Legal Research

Charge: Sanctions For Female Sex Offenders Too Light

By David Badertscher, PLL

Source: Crime and Justice News, March 19, 2008.

"Jason Eickmeyer was a 15-year-old high school sophomore in New Jersey the night he said he had sex with his gym teacher. Two years later, after police came to his house and took his statement against teacher Traci Tapp, he was shunned and mocked, says the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Friends would ask him, 'How could you say you were victimized by having sex with a teacher?' He stopped going to many classes, dropped out of wrestling, and became depressed. Now the 20-year-old has sued the school district and Tapp, who lost her job but served no jail time after pleading guilty to harassment by offensive touching. Eickmeyer said a female teacher "'sn't looked on as harshly as a male.' " 

"Are female predators an under-reported danger or merely a titillating novelty? Says Gordon Finley, psychology professor at Florida International University in Miami: 'We need to remove the veil of political incorrectness and look at it honestly. We have tons of research on male sexual predators and very little on females. We need to acknowledge that it is not insignificant numbers. It is not the occasional mentally disturbed female. It is not 2 or 10 percent. It is much higher than that.' Dr. Finley believes female predators often get lighter sentences than males . So does Robert J. Shoop, a Kansas State University professor and author of 'Sexual Exploitation in Schools: How to Spot It and Stop It.' 'The female is likely to get a suspended sentence,' he said. 'A male is likely to get a 20-year sentence.' " 

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Full post as published by New York Supreme Court Criminal Term Library on March 19, 2008 (boomark / email).