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Illinois to Eliminate Child Sexual Abuse LoopholeDunn-Harmon Bill Removes 19 Year Old Provision Allowing Preferential Treatment for Child MolestersMAY 30, 2003 — The Illinois General Assembly passed landmark legislation late yesterday that ends a two-decades long practice of granting probation to those who rape children in their own families.
The "Protect ALL Children" bill (House Bill 571), introduced by Illinois State Representative Joe Dunn (R-Naperville), changes a 1984 statute (Public Act 83-1067) that allows preferential treatment for child molesters when their victim is a member of their own family. Under the old law, perpetrators of criminal sexual assault would receive mandatory prison time of from 4 to 30 years, unless their victim was a relative. If the perpetrator victimized a child in his own family, he was eligible to receive probation and two years of counseling. Dunn's bill eliminates probation for criminal sexual assault, regardless of the relationship between perpetrator and victim. House Bill 571 was sponsored in the Senate by Don Harmon (D-Oak Park). It will now be sent to Governor Rod Blagojevich to be signed into law. "This was the right thing to do for the children of Illinois," said Rep. Joe Dunn after Tuesday's vote. "We couldn't have accomplished this without bipartisan cooperation." The legislation was Representative Dunn's first bill as a freshman legislator. Senator Harmon, a Democrat, is also a freshman. "A new leader and protector of children made his mark today," said Grier Weeks, executive director of the National Association to PROTECT Children (PROTECT). "What Joe Dunn has accomplished in his first several months in Springfield will be felt all across America. We thank both Rep. Dunn and Sen. Harmon for taking on and winning this fight." PROTECT is a national membership lobby of Americans that want stronger laws and more spending to protect abused and neglected children. Last month, similar PROTECT-backed legislation was passed in Arkansas, making the punishment for incest-which had been as low as a fine-the same as rape. The group was instrumental in toughening laws in North Carolina last year, as well, where an 1879 incest law made the rape of a niece by an uncle a misdemeanor. "For every child who is abducted by a stranger," said Kathy Wu of PROTECT, "there are thousands more suffering silently behind closed doors." Debra Franz, a survivor of child abuse and Development/Communications Coordinator with Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of DuPage County, testified and worked on behalf of the bill. "We must never underestimate the impact of the messages we send to children," she said. "The old law powerfully reinforced what perpetrators tell their children: they do not matter. The new law sends a clear message to perpetrators: their heinous acts will land them in prison." PROTECT plans to focus next on California and New York, where similar legal loopholes for child molesters are still on the books. "These laws betray children," Weeks said today. "They are a clear example of how the lives and souls of children are cheapened and ignored in our society." |
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