Guest Post: Do members of the MD Senate think that coaches never sexually abuse and sexually assault minors in Maryland?

The following is in response to Senator Karen Montgomery's e-mail to the Parents' Coalition suggesting that parents and child advocates come back next year to advocate for legislation that will protect students from sexual predators.
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We note that Senator Montgomery mentions that any problems with Senate Bill 460 should be taken up next year.  She does not acknowledge that there will be hearings on cross filed bills where the public can petition legislators about significant problems with the Senate version of the bill. These problems can  be taken up in a conference committee this year.  She does not acknowledge that the House Judiciary Committee amendments provide far more protections than the the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee (JPR) Amendments  in House Bill 781, Senate Bill 460's cross filed bill.  She does not explain why this must be the case. While it is true that Senators rightly deleted a proposed provision concerning the seven year gap and allowed  part-time employees to be penalized for the first time since 2006 after the Senate's JPR struck part-time employees from the House bill that year, a heinous case had to occur causing unnecessary harm to a 14 year-old before they would legislate a common sense provision. This child waited until it was too late.

Instead of following Senator Montgomery's advice to take up problems with the Senate's JPR amendments before the session ends, parents and other citizens concerned with the safety and protection of children should ask the following questions of the members of the Senate's Judicial Proceedings Committee including its Chairman, Brian Frosh, and the sponsor of SB 460, Jaime Raskin :

• Why must children and their parents wait until next year instead of solving these problems in a conference committee?  Why won't the Senate's Judicial Proceeding Committee agree to reconsider its decision to exclude necessary protections in HB 781 which passed the House 129 to 0? Does Senator Montgomery's comments reflect the views of Senator Frosh?   If so, will the Senator retaliate by refusing to go to conference and then kill the bill as the Senate's JPR did last year?

• What public policy demands the Senate's JPR refusal to conform SB 460 to an amendment in HB 781 which would allow prosecutors to charge child sexual abuse which is a felony as well as separately charge a violation of the Position of Authority (POA) law which is a misdemeanor when an educator violates both laws.   Was it to make sure that defense attorneys could pressure prosecutors to accept plea bargains to a misdemeanor rather than a felony? If an educator sexually assaults a child in school it is a felony.  If an educator engages in the same behavior with the same child off-campus off time, it is a misdemeanor. If an an educator commits both types of crimes, why does the Senate's JPR want to continue to prevent legitimate prosecutions of both crimes? 

• Why did the Senate's JPR refuse to conform SB 460 to an amendment in HB 781 that would have raised the current penalty from imprisonment not exceeding 1 year or a fine not exceeding $ 1000 or both to the penalty approved by the House of Delegates, imprisonment not exceeding 5 years or a fine not exceeding $1000.  Why does the Senate's JPR think that the current penalty is proportionate to this serious crime so that it cannot even be increased minimally?  Indeed, if the same criminal behavior is a felony in school, why should the Senate's JPR reward clever molesters or child rapists by permitting them to get away with a misdemeanor rather than a felony merely because of the location perpetrators choose to commit these sexual crimes?   This makes no sense.

• Why did the Senate's JPR refuse to include an amendment requested by the Montgomery County Board of Education to include administrators and Board members  who may not supervise a child, but may hold sway over a child because of their positions?

• Why did the Senate's JPR refuse to include those who work or volunteer in sports and recreational programs who supervise minors under the purview of the legislation as did the House of Delegates?  Do members of the Senate's JPR think that coaches, for example, never sexually abuse and sexually assault minors in Maryland?  Why have other states responded to the Sandusky case by strengthening their laws?  Why has the Senate's JPR ignored this case along with other cases in Maryland which prove that this is a child protection problem here in Maryland?  Mark Hartill, a foremost expert on sexual abuse in sports has stated: " If the sex abuse conviction of former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky did one thing, it was to shatter the assumption that organized sports is an oasis where the well-being of children are always assured." Why doesn't his statement appear to have had an impact on the members of the of Judicial Proceedings Committee?

This Evening: Maryland House Passes HB 781

This evening the Maryland House passed House Bill 781 [Person in a Position of Authority - Sexual Offenses with a Minor] without further debate or amendments.

Read about the House Judicial Committee vote on this bill:
http://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/2014/03/house-committee-removes-age-gap-from.html

Will the Maryland General Assembly do everything in their power to protect children when they are with teachers, coaches, and volunteers?

On March 26, 2014, the Maryland House Judiciary Committee held a hearing to review bills from the Senate side of the General Assembly.  Included in the bills reviewed was Senator Jamie Raskin's Senate Bill 460 - Criminal Law - Person in Position of Authority.

This hearing also permitted public comment on these bills.  The purpose of the public comment was to speak to the House Committee about the differences between the Senate version and the House version of the bill.     

House Judiciary Committee

Conform SB 460 to HB 781

Criminal Law – Person in Position of Authority – Sexual Offenses with a Minor

March 26, 2014

Thank you for the opportunity to speak on conforming Senate Bill 460 to House Bill 781.

My name is Janis Zink Sartucci and I am a member of the Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland.

Is the proposed legislation important to Maryland children? That's the question that is before this Committee.

Since May of 2012 there have been 8 arrests of Montgomery County Public School (MCPS) teachers and staff on charges relating to the sexual abuse of students. One defendant was found not guilty on all counts and two defendants have yet to go to trial. All of the other cases have resulted in guilty verdicts.

And, then there is this September 2012 opinion from an Administrative Law Judge that was released as part of a Maryland State Board of Education Opinion (MD State BOE Opinion 12-34) that stated, "...MCPS continued for fifteen years to employ a teacher who had been found responsible for indicated child abuse."

These are real life cases of sexual offenses by Persons in a Position of Authority. We don't have to imagine what this proposed legislation is about, we have first hand, recent knowledge of incidences where students have been sexually abused by a Person in a Position of Authority. It's not a what if, it's real life.

The question before you today is how much do you want to protect children? Do you want to close loop holes or do you want to leave a few out there for future perpetrators? The House bill provides protection for children from teachers, part-time teachers, coaches, and volunteers. The Senate version of the bill only protects students from teachers. Why is the Senate willing to gamble that children will only be molested by full time and part-time teachers? Let's make the bill do it's job and protect children from all of the Persons in Positions of Authority that they encounter in their daily lives.

The 2014 legislative session is drawing to a close and will be complete before the upcoming trials of Montgomery County Public Schools teacher Lawrence Joynes take place. Mr. Joynes was denied bail and is currently being held in Montgomery County. You all probably haven't read the charging documents in those cases. I have. What is coming are two trials involving this MCPS teacher that have the potential for National media coverage as one of the trials involves the sexual abuse of 6 and 7 year old MCPS students in a MCPS classroom during the school day.

• One trial involves 10 counts of allegations of rape, child abuse and sexual abuse of an Eastern Middle School student over 2 years from 1991 to 1993 by MCPS teacher Lawrence Joynes. Mr. Joynes remained in MCPS classrooms for another 20 years.

• The second trial involves allegations of the creation of pornographic videos using 6 and 7 year old MCPS students in this MCPS teachers' music classroom during the school day. The Internet has created a whole new industry where videos of children can be photoshopped and turned into pornographic videos that are distributed around the world. Not only are our children now vulnerable to sexual abuse by Persons in a Position of Authority, but in addition, they are vulnerable to the manipulation of their photoshopped images that can become images of sexual abuse that are transferred around the world. There are 29 counts in this matter including allegations of child pornography and sex abuse of minors by this MCPS teacher.

These trials are scheduled to take place before the November elections. Will Montgomery County voters, State voters and the Nation see that when the Maryland legislature was in session our Delegates and Senators did everything in their power to provide the utmost protection for children, or will they see that the legislature left Maryland children vulnerable to more loopholes that allow Persons in a Position of Authority to sexually abuse them without the maximum criminal consequences?

Are our children safe when they are in the custody of others? That's the question that will be on parents' minds when the trials of Lawrence Joynes take place. Will the Nation see that Maryland is doing everything possible to protect children from Persons in Positions of Authority?

Did Senator Bobby Zirkin delete Facebook postings asking about Legislation that will be decided Monday on Last Day of Session?

The posts by Janis Sartucci shown below in the first image have now been deleted from Senator Zirkin's Facebook page.  

Senator Zirkin posted that he would be Tweeting updates during the last week of the Session.  On Monday, Senator Zirkin will be going into a Conference Committee to decide the fate of SB 460/HB 781 the legislation that could close loopholes in current Maryland law regarding sexual contact between teachers, coaches, volunteers and recreational program staff, and children. Senate Zirkin is the Chair of the Senate representatives on this 6 person committee.

This is what the Facebook page looked like yesterday.

Here's what the same Facebook posting looks like now.