Lawmakers want to increase penalties for child abuse cases so severe that they could be described as “torture” • Utah News Dispatch

Utah lawmakers initially approved a bill that would toughen penalties for the most extreme cases of child abuse — cases so heinous that advocates say they could be defined as torture.

Speaking to lawmakers during an interim law enforcement and criminal justice committee Wednesday, one expert compared it to being a “prisoner of war in your own home.”

The bill is called Changes on child abuse and tortureis sponsored by Sen. Don Ipson, R-St. George, and makes child torture a separate first-degree felony and carries a minimum sentence of 10 years. Currently, child torture is prosecuted as aggravated child abuse, a second-degree felony.

“These are cases where you are locked up, sometimes with ropes, chains or handcuffs. Sometimes in closets or crawl spaces. Often access to toilets is limited, requiring the child to use a diaper or bucket that has been given to them. This often involves malnutrition,” said Toni Laskey, medical director of the Utah Children’s Justice Centers. “This can include bizarre and extreme exercise programs that result in physical injury.”

Laskey, who spoke to lawmakers during Thursday’s meeting, said the cases can have a “serious psychological component,” such as family members acting as if the child does not exist, prohibiting them from going to school, friends to have or go outside, and in some cases they even killed their pets.

Laskey said the children in these extreme cases often grow up with addiction, risk-taking, anger, anxiety and depression problems; Some have been conditioned to believe that they deserve the abuse. They are behind their fellow human beings both socially and intellectually; There are even cases where children have to relearn how to eat properly.

“It will take a lifetime of intense work to undo it,” she said.

Under current Utah law, if a child is killed in the abuse, prosecutors can file high charges, including murder, said Washington District Attorney Eric Clarke. But if they survive the abuse, “there is nothing that adequately addresses what happens to these children,” he said.

When someone commits child torture for the first time, the sentencing guidelines recommend no prison time, Clark said. “Someone must have a long criminal history before a prison sentence is recommended for this crime.”

Clarke’s office prosecuted one of Utah’s most high-profile child abuse cases in recent years – Ruby Franke.

Franke was a popular family vlogger whose YouTube channel 8 Passengers had nearly 2.5 million followers. Allegations of child abuse pursued Franke and was arrested in September 2023 after her 12-year-old malnourished child ran to a neighbor’s door asking for help.

The child, who escaped from the home of Franke’s co-worker Jodi Hildebrandt, had “open wounds and tape on her extremities,” according to a police report. The police then found Franke’s ten-year-old child in Hildebrandt’s house, also malnourished.

Both Franke and Hildebrandt were sentenced to four prison terms ranging from one to 15 years for child abuse.

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The Utah Department of Health and Human Services also recently released findings from another serious case of child abuse that could meet the definition of child torture under Ipson’s bill.

According to prosecutors, 12-year-old Gavin Peterson of West Haven was starved to death over the summer by family members who spoke of beating him and withholding food from him, according to court documents. Court documents show the child was so malnourished that it caused organ failure.

Gavin’s father, 46-year-old Shane Peterson, was charged with child abuse, a first-degree felony; two counts of aggravated child abuse, a second-degree felony; and endangering a child, a third-degree felony. Gavin’s stepmother, 50-year-old Nichole Scott, and his brother, 21-year-old Tyler Peterson, were also charged with child abuse and aggravated child abuse.

While the Franke and Peterson cases could illustrate examples of what lawmakers call child torture, at least one attorney during the meeting expressed objection to the idea that child molesters are not held accountable.

During the public comment period of the session, Mark Moffat of the Utah Defense Lawyers Association told lawmakers that everything in the bill is already a crime in Utah. “It’s already been prosecuted, it’s already been punished,” he said.

“There is no evidence before this committee that these crimes are not already being adequately punished,” he said. “I cannot imagine that there would be a judge in the state of Utah who would listen to the stories presented to this committee and not send someone to prison. These people are going to prison.”

Other lawmakers had concerns about the bill’s definition of “mental abuse,” fearing it could give rise to differing interpretations and lead to overly harsh penalties for parents.

“There are a number of national authorities that would, for example, classify the denial of gender-affirming care as a serious detriment to a child’s psychological development,” said Rep. Matt MacPherson, R-West Valley City. “Conflict could arise if we do not define what we mean by psychological harm.”

In response, Laskey told MacPherson: “I can say with certainty that even though you and I may parent differently, I would not classify what you said as psychologically harmful, let alone psychologically abusive.”

Ultimately, the bill passed, with MacPherson being the lone “no” vote. It will be considered again in the coming legislative session, and the bill’s sponsor, Ipson, said he would continue to adjust the definitions to make them less subjective.

“This is about accountability, not deterrence… this is a good first step to get started and I give my word that we will work on this in the first part of the session to get it right,” he said.