States are increasingly passing laws that criminalize not only sexual abuse, but the grooming process that often precedes the abuse.
At least 13 states — Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas and West Virginia — have made grooming a criminal offense, independent of any sexual abuse conduct that may follow.
“Grooming a child for inappropriate sexual activity and the inappropriate sexual activity itself are now two separate criminal charges in the above-referenced states. It is not a defense to the grooming charge that the underlying inappropriate sexual activity did not actually occur,” Gregory Love, an attorney and founder of MinistrySafe, wrote in an article about the grooming laws.
Love told MinistryWatch in an interview that he is unaware of any prosecutions under these laws, but most of them have been in effect only about a year.
Cultural shift
He sees these laws as another tool in the tool box of prosecutors who are dealing with sexual predators. For example, if victims won’t testify because the abuser is a family member, these laws would allow for a charge if others can testify that grooming took place.
The laws can also act as a deterrent before the sexual abuse itself occurs.
Love also believes that the increasing number of anti-grooming laws demonstrates a cultural shift in the attitude toward the dangers of child sexual abuse and a recognition that the grooming process itself is harmful.
The grooming laws can be a valuable tool given the proliferation of electronic communication in our culture, a path that is often used by sexual predators to reach their victims, Love pointed out.
“As we see state governments passing laws to make grooming illegal, we are seeing it work to protect the vulnerable and to fulfill its God-given mandate,” Jeff Dalrymple, the director of abuse prevention and response with the SBC Executive Committee, told MinistryWatch. He expects legislators to pass more laws to reduce the number of sexual abuse victims.
The criminal laws are fairly broad in their definition of grooming. The Texas statute defines grooming as when someone “knowingly persuades, induces, entices, or coerces, or attempts to persuade, induce, entice, or coerce, a child younger than 18 years of age to engage in specific conduct” that would subject the actor to criminal liability.
Challenges
While the definition is broad enough to take in a range of grooming behaviors, it can also bring challenges.
“Grooming laws have always been difficult because of challenges in differentiating between innocent behavior and culpable behavior,” said Theresa Sidebotham, a Colorado-based lawyer who assists ministries with child protection.
“It looks like the new laws are targeting lower-level sexual behavior, as well as showing children inappropriate material,” she added.
Love doesn’t expect the anti-grooming laws to impact insurance premiums for churches and ministries. Insurers have already digested the grooming process and accounted for it; criminalizing the grooming process doesn’t “move the needle” for them, Love said, because they have already recognized that grooming is bad.
Additionally, the anti-grooming laws have not yet been extended to change reporting requirements for church or ministry staff nor have they created civil causes of action that can give rise to insurance claims. Love said he is keeping an eye on that.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Kim Roberts and originally published by Ministry Watch.
