Incest is different than rape, and an area-wide group is working to convince Kansas legislators to separate the two in state statutes.
The Alliance to Recognize and End Abuse (AREA) meets monthly, with members coming to Emporia from Newton, El Dorado, Council Grove, Hamilton and other cities in the state’s mid-section.
“It’s repetitive rape,” said Mary Jane Grant, a psychologist who carpools to Emporia with other members from the Newton and El Dorado area.
The group is made up of incest survivors, psychologists, ministers and others interested in helping recognize and end abuse and its long-term consequences for families.
Stranger rape is generally a one-time incident, and the victim does not have to live with the rapist. Incest involves sexual abuse by family members, and aggravated incest is an ongoing betrayal by someone whom the child relies on for love and support — a parent.
AREA also wants legislators to bring the state in line with other states that have extended the statute of limitations on reporting and prosecuting incest cases. The group is asking for help from the public to sway legislators to make changes in both criminal and civil laws on incest.
AREA had proposed a bill during this legislative session that they say would have protected children of all ages, from birth to 18 years.
Instead, the legislature changed the incest proposal to read from 14 to 18 years of age. The rationale was that incest committed against children under 14 was covered by rape laws, members said during a meeting this month. Legislators have told members that incest involving children under 14 is covered by Jessica’s Law, passed in 2006. That law was directly related to the kidnapping, rape and murder of 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford by a sexual predator in Florida.
That law, however, does not deal with the long-term psychological effects of continued abuse by a family member.
“That’s the battle we’re up against,” said Paula Fritschen, AREA information director. “The presumption by lawmakers and law enforcers that it’s treated the same” as rape.
Shannon L. Spradlin of Hamilton, an incest survivor, talked about the affects her father’s attacks had on her family and on her adult life.
Her father began having sexual relations with her when she was about 3 years old; the attacks continued until she was 17. When the youngster summoned up the courage to report the abuse to her family’s minister, she said he told her to pray for her parents.
“You are so indoctrinated. It’s your job to protect the perpetrator,” Spradlin explained. “I thought I was going to jail if I told.”
Her father complicated the issue further by telling her that if she reported him, her mother would leave the family.
“To me, this was far worse than what I was enduring,” Spradlin said.
Many years later, she learned that her father had molested all five of his children; one of them, a brother, committed suicide as an adult.
Spradlin said that she had been an “alcoholic and rage-aholic” as a result of long-term incest and, after the experience with the minister, she held the knowledge inside for years.
“It’s like holding a beach ball under water,” Spradlin said. “Relax your hand and that beach ball is going to fly to the top. … It’s like trying to digest ground glass.”
Now, she has gone public with her story, has written and published two books on the topic, and has presented programs and testified about the effects of being forced into an incestuous relationship with her father.
“If someone is committing incest, it’s highly unlikely they’re going to be caught,” Spradlin said.
Her experiences convinced her that adults who commit incest belong in prison instead of being given probation or going unprosecuted. For many years, the goal was keeping the family together, not punishing the violator.
“The perpetrator gets probation while the victim gets life without parole,” Spradlin said. “If a perpetrator is not in a prison bed, they will be in a victim’s bed.”
Penalties meted out for incest often are less than those for rape, members said. AREA wants the legislature to impose a mandatory 25-year sentence instead of the current 34-month sentence.
They also want to open the way for victims to seek civil redress against offenders. Most victims of incest are not able emotionally to report the crime for many years after they turn 18, long after the statute of limitations has expired. The 2005 Kansas legislature extended the criminal statute to five years; the civil statute requires the victim to file suit within three years after reaching 18 or within three years after discovering their present injuries were caused by child sexual abuse, whichever is later.
Most states have much longer statutes of limitations, and some have no time limitations on reporting.
AREA members were grateful, though, that the legislature took the bill under study and hope that the birth-to-18 age range will be restored, along with a longer statute of limitation. As of Tuesday night, a history of the bill, SB 233, showed the last hearing was on Feb. 16.
More information about AREA may be had online at HYPERLINK “http://www.area-ks.net” www.area-ks.net or by e-mailing area.ks@cox.net.
barbara61 (anonymous) says...
I am all for any laws put into effect that help children. They need someone protecting them and there right to be abuse free. Times are terrible for children this day and age. Things are happenening to them that is unspeakable. It is horrible to have to live with your abuser I would agree completly. I love kids so much that I am for any laws that would help & protect them.
April 26, 2007 at 3:31 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
blkdaz (anonymous) says...
I will always wonder what I was supposed to be like as a child, young adult, and adult, in this lifetime. Repetitive incest from age 4 to 14 by my brother, a person I relied on for love and support and obviously the person I trusted the most...and ultimately gave my life to. I'm pretty sick at my stomach right now but am ready to meet and exceed the challenge (AREA) faces with the legislature. At 56, I am still controlled by the offender and his family; in a very deadly game of "discredit the victim.” I say deadly due to the death of my childhood and beyond and several attempts at suicide. I hold on to hope; hope that I don't commit suicide, hope that our legislature consciously awakens from denial, hope that family relationships change, hope that society can try to grasp the psychological effects of continued abuse by a family member. I strongly desire civil redress and will find a way to convince the legislature to act consciously and extend the statute of limitations on reporting and prosecuting incest cases.
September 25, 2009 at 5:57 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )