Prey State

Massachusetts judges often lenient with child molesters

By Karen E. Crummy
Originally published in The Boston Herald, January 12, 2001

Alleged cannibal child killer Nathaniel Bar-Jonah, who spent little time in jail despite repeated convictions, is a gruesome byproduct of the easy sentences routinely given to Bay State child predators.

Defendants in child sex or assault cases routinely get light treatment by state judges—often never seeing the inside of a cell, a Herald analysis of sentencing data shows.

The facts show a pattern of leniency:

Almost 20 percent of all people convicted of raping a child in 1999 were never sentenced to one day of jail or prison time.
Over 30 percent of those convicted of indecent assault and battery against a child, walked away—free.
60 percent of perpetrators convicted of assault and battery and injuring a child got probation.
100 percent of all those convicted of assault with intent to rape a child were never sent to jail.

Superior Court Judge Maria Lopez made headlines last year when she sentenced Charles "Ebony" Horton to mere probation for the kidnapping and attempted rape of an 11-year-old boy.

And Bar-Jonah was given probation in Massachusetts for nearly choking an 8-year-old boy to death in Webster in 1975, less than two years in prison for kidnapping and trying to kill two Shrewsbury boys in 1977 and a suspended sentence for assaulting a boy in Oxford in 1991.

But light sentences for crimes as serious as raping a child, much less attempted rape, are not uncommon, and perpetrators who pick children as their victims are generally sentenced much more leniently than those who commit the same crimes against an adult.

"There is still a perception among many judges that when rape is committed in the family—which for kids it usually is—it is less awful and less terrifying for society and somehow less important," explained Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney David Deakin, chief of the child abuse unit.

A state probation department study last May found that children are the victims of more than half of all sexual assaults, the majority of which are perpetrated by family members or people close to the family.

"We know that there's a tendency for judges to hand down softer sentences for crimes against children," said Middlesex District Attorney Martha Coakley, adding that she didn't believe the crimes were taken seriously enough.

When an adult was convicted of aggravated rape last year, he or she averaged an 11-year minimum prison sentence, according to state sentencing commission data. If that adult raped a child with force—the most similar equivalent—the adult only received a minimum of six years.

A defendant who was convicted of his or her second offense of raping a child spent about seven years less time in prison than if he had raped an adult for the second time.

And while adults who assaulted a child with intent to rape served no time, the average sentence for committing the same crime against an adult was three to five years.

"I'm not surprised by the disparity in sentencing because anecdotally, that's been our experience," said Paula Stahl, director of Waltham's Children's Charter, a trauma clinic that sees approximately 150 kids a week.

Most are sexually abused or witnessed a domestic violence incident. In either case, the events involved a parent, boyfriend or extended family member.

But senior superior court judge Robert A. Barton, who retired in June, said that in his experience, the only time a lighter sentence was handed down in the case of a crime against a child was when the mother didn't want the family torn apart or the child didn't want to testify.

"But everyone does their own thing and we don't really notice what other judges are doing until it comes out in the press," he admitted.

The complexity of prosecuting crimes against children also adds to the problem. Children are treated as adults in the courtroom and are forced to sit facing their perpetrator—something difficult for most adults, much less children.

Only in the rarest cases will a judge allow a non-testifying parent to sit with the child.

"The system is not child-friendly," Deakin said. "There are times when a prosecutor, considering the gravity of the crime, makes a decision that the child's best interests require a plea bargain to protect them from the intensity in court."

And plea-bargains result in lesser sentences than jury convictions.

"We don't count child violence as seriously as adults," said Harvard Law School professor Elizabeth Bartholet. "We need to change the attitude that emphasizes the therapeutic approach of preserving the family at all costs."