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 Some bills pass almost by themselves. Others take hard work but could have been carried by almost any lawmaker. The battle for the Circle of Trust bill was far tougher than that. To an extent rare in politics, S.B. 33 owes its success to one person: Senator Jim Battin of La Quinta, California. PROTECT approached Senator Battin because he had a solid track record of legislation to combat child sexual abuse, and when it came to this landmark reform legislation Jim Battin “got it.” We fell in love with him when we realized that Jim Battin is one of those rare leaders who really goes the distance for his cause. Time and time again, a lesser politician would have caved, compromised or given up. At our darkest hour, when S.B. 33 had been gutted by the powerful head of California’s Senate Appropriations committee and given up for dead by nearly everyone, Senator Battin—a member of the minority party—rocked the Senate chamber by quietly lining up enough votes to derail every urgent spending bill in California unless the Circle of Trust bill was put back exactly as it was and passed. It was almost unheard of brinksmanship: a threatened government shutdown on behalf of vulnerable children. |
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With the unanimous passage of Senate Bill 33 through the California Legislature, along with the anticipated signature of the Governor, victims of incestuous sexual abuse will now have the equal protection that was taken from them 24 years ago. SB 33 closes the loophole in California law that allows child molesters to avoid a prison sentence merely because they share a household with their victims. This effort was a long time in the making. It has a tangled history, but the victory is sweet, a testimony to people willing to come together and stand for what is right regardless of political differences. And it all started with a phone call to my office.
I have made it the goal of my career in the Legislature to defend our most valuable resource, our children, and had successfully spearheaded an effort to put the database of serious sex offenders online so that parents could protect their families. It was this work that prompted Grier Weeks, the Executive Director of the National Association to Protect Children (PROTECT), to contact me.
In a misguided series of laws that absolved individuals of the consequences of their actions, California lawmakers decided in the early ’80s to offer special protection to intra-familial sexual child abusers. This was an apparent effort to bring out the “inner goodness” of the perpetrators of a particularly horrible type of crime. Unfortunately, the innocent young victims were lost in the rush to “rehabilitate” the offenders and put them back into the home again.
This loophole had fallen off of the Legislature’s radar, but was brought to my attention by PROTECT in 2003. I was appalled to discover that while I was fighting on one end to give parents the information that they needed to ensure their kids’ safety, on the back end of the law, parents who molested their own children were returning home, free of charges, to wreak havoc on their families once again. It is a horrible thing to molest a child, but to sexually assault your own is especially heinous! This goes against everything that I believe in.
In 2004, I introduced SB 1803 to eliminate the preferential treatment for intra-familial child molesters. Who could possibly oppose such a measure? Dr. Bruce Perry, a world-renowned child psychologist, testified along with actual victims of incest who had the courage to speak out, but it was to no avail. The bill died in the very liberal Democrat-controlled Senate Committee on Public Safety. The Democrat legislators refused to consider the suffering inflicted on the victims and instead chose to focus on the potential rehabilitation of the perpetrators, stating that they did not want to break up the family by removing the breadwinner. What family?! I would contend that the parent or guardian destroyed the home when they raped their child. Allowing someone to go free because they make enough money to support the victim destroys the notion of justice—what if this same argument was used in all types of domestic battery?
Like I did with the Megan’s Law Internet database, I vowed to reintroduce the legislation until it passed, and this year I introduced SB 33. Working closely with the sponsor, PROTECT, a vast coalition of support was assembled that is the largest and most diverse that I have seen in my eleven years in the Legislature. It included everyone from the District Attorneys’ and State Sheriffs’ Associations to numerous victims’ rights organizations; political groups like the Feminist Majority to board members of the ACLU; local governments; celebrities; and countless other residents of California, this political juggernaut took a stand together with one goal in mind: seeing the perpetrators behind bars so that the innocent victims can begin the process of healing safe from their tormentors.
After many attempts along the way to kill the bill, reason (along with the sheer muscle of our coalition) won out in the end and SB 33 is now sitting on the Governor’s desk awaiting his signature. With the flourish of a pen, countless young victims will see the justice that they deserve.
Watching the courage of the victims who showed up to tell their stories in the committee hearings, I was deeply moved and was reminded once again of the reasons that I ran for public office. I refuse to regard child sexual abuse as merely a low level, non-violent crime. I have seen the pain and suffering firsthand, and I am proud to have played a part in the closure of this outrageous loophole.
Copyright © 2005 Jim Battin. All rights reserved.
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