Learning From the Vatican's Problems: What the U.S. Must Do to Protect Children Now (amending RICO)

[Shallah Kali]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marci-hamilton/learning-from-the-vatican_b_520668.html

In fact, the State Department has useful procedures and protocols already in place that should be invoked to study and document past abuse, and deter it in the future. For example, it issues yearly reports on human rights violations and practices in foreign countries. So, I would argue that it is hardly a stretch to add the Holy See as a country to be studied annually with respect to its handling of child sex abuse by its employees and agents around the world.

Moreover, the federal government has already instituted various vehicles to address the trafficking of children for sex. The Holy See's activities here do not (usually) involve the movement of children, though. Rather, the problem is the movement of adults dangerous to children. According to www.bishopaccountability.org, 69 priests known to have abused children in the U.S. were shipped here from Ireland. Congress needs to enact criminal laws to punish, penalize, and deter any institution, organization, or country that transports adults into the country who pose such serious menace.

One promising path that I have strenuously advocated for, and the President and Congress needs to consider if it wants to demonstrate its leadership, is amending the RICO laws to reach institutionally orchestrated child sex abuse. Right now, RICO, which was created to capture organized criminal activity, is triggered by financial harm; it needs to be changed so that it is triggered by widespread harm to children as well. And the Catholic Church is not the only institution that requires investigation under such a statute. The Boy Scouts trial occurring in Oregon right now has produced evidence of decades-old "perversion files" that detail knowledge of abusers in close proximity of children. The Holy See is not the only organization that is putting children knowingly or recklessly at risk.

I also have urged the federal government to provide incentives to states to reform their statutes of limitations for child sex abuse so these arbitrary barriers no longer keep child predators in business and victims from pursuing justice in the courtroom when they are adults. It is important to note that child sexual abuse is epidemic; it is estimated that one in four girls and one in five boys are sexually abused and only 10 percent of victims ever go to authorities. It is also fact that survivors typically need decades to come forward and the legal system offers the only viable means of identifying child predators who are operating under the radar against our children.

More at the link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marci-hamilton/learning-from-the-vatican_b_520668.html