea of situational offenders, finding instead that there was no difference between a person who sexually abuses a stranger and one who sexually abuses his own child.
The awful irony of incest exception laws is that most sexual abuse of children 5 and younger occurs within families. Later, teachers, coaches, priests and neighbors join the relatives. Only 7% of child sex abusers are strangers.
