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I am sitting here gobsmacked reading Corey Feldman’s latest story about Hollywood. It’s not the first time I’ve read the allegations of child sexual abuse, but this time it hit me in a new way. Feldman mentioned his own 11-year-old boy and compared it to his childhood actor friend (and, according to him, rape victim) Corey Haim, who he alleged was abused when he was eleven. Then Feldman said he can’t name names because he would be sued and the law prevents his abusers from being prosecuted.
This is wrong on so many levels.
Background
If an adult abuses a child, that stays with the child for the rest of his or her life. But the abuser has the advantage of threatening the youngster–especially when the abuser is in a position of authority, and heaping shame and fear to silence the child. In California, according to law firm Wallin & Klarich (that has a video posted on their blog titled “what do do if you are accused of child molestation” so we know what they are advertising for their practice), child molestation must be reported within 10 years of the child’s 18th birthday (until the child turns 29), or within one year of the police report.
But the bar to use the “within one year” exception is that the crime must have involved substantial sexual conduct, AND there must be independent evidence supporting the victim’s claims. That means someone like Corey Feldman, who is obviously over 29, and by his own admission lacks the evidence to meet the bar for prosecution, would only be subject to a lawsuit from his abusers for libel if he published names.
Hollywood’s Other ‘Open Secret’ Besides Harvey Weinstein: Preying on Young Boys
‘This is a place where adults have more direct and inappropriate connection with children than probably anywhere else in the world,’ claimed former child actor Corey Feldman.
Protecting whose rights?
Other states have even more stringent rules to protect the rights of the accused, but some, like Georgia, have repealed them for certain crimes against certain minors. For certain sexual or other crimes committed on or after July 1, 2012 against minors under 16, Georgia removed the statute of limitations. DNA evidence can be used anytime to expand the prosecution window.
Yet California seems to err on the side of protecting the molesters. The Wallin & Klarich website states that “false allegations of child molestation are very common.” That may be so in family situations, but who protects child actors? (I’m not even going to get into church leaders, scout leaders, etc.)
There must be a way to protect the rights of adults in the film industry from false accusations while protecting the children, even after they’re grown up, from what Corey Feldman is going through.
Whistleblowers?
Maybe the answer is to treat these kids, even when they’re grown, as whistleblowers. Why can’t California and other states with a growing film industry (Georgia actually produces more films than Hollywood right now) have a whistleblower law for child actors? Why should these now-grown actors be punished for naming names? And why can’t the cases be prosecuted without a statute of limitations?
In Georgia, according to the Atlanta-based Brody Law Firm‘s website, O.C.G.A. § 16-16-4, enticing a child for indecent purposes, has no statute of limitations (after 2012, based on victim’s age). But the state has to prove the offender’s “asportation” of the victim–meaning taking the victim somewhere for the purpose of an act of indecency. If it happens that the child actor is on set alone with the offender, that’s going to be hard to prove since it’s part of both of their jobs to be there.
In other words, a good lawyer is capable of making an excellent defense against these charges, and the industry has a tendency to protect itself. That means a child actor making an accusation will almost certainly have their career suffer if the case can’t be proven, or the prosecution is unsuccessful.
Add to that the element of authority, the promise of more roles, etc., and there’s a perfect storm favoring the abuser and disadvantaging the abused.
The Takeaway
This is why it’s so important to remove statutes of limitation and grant whistleblower protections to adults who were abused as children. Just like the Catholic Church, which hid molesters for decades, Hollywood needs to be held accountable for its terrible monsters. With rich, powerful, lawyered up moguls, the only way to do that may be to protect the grown children from lawsuits and retribution.
If California would amend its laws to be more like Georgia, and states would treat child actors (and former child actors) as whistleblowers, abusers would be deterred from their monstrous behavior, or exposed and removed from the industry.
We have to do better to protect these young and vulnerable actors.
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