Opinion ID: 2071342
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Statutory Rapist's Parental Rights

Text: The Father was originally charged with statutory rape, which at the time was an offense that the Delaware Code denominated as Unlawful Sexual Intercourse in the Third Degree. [20] That statute stated in relevant part: A person is guilty of unlawful sexual intercourse in the third degree when the person intentionally engages in sexual intercourse with another person and any of the following circumstances exist: (1) The intercourse occurs without the victim's consent; or (2) The victim is less than 16 years of age. Unlawful sexual intercourse in the third degree is a class C felony. The Father pled guilty to and was sentenced for Unlawful Sexual Contact in the Third Degree: A person is guilty of unlawful sexual contact in the third degree when the person has sexual contact with another person or causes the victim to have sexual contact with the person or a third person and the person knows that the contact is either offensive to the victim or occurs without the victim's consent. Unlawful sexual contact in the third degree is a class A misdemeanor. [21] In 1993, the Delaware General Assembly enacted Section 728 of Title 13 of the Delaware Code. That section provided: If a child is conceived and subsequently born as the result of an act of Unlawful Sexual Intercourse, in either the first or second degree with the mother, the biological father of said child shall not be permitted visitation privileges under this section. This subsection shall apply only where the father pleads guilty or nolo contendre, or is convicted of Unlawful Sexual Intercourse, in either the first or second degree. (emphasis added). In 1998, the General Assembly revised certain sex crimes statutes to eliminate the distinction between the varying degrees of rape based on the relationship between the victim and the perpetrator. The offenses of Unlawful Sexual Intercourse in the First, Second, and Third Degree, and Unlawful Sexual Penetration in the First, Second, and Third Degree were replaced with the new offense of Rape. Statutory Rape is now denominated as Fourth Degree Rape. Those amendments to the Delaware sex crime statutes were accompanied by changes to 13 Del. C. § 728(d), which now states: If a child is conceived and subsequently born as the result of an act of rape of any degree or unlawful sexual intercourse, in either the first or second degree with the mother, the biological father of said child shall not be permitted visitation privileges under this section. This subsection shall apply only where the father pleads guilty or nolo contendre, or is convicted of any degree of rape or unlawful sexual intercourse, in either the first or second degree. Other states have similar provisions to Section 728(d). New Jersey, Wisconsin, Nevada and Oklahoma are a few of the states that have provisions either terminating the parental rights of the father who conceived a child as a result of a sexual assault, denying custody or visitation to the father, or eliminating the father's right to notice of the impending adoption of the child. [22] Some of the other statutes appear to make a distinction between violent rape and statutory rape on the basis that in some cases of statutory rape, the victim and the perpetrator are in an on-going relationship, notwithstanding the statutory disability of the mother's age, if it is in the child's best interests. The statutes in those states permit custody or visitation rights to be awarded to an adult who has fathered a child by an underage female, if it is in the child's best interests. The Delaware statute does not make a distinction between the rights of a statutory rapist and the rights of a violent rapist. [23] Delaware includes Fourth Degree Rape (statutory rape) in its statute prohibiting an award of visitation rights to a father who has conceived a child as the result of a sex crime. Since the Father did not plead guilty to statutory rape, the statutory prohibition against visitation is not applicable per se but it does reflect a significant policy pronouncement by the General Assembly. A statutory rapist may not invoke the legal authority of the Family Court to compel visitation with an illegitimate child who was conceived as a result of his criminal conduct. Parental rights are fundamental liberties which the law has traditionally recognized and afforded constitutional protections. [24] The United States Supreme Court has stated that fatherhood depends on the existence of an actual social relationship with the child and an assumption of parental responsibilities: [25] When an unwed father demonstrates a full commitment to the responsibilities of parenthood by com[ing] forward to participate in the rearing of his child,... his interests in personal contact with his child acquires substantial protection under the Due Process Cause. At that point, it may be said that he act[s] as a father for his children. ... But the mere existence of a biological link does not merit equivalent constitutional protection. [26] The guiding principle that controls the United States Supreme Court's holdings on the termination of an unwed father's parental rights has been succinctly summarized as follows: It is not the biological fact of parentage alone, however, but the existence of an actual or potential relationship that society recognizes as worthy of respect and protection, that activates the constitutional claim. [27] This principle rests on a practical recognition that biology and association can together establish a relationship between father and child that may be essential to the happiness of both, even if the formality of marriage is missing. [28] A biological father who commits a criminal act that meets the elements of statutory rape and has managed somehow to establish a relationship with his child may have a constitutionally protected claim to parental rights. [29] He does not, however, have a right to create such a relationship by blocking the adoption of the child. [30] No court has held that the mere fact of biological fatherhood, that was the result of a conception during a criminal act and that is unaccompanied by a relationship with the child, creates an interest that the United States Constitution protects in the name of liberty. [31] In this case, there was and is no relation, other than the biological, between the natural Father and Christopher.