SHOULD SEXUAL ABUSE BE TREATED AS A MINOR CRIME?5 charged in gang rape of girl, 7, in NJ apartment

How serious are we as a nation about the sexual abuse of minors? The media are now asking whether Pope Benedict ought to have defrocked a Wisconsin priest accused of molesting a minor in the 1950s, a case which the police declined to prosecute in the 1970s and was brought to the Vatican's attention only as the priest lay dying in the 1990s. Well, it's a fair question. But what about the rest of us? Defrocking a priest will purify the Church (and we owe thanks to all those who have helped make this happen). But taking off the Roman collar will not prevent the man from abusing children. Only the law can do that. How serious is the law about sexual abuse of children and teens? I spent an afternoon trying to find out. I found out, for example, that according to a 2006 study by the Florida Office of Economic and Demographic Research, the majority of adults over the age of 24 who had sex with a minor over the age of 15 escaped jail. In fact, almost one out of six adults convicted of sexually battering a child under 12 received no prison sentence at all.