6-25-2009 Wisconsin:
Age of Consent: Laws on teen relationships contradictory, confusing
With love can come criminal consequences.
In Wisconsin, 17-year-olds are tried as adults in the court system. If a 17-year-old is in a sexual relationship with someone under the age of 16, he or she not only could spend time behind bars but also be labeled as a sex offender for life.
“Those cases are very difficult,” said Fond du Lac County District Attorney Dan Kaminsky. “Certainly, I have a personal opinion on things as well as most of the attorneys have opinions on it. Yes, it seems there are some times where it is fully consensual.”
Kaminsky said if a 17-year-old boy has sex with a 15-year-old girl, he could be charged with a felony even though if the boy were the victim, he would be considered a child.
“The law is inconsistent and needs to be revised,” Kaminsky said. “If you have two 17-year-olds who have sex, both are child victims by definition in the law and both are adult perpetrators at the very same time.”
Kaminsky said attorneys do think about labeling a teenager as a sex offender when a “high school romance” with someone younger than 16 shows no signs of force.
“A lot of people are uncomfortable with that, as am I,” Kaminsky said. “Usually the case has to be charged. We really don’t necessarily have the option to disregard the law. We can offer deferred prosecution agreements in resolving the case. Especially with somebody that is a first offense, they can avoid that label. This is exactly why deferred prosecution agreements are important because it gives us the option to address these circumstances where it really is unfair.”
Kaminsky added that, even though it is unique, there are cases that emerge in which both participants appear mature enough to understand what they are doing.
“The sex offender is the idea that someone is a threat and we need to warn society about them,” Kaminsky said.
Range of offenders
When the age between participants grows, so should the concern, said Nichole Hall, Wisconsin Department of Corrections sex offender registry specialist for Fond du Lac and Winnebago counties.
Hall said there is a “large continuum of sex offenders.” Offenders range from child pedophiles to those that participate in cooperative sexual activities that are not allowed by law.
“As those ages spread further apart, I think so does the seriousness of the offense,” Hall said. “To really lock all those people up and throw away the key — I don’t really know if people are thinking about that sex offenders vary in their crimes, their risk and their danger they present to the public.”
Hall added that courts can remove some people from the registry if the offender is 18 or younger and the victim is 12 or older and there is no force or threat of force and no more than four years between the two.
Linda Selk-Yerges, director of Assist Survivors Treatment Outreach Prevention Inc. (ASTOP), said the potential of labeling someone as a sex offender may hinder investigations.
“It’s such a gray area,” Selk-Yerges said. “Because of that, sometimes I feel it makes law enforcement back off a little bit more because they think about this person will have to be a registered sex offender.”
Wisconsin law allows 16-year-olds to consent to sexual contact. However, teenagers cannot consent to activity that involves insertion of body parts until they turn 18.
Kaminsky said if the child participant is over 16, the sex offender registry is no longer a concern if the sex acts were not forced.
The crime is called sexual intercourse with a child 16 or older. It is a Class A misdemeanor that carries a maximum sentence of nine months in jail and a fine up to $10,000.
“That’s only a misdemeanor,” Kaminsky said. “Those get charged almost every time.”
Investigating assaults
Not all reports of potential sexual assault will make it to a district attorney’s desk.
Lt. Bill Flood, head of the Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Department’s detective bureau, said parents or the alleged victim do report, but most cases start with mandatory reporters.
“In the school setting, there are mandatory reporters — teachers, counselors, people of that nature,” Flood said. “… They will report these situations if they feel there is enough reason to believe the two are sexually active.”
Flood said some variables detectives look for are: pregnancy, transmission of diseases, use of force or threats, and incapacitation due to drugs or alcohol.
He noted that most parents are supportive if there is a pregnancy in a relationship that may not be legal by Wisconsin law.
Flood said officers use discretion when handling cases in which the age difference is not great.
“What we do is look at these cases individually. If we have two high school-age people that are sexually active, we feel these are more private matters and perhaps family and parental issues than they are a law enforcement issue,” Flood said.
Flood added that laws are not necessarily looking at the 18-year-old and 16-year-old sophomore and senior. The laws had to have age limitations to structure each degree, he said.
Flood said investigators approach every case seriously, but will back off of some cases involving teenagers.
“If, in fact, we handled every one of those cases that ever get disclosed or we ever see, we would be very, very busy, and you are also running the risk of labeling these kids — if you will — as potential sex offenders that would potentially need to register for the rest of their life,” Flood said. “Is that the spirit in which these laws were constructed? I don’t think so.” ..Source.. by Russ Plummer • The Reporter
June 25, 2009
WI- Out of the Shadows, Part 4: Confronting sex crimes in our community
WI- Out of the Shadows, Part 3: Confronting sex crimes in our community
6-25-2009 WIsconsin:
Team work: Compliance officers keep close tabs on local offenders
Even sex offenders need a place to call home.
Nichole Hall, Wisconsin Department of Corrections sex offender registry specialist for Fond du Lac and Winnebago counties, defines sex offenders’ successful reintegration into society in just three words: “No more victims.”
One linchpin of efforts to accomplish this goal is the Fond du Lac Police Department’s Sex Offender Compliance Team (SOCT), which was designed to maintain the balance between the offender’s constitutional rights and the safety of citizens.
About a year ago, police Officer Corby Gross — former DOC supervisor of high-risk sex offenders in Kenosha and Fond du Lac — proposed to Fond du Lac Police Department Chief Tony Barthuly that a team should be formed to monitor sex offenders living in the city.
Barthuly, taking note of his slogan of “an informed community is a safer community,” gave his approval to the unit.
“This isn’t a team for show. This is a team for compliance,” Barthuly said.
“There’s nothing more precious than our children,” he added. “Those kids are so vulnerable. One of these offenders could change that kid’s life, ruin it from something that is a great thing to something that they have scars to carry for the rest of their life.”
Gross said he saw two needs: to check that offenders are giving the state correct information and to help with registered sex offenders on probation and parole.
The Compliance Team consists of three supervisors and nine officers. Gross said part of his job is handling paperwork and legal issues related to monitoring sex offenders. Supervisors work on scheduling to pull officers off patrol to perform the duties.
The team begins a round of checks every six months and will be at large events looking for high-risk sex offenders and informing the public about what the team does.
“We’re going to do Fond du Lac Fondue Fest and some of the larger soccer tournaments,” Gross said. “We’ve also looked at other sporting tournaments. Anything that involves kids (Barthuly) is really adamant about getting us involved.”
Hall supplies the Police Department with a list of registered sex offenders within Fond du Lac. Team members visit the state registry Web site to check addresses and then go to the homes to assure compliance, said Gross.
“We go out to that address, knock on the door and make contact with them. We don’t stop until we make contact with them,” Gross said. “If we have to check four or five times, we will. Every time a member stops they leave a business card.
“We are being as proactive as we can without impeding on constitutional rights,” he added.
Gross said a team member also will do a report on a sex offender living in a different county who works in Fond du Lac.
No restrictions
Fond du Lac does not have ordinances restricting where a sex offender can live, but limits are in place regarding attending events where children may be present, Barthuly said.
“It’s best that (the public) knows where the registered sex offenders live in the community so if they are up to anything or are doing anything strange, people can call either Probation and Parole or the Police Department to let us know what is going on.”
Barthuly said City Manager Tom Herre and the Fond du Lac City Council support the current system.
Studies show restricting registered sex offenders from living close to parks, schools and other locations does not work because it pushes them out of the city to the point where they go underground or return to the city and live in the dark, Gross said.
“A sex offender has what is called an offense cycle. … They need to be thrown out of that offense cycle,” Gross said. “If they don’t have contact with law enforcement or therapy to throw them out of the cycle, that’s when we find they re-offend. The first step is making contact with them, making the community aware. We feel that knowledge is the best defense against recidivism in the city of Fond du Lac.”
Hall said Wisconsin municipalities can limit where registered sex offenders live. She opposes the living restrictions because it gives parents a false sense of safety.
She said 80 to 90 percent of sexual assaults are never reported, meaning parents and citizens should always operate with caution.
She added that many people don’t understand the offender can come back to the same community to go to school, work or visit their family or friends.
If sex offenders begin supplying false addresses when pushed out of communities, law enforcement would then have inaccurate information if there were a report of an assault or abduction, Hall added.
Hall said victim advocacy groups that oppose residency restrictions include: the Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault, the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence and the Jacob Wetterling Foundation.
She added that registry restrictions can ultimately give sex offenders the secrecy they thrive on.
“(Residency restrictions) are based on the ‘stranger danger’ myth that children are most at risk from a stranger and being abducted when the reality is that over 90 percent of offenders know their victims and have some sort of relationship with them,” Hall said. ..Source.. by Russ Plummer • The Reporter
June 24, 2009
WI- Out of the Shadows, Part 2: Confronting sex crimes in our community
6-24-2009 Wisconsin:
Recovery: 'One layer at a time'
It took sexual abuse survivor Charlene Bille about 50 years to start loving life.
The pain the Fond du Lac woman endured between the ages of 2 and 12 festered within her for years. It has taken the 60-year-old decades to heal to the point she is at today: assisting law enforcement with how to approach a victim and openly discussing abuse with those who know her story.
"My first incident (in 1951) is not my first memory. It's my last memory," Bille said. "I had memories of being sexually abused when I was older first. I would have flashbacks of things happening to me when I was older. Through therapy and as I got stronger, the abuse when I was 2 was my last memory. (Experts) tell me that if I had the memory of when I was 2 first, it would have destroyed me because I had to get strong and learn to deal with these memories before I had that memory."
Linda Selk-Yerges, director of Assist Survivors Treatment Outreach Prevention Inc. (ASTOP), said Bille, like many survivors, "peeled back the onion" in an effort to recover.
"You keep taking it one layer at a time. You keep peeling back until you get to the core, until you get to the beginnings (of the assault)," Selk-Yerges said.
Bille said one reaction to the abuse she had as a child was the need to see everything going on around her. At Christmas time, she would sit in a corner to assure no one would sneak up from behind. As an adult, she would choose spots in restaurants that would give her the best view to avoid surprises.
Other manifestations of trauma were immediately more self-destructive.
"I started self-abusing when I was 6. That's my first memory of cutting myself," Bille said. "I would find glass or whatever and cut myself on my legs. As I grew older, I would cut with razorblades. I had a pattern of self-abusing. I would overeat. My first memory of overeating was with semi-sweet chocolate. … I realized as I got heavier, boys ain't going to like you. I would overeat and then I would take really hot baths. I would put in the plug and let the hot water run. I would sit in there an hour, hour and a half, two hours. When that didn't work, I would cut."
She noted that on some trips to the hospital she had 200 or 300 cuts on her body. To her, cutting was not an attempt at suicide, it was a means to relieve her pain.
"Cutting was not blood. I did not see blood. It was black ooze because there was so much crap inside," Bille said. "At the age of 6 on, I just cut wherever."
Bille never told anyone about the self-abusing. She started to seek help after depression set in when she was 30.
A pivotal moment happened when she and a friend, who had been reading about sexual assault, met for coffee.
"She asked, 'Charlene, have you been sexually abused?' I said, 'I'm dead, in my head.' She reached across the table and touched my hand," Bille said. "If she could touch me when I'm the dirtiest, filthiest person in the world, it can't be all that bad. We sat and talked and she said I should call my counselor."
Road to recovery
Bille sought help at a variety of places and was met with skeptics or naysayers. She said once she found ASTOP and a doctor who believed her, the healing process began.
Selk-Yerges agreed with Bille that survivors stop growing emotionally at the age when abuse starts. Even though Bille was a grown woman holding a job, ASTOP counselors had to nurture her.
"The first contact I had with ASTOP I was suicidal. I had cut really bad that day," said Bille, who noted she did attempt suicide three times in her life by other means than cutting. "It had to be by the grace of God that day I picked up that phone and called the crisis line. I don't know who answered that phone, but they said they had a group that night and I should come.
"The ASTOP girls would hold me sometimes and let me cry," she added.
During assaults as a child, she said she would mentally take herself out of the situation, like she was watching it happen. Through therapy, Bille integrated back into the situation. She felt the pain of the assaults, but was on her way to healing.
"I listened to a tape one time and in that tape it said, 'You have to admit to what you lost.' … I lost my innocence. I lost my childhood. I lost what was mine to give to somebody someday that I'd choose to give it to," Bille said. "That was all taken away from me. I remember thinking that when I was 10, I was 80. I never thought I was a child."
Moving on
Bille encourages those who survive sexual assaults to report the abuse and get help. She never reported her assaulters because of threats to her well-being.
"I never confronted anybody and that was my choice. In my head and my heart I forgave myself because that worked for me," she said. "I have a relationship with God, so that is how I dealt with it.
"I just knew within me there was something more. There had to be something more. I got this picture of, 'I am free!' I was so knotted up, like a plate of spaghetti. It was like I had to take one string of spaghetti at a time and just unravel it. That was what my insides were like."
Reporting abuse
Bille said she would go to school with bruises on her body wishing the teacher would say something. As an adult, she took a stand and reported abuse after changing the diaper of an 18-month-old girl at a Salvation Army daycare in the 1980s.
"If you (the parents) think there is anything going on with your child, make a call," Bille said. "It doesn't even have to be a child. If there is anything with any of your family members that you think is not right, check it out."
Through her recovery, Bille can be the voice for those yet to rebuild. Selk-Yerges said Bille is the proof needed for victims and those who have the opportunity to report crimes.
"What Charlene does is give hope to survivors of sexual abuse and that is huge," Selk-Yerges said. "(ASTOP members) see the healing and wonderful blossoming of survivors, but for the story to come from a person who's gone through it, to walk through it, she is the one who gives hope that it is better out there. The abuse becomes an event that happened in your life. It no longer has power over you."
Bille added, "I was a mouse, just quiet. I'm not a mouse anymore. I'm enjoying life. If people can see that in me and hear my story and know why, I think that's important to see that there can be life. … Life is fun. That's what I would like victims to see. They can get beyond (sexual abuse) and enjoy life." ..Source.. by Russell Plummer • The Reporter
WI- Out of the Shadows, Part 1: Confronting sex crimes in our community
6-24-2009 Wisconsin:
Bringing justice to perpetrators of child sexual assault is a process that can be filled with revelations, tears, torn families, in-depth investigation and prosecution.
It is also a process that may never begin due to shame and confusion.
The stigma confronted by victims complicates the mission of those in Fond du Lac County who confront such crimes.
About 80 to 90 percent of all sexual assaults are never reported, said Nichole Hall, Wisconsin Department of Corrections sex offender registration specialist.
The statistic means the caseload handled by Devra Ayala — the Fond du Lac County assistant district attorney specializing in sexual assault and domestic abuse cases — and her colleagues may be only a small sampling of the child sexual assaults occurring in the community.
When children do articulate what has happened, they are using words they are taught are taboo and must recall violations that are private, Ayala said.
“In any case where a child is able to come forward and have the strength to face their assaulter and say, ‘That person did this to me,’ I am always impressed how strong they are,” Ayala said.
Victims who have yet to step forward are often “groomed” to not share the “secret” or are shameful of assaults, said Lt. Bill Flood, head of the Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Department’s detective bureau. He added some perpetrators groom the victim’s family members to build trust.
“With shame comes silence and sometimes that silence can carry on for years, even decades, before it is disclosed,” Flood said. “A lot of times it will be disclosed through some kind of counseling session or to a close friend under a set of circumstances. There’s the problem that family friends or family members perpetrate many sexual assaults. There’s a great deal of confusion that can go on in the mind of a young person.”
No more shame
Angel Gilbertson, client advocate and volunteer coordinator at Assist Survivors Treatment Outreach Prevention Inc. (ASTOP), has dedicated herself to assisting children through the court process and helping them with “lawyer language.” Through the organization — an outreach center for sexual assault survivors and affected family members — she lends her ear to victims who choose to disclose information or have a need to talk with someone.
Even though she and others involved would prefer not “revictimizing” the child because some must relive that trauma and retell their story in court, it is a step needed to hold the offender accountable, said Gilbertson.
“I cannot brag or speak highly enough for the individuals that do come forward because they are very brave souls to tell their story and to share the shameful secret that the perpetrator had,” Gilbertson said. “It’s not the (victim’s) shameful secret to carry.”
Gilbertson also thinks of the children who never step forward.
“For me, (unreported cases are) disappointing. It’s heartbreaking because we know all this sexual violence is going on in our community,” Gilbertson said. “For every one report we get of sexual assault, there are at least 10 that go unreported. That’s a lot of children that are not able to access services to get the appropriate help that they need.”
One in five boys will be sexually assaulted by the age of 18, said Gilbertson. Those boys are more likely to never report due in part to a majority of sex offenders being men.
“For males, they have that ego piece where they feel that if they’ve been assaulted, they should have been able to fight them off, so they feel bad about that,” Gilbertson relayed. “Another thing that they question: ‘Are people going to think that I’m gay?’”
Gilbertson holds presentations in the community and in the behavioral health unit at St. Agnes Hospital, where participating men can speak with boys in attendance.
Family issues
Gilbertson said she has seen family members who are supportive when a child steps forward. However, she also acknowledges cases in which the first person to whom the child disclosed the victimization did not believe the claims.
“I’ve seen (a case) go to court and the child has taken the stand and testified against a stepfather and the mom sat on the stepfather’s side the entire time throughout the court case, even upon the stepfather taking the plea agreement,” Gilbertson said.
Ayala said she must place the family dynamic at a lower priority than making sure children are not continually harmed, especially in a home where they should feel safe.
“When someone comes forward and says, ‘This person has (sexually assaulted) me,’ and they have a story that is plausible and believable, legally and ethically I have to go forward on it,” Ayala said. “I can’t be concerned that parent X is going to be mad at me for accusing parent Y. That’s not something I can worry about. I have to worry about if the child is being harmed by someone within the home. I have to make sure that person is held accountable. My first priority is to make sure justice is done.”
Flood said his detectives approach sexual assault cases with as much sensitivity and discretion as possible. Law enforcement knows the emotional changes parents can go through, but officers are obligated to investigate possible crimes.
“All we can do is be as informative as we possibly can, as up front as we can and we really need to preach restraint on the part of the parents whose loved one may have been victimized,” Flood said. “Let us do our job. Let us take care of things.”
Flood noted Victim Sensitive Interview Protocol interviews, which take place at the Fond du Lac Police Department, are key to interviewing children typically under the age of 12. The interviews are videotaped in an effort to keep the child from testifying in front of the alleged perpetrator.
Police interviewers communicate with investigators and members of Fond du Lac County Department of Social Services through an earpiece and are not involved with the case further to keep the interviewers buffered from other aspects of the investigation, said Flood.
Gilbertson said that people should not question if a sexual assault happened or not, especially with a child.
“I suggest contacting your local law enforcement and having them conduct the proper interview,” Gilbertson said. “You could literally be saving a child’s life.” ..Source.. by Russell Plummer • The Reporter
