NCJ Number
93260
Date Published
1982
Length
62 pages
Annotation
Recommendations for addressing child abuse/neglect and child pornography in Texas cover the areas of education and research, information exchange, the work of the Department of Human Resources, status offenses and runaways, pornography and obscenity, criminal investigation and prosecution, punishment and rehabilitation, and new revenue sources.
Abstract
Recommendations for education and research include child abuse education in the public schools; child abuse instruction for certification of law enforcement personnel; child abuse education for judicial, legal, and legislative personnel; and prison research on the correlation between media and sex crimes. Recommendations bearing upon the work of the Texas Department of Human Resources relate to increased funding, professional classification for caseworkers, cooperation between the department and district attorneys' offices, permission for caseworkers to question abused children in school, designation of sexual abuse as grounds for emergency removal of a child from the home, immunity from criminal liability for caseworkers, and increase of rates paid foster parents. Decriminalization of status offenses and study of the juvenile justice system and alternatives for runaways are also suggested. Recommendations to control pornography and obscenity include prohibition of the sale of obscene materials in State institutions, redefinition of 'material harmful to minors,' publication of names of owners of pornographic emporiums, definition of 'sado-masochistic abuse' in the penal code, and expansion of the definition of child pornography and criminalization of its possession. Recommendations for criminal investigation and prosecution involve establishment of a prosecution strike force, elimination of spousal immunity in child abuse cases, waiving of the 6-month statute of limitations for telling a third party about a sexual offense involving child victims, and procedural changes to alleviate child victims' trauma in testifying in criminal prosecution for child abuse. It is recommended that murder of a child while committing sexual abuse be a capital crime and that penalties be increased for authorizing, consenting to, or promoting sexual performance by a child. The appendixes provide information relevant to the recommendations.