Hands off Oregon's children

We, the undersigned, call on all law makers to change the sentencing laws for child molesters. Child molestation is a crime involving a range of indecent or sexual activities between an adult and a child, usually under the age of 14.

The penalty for child molestation, carnal knowledge of a juvenile and all other sexual based crimes against a child under the age of 14 should be- Life without the possibility of parole.

Oregon has one of the highest rates of sex offenders at 473 per 100,000. There is no tracking information available on child molesters vs. registered sex offenders. Releasing these child predators back onto the streets is more costly than keeping them imprisoned due to the high likelihood they will offend again (18-45%), and the damage their offense causes to the victim. Victims of sexual abuse often go on to abuse others or commit other crimes as a result of the trauma. One in five violent offenders was sexually abused as a child.

Please review the statistics and consider keeping these criminals away from our sons and daughters for more than an average prison stay of 3.5 years. At this rate, they are back on the street to harm the same child before he/she reaches adulthood. What child can feel safe in this society when we don't have stiff enough penalties to protect them? Child molestation is one of the most under-reported crimes. A child cannot trust that they will be safe from the perpetrator unless we can tell them that person will never, ever be able to hurt them again.

Statistics:

Child molesters have been known to re-offend as late as 20 years following their release into the community.
Average re-conviction rate for a child molester 20%
Average re-conviction rate for rapists 19%
Percent of children who are sexually abused that will become sexually abusive later in life 30%
64% of rapists molested children and 59% of intra-familial child abusers sexually assaulted adolescents or adults outside the home. (O’Connell, 1998)
Using polygraph (lie detector) verification, 82% of child abusers admitted raping adults.
Average number of years a sex offender serves of an 8 year sentence 3.5 years
1 in 5 violent offenders reported to have been molested as a child
Recidivism rates range from 18-45%. The more violent the crime the more likelihood of repeating.
-Studies by the state of Washington.

•The typical offender (child molester) is male, begins molesting by age 15, engages in a variety of deviant behavior, and molests an average of 117 youngsters, most of whom do not report the offense.
[Dr. Gene Abel in a National Institute of Mental Health Study]

[additional Source: NCMEC, Prevent Abuse Now, Criminal Justice Agency]

Recent case:

On March 1, 2014 a man named Robert Nunez received a plea deal of 290 days for sexually abusing a 12 year old child. We will not stand for our children being abused, and these crimes taken so lightly. We call for tougher penalties on sex offenders who target our children.