Daniel Christian
Singer-songwriter Daniel Christian weaves hooky, stick-in-your-head melodies backed by big harmonies with thought-provoking lyrical content.
inCOMMON Community Development
Battles poverty through the cultivation of supportive community networks that participate in the holistic development of vulnerable populations and neighborhoods.
I cannot vote for change in the court system that is rigged against me.
I cannot control what adults do to my body.
I cannot defend myself against my abuser.
I cannot defend myself against my family when they do not believe me.
I am a sexually abused child. And no one speaks out for me.
1 in 5 children like me are sexually abused in the United States. And 90% of us know who our abuser is—Step-parents, family friends, relatives and babysitters.
I was sexually molested by my step-father when I was only 11 years old. My grandparents let me live with them to protect me from my step-father. I was glad to be away from my step-father, but I missed my mom, my bother and my sister. After two years my step-father was finally brought to trial on charges of felony sexual assault of a minor. Unfortunately, I wasn’t allowed to testify and he was allowed to plead guilty to misdemeanor sexual assault and was only sentenced to two years probation and required to register as a sex offender. This is not unusual. Approximately 66% of all child sexual abuse charges end in guilty pleas to lesser charges before trial.
Most child molesters are only sentenced to probation and required to register as a sex offender. Many think the Sex Offender Registry law keeps sex offenders away from places where children play, but in many states the Sex Offender Registry law does not prevent a sex offender from visiting schools, playgrounds, children’s museums or even from living with or socializing with other children. The Sex Offender Registry law can only require that the sex offender register their required information at the sheriff’s office within the required time.
The police do their job and arrest these criminals, but then the lawyers and judges allow them to plead to a lesser charge and hand down light sentences or probation—which places vulnerable children like me in danger. Many times there is more severe punishment for someone who abuses animals than there is for someone who abuses children. I don’t think this is right!
I was lucky. I had grandparents and family members who protected me and helped me get therapy. But many children aren’t so lucky. Some end up in foster care and are abused even more. And lots of times no one believes them, so they run away and end up worse.
You can be a voice for kids like me who cannot speak for themselves:
1. You can write to your senators and people in congress and demand that they make laws that hold convicted sex offenders and the courts accountable for their actions concerning child molesters.
2. You can join an organization that helps prevent sexual child abuse and tell others to join too.
3. You can talk to your children’s school about preventing sexual child abuse.
4. Talk to your kids about sexual child abuse and teach them what to watch out for.
The worst thing you can do is stay quiet about sexual child abuse. If you suspect that a child is in danger, say something.
“But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” (Matthew 18:6)
Scream! Kick! Run!
That’s what kids are taught to do when confronted with a stranger trying to harm them. But the advice to “scream, kick and run” doesn’t work with a step-parent or Good ol’ Uncle Joe. It is not the responsibility of children to defend themselves against adults. Adults need to step up and be protectors for children.
Ask nearly anyone and they will say that they would speak up if they thought a child was being sexually abused. Almost no one believes they would knowingly allow harmful sexual behavior to continue if they knew for sure that it was going on. And yet, millions of children continue to suffer from sexual abuse in their own homes. Many of them believe, correctly, that someone else knows, or should know, about their situation. But then little or nothing is done to protect them. Some children tell adults what’s going on; seeking protection and help, only to be met with disbelief, denial, blame, or even punishment.
Approximately 90% of children who are sexually victimized are abused by someone known to the child or the child’s family. Step-parents, family friends, relatives and persons in positions of authority over the child are more likely than strangers to commit sexual assaults against the child. In fact, a child who lives with someone other than their biological parent is 33 times more likely to suffer from child sexual abuse than a child who lives with biological parents.
One in three girls and one in six boys are sexually abused before the age of 18.
These numbers may be even higher because many child sexual abuse victims never disclose their abuse to anyone. Less than 12% of child sexual abuse is ever reported to the police. The average age for first time sexual abuse is 9 years old!
Imagine for a moment that you’re the child who has been sexually abused by someone in the safety of your own home—In your own bedroom! You may feel doubly betrayed by someone’s failure to help. You were in danger, they could have protected you but they chose not to. And to make matters worse, when you speak up to the one person that you trusted to tell, they refuse to believe you or actually blame you! No excuses or rationalizations for their failure would seem acceptable.
Would you feel more anger toward a non-abusive adult who didn’t speak up or toward the person who actually abused you? You may have expected the worst from the abuser, who was clearly deeply disturbed and had little or no concern for you, but you expected better from someone who was supposed to be caring, loving and worthy of trust. And this anger may last for decades.
There are over 805,000 sex offenders living free in the united states today. Texas and California has the most with over 80,000 followed by Florida with nearly 70,000. You can check your own state HERE.
The crime of silence in the Church
The statistics of child sexual abuse are startling to say the least. But what makes this even more heartbreaking is that these statistics aren’t much different in the Church. The apostle Paul spoke against this type of sin to the Corinthian Church: “I can hardly believe the report about the sexual immorality going on among you—something that even pagans don’t do.” (See 1 Corinthians 5:1-5) He went on to rebuke them for not doing anything about it.
Many in the Church today are guilty of the same thing. But what is even more repugnant is when child sexual abuse is discovered within a church member’s home and many decide to hide it within the walls of their church rather than report it to the police. This is not only ludicrous and unbiblical, it is against the law!
In Romans 13, the Apostle Paul teaches that believers are to be subject to the civil authorities. “For the authorities do not strike fear in people who are doing right, but in those who are doing wrong.” (Romans 13:1-4) Child sexual abuse has been deemed to be criminal by the civil authorities deserving just punishment. Child sexual abuse should be a matter of public alarm. Not only because of the long term psychological problems it causes for the child, but also because of the ripple effect it causes in countless of lives.
While the right to silence is a right we have in order to guard against self-incrimination, a witness of a crime who doesn’t stand up and testify on behalf of the victim of a crime is held as an accomplice in the crime. (Leviticus 5: 1)
Abuse flourishes when adults do not take responsibility for protecting children. Many Christians would rather avoid this difficult topic, and so they do not understand how abusers operate. Abusers almost always go out of their way to appear trustworthy. They are master manipulators. They disarm with a facade of generosity and kindness. With the Bible so readily available to us, we in the Church should be least likely to fall prey to this, but sadly we do.
So what do we do?
First, adults must own up to the problem of child sexual abuse and accept responsibility for protecting children in their care.
Secondly, we must report suspected child sexual abuse to the civil authorities. Child sexual abuse is a crime, and in many states an adult’s failure to report a reasonable suspicion of abuse is also a crime. Serious crimes should not be addressed with church discipline alone, and there are few crimes worse than child rape and molestation.
Sadly, even when perpetrators are arrested and charged with child sexual abuse, many times they are allowed to plead guilty to a lesser charge and most judges only sentence them to probation and register as a sex offender.
Sadly, the Sex Offender Registration law in many states does not have any restrictions on registered sex offenders.This is a common misperception.The SOR law also does not have the legal jurisdiction to prevent an offender from entering schools, playgrounds, children’s museums, daycare centers or refrain from living with or socializing with children or other vulnerable persons.The SOR law can only mandate that the offender register his or her required information at the sheriff’s office within the required time. Period!
You can be a voice for victims of child sexual abuse by writing to your senators. Last year I wrote to the Governor of Nebraska and 18 senators, voicing my concern about sexual child abuse and the SOR law. All of them ignored me. So I wrote to two more senators. There are now a few senators that drafted a bill that will do more to protect children from sexual predators. They plan to bring it to the senate floor during the next session. It’s not all that I wanted, but it’s a small step toward it.
I am just one person. Imagine what would happen if hundreds of you wrote the same kind of letters to your senators. Information on how to contact your senator is at: https://www.senate.gov/senators/contact/
We must be willing to openly confront child sexual abuse and give of ourselves so that those impacted by it can experience the healing and transformative power of Jesus.
For decades, adults have put the burden on children to come forward if they are being abused. This status quo has failed. Because abusers spin a web of manipulation and lies around a child, children cannot protect themselves and rarely tell about abuse without another adult’s help. While teaching our kids about their bodies and sexual boundaries are vital, these actions alone cannot keep kids safe. Adults must take that burden off children. The antidote to child sexual abuse is faithful adults working together to create a safe environment for children.
I recently received letters from Nebraska senators Sara Howard and Brett Lindstrom who are working to bring bills to the legislature that will provide more protection for child sex abuse victims. Brett Lindstrom has introduced bill LB60 to address custody issues and convicted sex offenders living in the homes of children. It mandates that the non-custodial parent receive written notification when a sex offender is residing with the children or is allowed unsupervised contact with the children. It also clarifies the standard judges must use when declaring their opinions to what is in the best interest of the children and that there is no significant risk to the children in doing so.
Sara Howard has created the Office of Inspector General specifically to provide independent oversight of the child welfare system. The recent report by the Inspector General discovered that at least 36 children in foster care had been sexually abused over the last three years. Sara Howard is on the Health and Human Services committee and will be working with the Inspector General on how to improve the system.
This is not everything I had hoped for, but it’s a good start. Just imagine what would happen if hundreds of people wrote to their senators.
“Acquitting the guilty and condemning the innocent—both are detestable to the LORD.” (Proverbs 17:15 NLT)
Congressman Major R. Owens at the opening of a field hearing on child sexual abuse in New York on April 20, 1992, stated “Ignoring or mistreating child sexual abuse is tantamount to allowing an untreated cancer to grow in our society.” (http://justiceforchildren.org/about-us/system-is-failing-our-children/)
At that hearing, experts and parents testified concerning the obstacles to addressing and remedying this problem. David Paterson, a state senator from New York, testified that one of every three young girls and one of every five boys become the victims of child sexual abuse and that a high percentage of those most afflicted repeat the cycle.
This federal hearing was convened in response to a state-level investigation conducted by then-Assemblyman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), who concluded that the system has failed miserably to protect sexually abused children. Unfortunately, over 24 years have passed since those hearings, yet, reports of child abuse and neglect nationwide continue to rise.
This increase is the direct result of the failure of our legal system to protect known victims of abuse. This crisis is even more critical as it affects children who are unable to fight for themselves. According to a 2003 National Institute of Justice report, 3 out of 4 adolescents who have been sexually assaulted were victimized by someone they knew well. (page 5)
The courts and the victims
Unfortunately, there are no national statistics on the number of prosecutions for child sexual abuse. It is clear, however, that thousands of criminal cases are filed each year.
In many cases, the strength of the evidence depends on the child’s ability to testify. Children are usually the only eyewitnesses to sexual abuse, and prosecutors are more likely to file criminal charges when they believe children will be effective witnesses. Not surprisingly, age plays a role in prosecutorial decision making. Preschool-age children are sometimes ineffective witnesses, with the tragic consequence that the law is least able to protect the youngest and most vulnerable victims.
Plea Bargaining
Once criminal charges are filed, prosecutors engage in plea bargaining with defense attorneys representing defendants. In many cases, the defendant pleads guilty to a less serious offense than originally charged, or agrees to plead guilty to the original charge in exchange for the prosecutor’s commitment to recommend leniency when the judge pronounces sentence. Approximately 66% of all child sexual abuse charges end in guilty pleas to lesser charges before trial. (http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/ascii/fpcseo06.txt)
Diversion from Prosecution
In some jurisdictions, prosecutors have authority to divert selected defendants away from prosecution for child sexual abuse and into treatment. Criminal proceedings are suspended on the condition of specified obligations by the defendant, often including participation in counseling or treatment. Upon successful completion or compliance with the conditions of diversion, the case is dismissed.
Sentencing and conviction
Although most cases that go to trial end in conviction, as a result of plea bargaining, diversion, and dismissal for other reasons, the number of sex abuse cases that go all the way to trial is very small. Only 10% of all cases filed by prosecutors are ever tried.
Many believe that convicted child molesters often receive long prison terms. However, many individuals convicted of child sexual abuse do not go to prison. Instead, their punishment consists of a suspended prison sentence and/or probation. The average length of probation for felony convictions is two to three years.
Sex Offender Registration Laws
In large part because of the fear and belief that sex offenders will reoffend, many states require convicted sex offenders to register with local law enforcement agencies and to change their registration when they move. In several cases, sex offenders have successfully challenged the constitutionality of registration laws, arguing that such laws constitute cruel and unusual punishment.
The Sex Offender Registration law (SOR) does not have any restrictions on registered sex offenders. This is a common misperception. The only restrictions placed on a convicted sex offender are done so by the judge as part of the conditions of probation. In most states the SOR does not have the legal jurisdiction to prevent an offender from attending events, limiting employment, restrict an offender from entering any facilities, or refrain from living with or socializing with children or vulnerable persons. The SOR law can only mandate the offender to register his or her required information within the required time. This means that a convicted sex offender has the freedom to frequent, and even work, at or near schools, parks, museums, public pools and day care facilities, unless prohibited by the conditions of their probation!
What Can We Do?
“An urgent need exists for federal action to ensure that laws in our states pertaining to child abuse and neglect, whether physical or sexual, whether family member or stranger, are strengthened to protect children. By aggressively intervening on a timely basis on behalf of the child, and by ensuring that the legal rights of the child are observed in any subsequent judicial proceeding, our government can stop both the actual and systemic abuse of the child.” —Randy Burton, founder and president of the child advocacy organization Justice for Children http://justiceforchildren.org
Thousands of children throughout America suffer sexual abuse each day at the hands of the very people who are supposed to protect and care for them. This has harmful consequences on the physical and emotional development and well-being of children. The police do their job and arrest these criminals, but our laws allow judges to hand down light sentences or probation that allows the perpetrators to re-offend, placing the public at risk. In several states a judge must run for retention in office in the first general election that occurs more than three years after his or her appointment, and every six years thereafter. We can send a strong message in November by voting “NO” to retain these judges.
“See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 18:10)
Word From The Street 