United States' Child Marriage Problem -- Human Rights Abuse

The report titled “United States’ Child Marriage Problem” by Unchained at Last, which combats forced and child marriage in the US, reveals some shocking and poorly known facts. About 300,000 children with a few as young as 10 were married in the US between 2000 and 2018. Not surprisingly, most are girls (86%) married to adult men - clearly an injustice rooted in gender inequality and patriarchy. What makes this crisis worse is that these marriages are lawful.”

– Population Matters, 2021

“Unchained At Last” is the only organization dedicated to ending forced and child marriage in the United States through direct services and advocacy.

Their study of the extent of child marriage in the U.S. was the first that collected all available state data and used various estimation methods, based on high correlations identified between the available data and census data, to fill in the data gaps. Researchers obtained marriage certificates from 32 states and partial data from 12 others.

Unchained was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Unchained partnered with McGill University, Quest Research & Investigations, Quantitative Analysis and others. 

Findings

Nearly 300,000 minors, under age 18, were legally married in the U.S. between 2000 and 2018, this study found. A few were as young as 10, though nearly all were age 16 or 17. Most were girls wed to adult men an average of four years older.

Child marriage – or marriage before age 18 – is dangerous. Even at age 16 or 17, regardless of spousal age difference, child marriage:

1. Can easily be forced marriage, since minors have limited legal rights with which to escape an unwanted marriage (typically they are not even allowed to file for divorce);

2. Is a human rights abuse that produces devastating, lifelong repercussions for American girls, destroying their health, education, economic opportunities and quality of life; and

3. Undermines statutory rape laws, often covering up what would otherwise be considered a sex crime. Some 60,000 marriages since 2000 occurred at an age or spousal age difference that should have been considered a sex crime.

Unlike in countries where child marriage is illegal but persists anyway, the problem in the U.S. is the laws themselves. Most U.S. states still allow marriage before 18, and the four states that banned it did so only in the last three years.

Federal law, too, allows and might even encourage child marriage. Immigration law does not specify a minimum age to petition for a foreign spouse or fiancé(e) or to be the beneficiary of a spousal or fiancé(e) visa, which allows for American girls to be trafficked for their citizenship and allows for children around the world to be trafficked to the U.S. under the guise of marriage. The U.S. approved nearly 9,000 petitions involving a minor between 2007 and 2017, and in 95% of them, the younger party was a girl. Further, the federal criminal code prohibits sex with a child age 12 to 15 but specifically exempts those who first marry the child. This incentivizes child marriage and implicitly endorses child rape.

The simple, commonsense solution is for every state to eliminate the legal loopholes that allow marriage before age 18 (or higher, if the age of adulthood is higher). Additionally, the federal government must set a minimum age of at least 18 to petition for a spousal or fiancé(e) visa or to be the beneficiary of such a visa, and must eliminate the marital exception to statutory rape.

Legislation to this effect harms no one except child rapists, costs nothing and protects children from a human rights abuse.

Two Victims:

Chloe

Chloe was a high school student in Idaho when she met a young father online in early 2015. They soon began dating and 10 months later, she was pregnant. But there was a problem: Chloe was 15, and her boyfriend was 22.

Chloe said he convinced her that the only way that he could avoid prison is “if we got married.”

So that’s what they did. On a cloudy day in March 2016, she married her older boyfriend believing it would shield him from statutory rape charges.

“He had researched it,” said Chloe, who was 16 at the time of the wedding and had convinced her mom to consent to the marriage. “He told me, ‘This is what we need to do. And if we don’t and I go to jail, it’s going to be all your fault.’”

With the support of her mother, Chloe filed for divorce from her husband when she turned 18. Three years later, she’s living outside of Idaho and starting a new career. She said her daughter, now 5, is thriving.

(David Paredes, Vicky Nguyen and Rich Schapiro. “Pregnant at 15, married at 16: She's speaking out to end child marriages.” NBC News. October 15, 2021.)

Genevieve

Genevieve was just 15 years old when her 42-year-old neighbor put his hand on her thigh. She knew at the time that it didn't make sense — he was more than twice her age and had already been married a couple of times. But the man was persistent, complimenting her long blond hair and pointing out that she looked much older than her age. "It just progressed into more inappropriate behavior," she said.

It wasn't long before her mother took notice. She called the cops and claimed that the older man was assaulting Meyer. The police arrested him. But he managed to make bail.

That's when her mother, who Meyer said suffered from mental illness, had a sudden change of heart.

"My mom told me that this was my fault," explained Meyer, who is now 39. She reasoned that Meyer had seduced the man. If they didn't fix the situation, he could lose his job, his children, and spend the next decade of his life in jail. In California, where Meyer lived at the time, sex with anyone under the age of 18 constitutes statutory rape, regardless of whether or not the younger party has consented.

But her mother saw a solution: "She suggested we get married." Doing so would render the relationship legal, allowing her neighbor to avoid statutory rape or child sexual abuse charges. While sex between an adult and a minor is a crime, marriage would make the same activity legal. It would also rid Meyer's mother of the responsibilities of parenting.

"I didn't really believe that I could get married at my age," said Meyer. But within a month, on May 11, 1995, she wed her neighbor and charges against him were dropped.

(Elaisha Stokes. “Campaign to end child marriage in the U.S. runs into some surprising opposition.” CBS News. October 31, 2019.)

Consent and the Law

In the United States, the age of sexual consent varies by state, territory/district, or federal law, and typically ranges from 16 to 18 years.

State-legislated age of consent laws and marriage age laws are inconsistent in relation to one another. In some states, it is possible for a minor to legally marry even if they are below the age of consent in that state.

Most states set the age of sexual consent between 16 and 18. A person can be charged with sexual abuse or statutory rape for having sex with a minor. Yet, PBS Frontline found numerous examples of children who were given marriage licenses before they could legally consent to sex. These marriages were almost always approved by court clerks and judges.

(Anjali Tsui, Dan Nolan and Chris Amico. “Child Marriage In America By the Numbers. Frontline. July 6, 2017.)

In some cases, judges who approve an underage marriage because the minor is pregnant, may be approving a marriage between a rapist and their statutory victim.

(Melissa Jeltsen. “Grown Men Are Exploiting Loopholes In State Laws To Marry Children.” Huff Post. August 30, 2017.)

In some states minors cannot legally divorce or leave their spouse, and domestic violence shelters typically do not accept minors. Those children are indeed locked into marriage with no escape. Although statistics show 80 percent of teenage marriages end in divorce, for many young people locked in a marriage contract, they must suffer and wait years before they are old enough to legally exit. Either way, emancipated or not, these vulnerable girls lose out. 

 

Sherry Johnson is the founder of Svon Foundation, an organization advocating against child           marriage in the U.S., and is the author of “Forgiving the Unforgivable

A Horrible Story of Abuse 

Sherry Johnson from Tampa tells of being pushed to marry her rapist by her parents when she was only 11 years old and then being trapped in an abusive marriage for many years.

Johnson's story is shocking. Raped at 8 and pregnant at 10, she was forced to marry her rapist at 11. She had to abandon high school after the babies kept coming.

To keep the abuse secret, Sherry says her parents forced her to marry the 20-year-old man who she says raped her. She became a wife and a mother by the fifth grade.

"I didn’t know until it was done. I was a child. I had no idea how this would happen," she said.

Tampa 10News Reporter Liz Crawford sat down with Johnson, 57 years old in 2017. Johnson explained that her childhood was surrounded by her mom and church. She was born in Miami and moved to Tampa at age 5 with her mom, who was following their church's expansion.

As a little girl, Johnson lived with her mother in Tampa in the back of the parsonage of their church. She was an only child.

Johnson and her mother belonged to an apostolic church and went to mandatory service six days a week, sometimes seven. Hats and long sleeves were required for the girls and women; they could not wear pants or jewelry. They behaved in accordance with strict church guidelines, and the elders told them what they could say or do.

Johnson's mother spent little time with her. When she did, it was to bake biscuits and fruit pies for the church. There was no television in the house, but her mother would, on occasion, sit down with Johnson with a coloring book and pencils. That is the fondest memory Johnson has of her childhood.

Each day before school, Johnson sought out her aunt for lunch money because Johnson's mother worked as a substitute teacher and could barely make ends meet. Her aunt lived nearby in the same house as the bishop of their church, and one day, when Johnson was 8, he summoned her into his bedroom.

“I got your lunch money. Come and get it.”

He forced her to lie on the bed, used petroleum jelly and penetrated her. He said nothing and then sent her on her way. Johnson ran to a bathroom to wash herself, but she was a child in the fourth grade. She could not understand what had happened.

Here is the account by Johnson …

“'The deacon had keys, and so he would come in when he got ready, and guess where he would come? My room,' recalled Johnson.

“Johnson said she was raped repeatedly. She never told anyone at the time, but it didn't take long for the truth to come out.

“Johnson remembered a conversation with her mom one day after school, 'I remember being in the car, I remember that white Dodge car, and it had blue interior, and she said, 'You fixing to have a baby.'

“Johnson said, at the time, she didn’t know what being pregnant meant. Her mom sent her to Miami to have the baby in 1970.

“Johnson remembered adults around her talking about marriage.

“'If we're going to still have sex, then we have to get married. Well, who said we were going to continue to have sex? I didn't know anything about that, but I remember them talking about it,' explained Johnson.

“Initially, court officials in Hillsborough County refused to issue a marriage license, but Johnson’s mom took her to Pinellas County and that judge signed off.

“On March 19, 1971, at the courthouse in Clearwater, Sherry Johnson was legally married to her rapist. She was a bride at age 11. Her groom was 20 years old.

“'I got married that night after church. My mom made my wedding dress and a veil and my wedding cake,' said Johnson.

“Her marriage was a living hell.

“'We didn't really talk that much, I was there for sex only. We didn't have conversations.'”

(Liz Crawford. “Tampa girl married her rapist at 11 years old.” WTSP. June 22, 2017.)

This is the marriage application of Sherry Johnson and Alfonsa Tolbert, She was 11. He was 20.

Johnson ended up having five more children, getting pregnant almost every year she was married. At age 17, she sought help from Legal Aid Society, which gave her $75 to pay for an attorney and file for her divorce.

Today, Johnson is a vibrant, thriving woman. She has worked tirelessly to change laws that allow these types of forced underage marriages to occur. She's been through years of therapy and wrote a book, but there's no happy ending here. The law that allowed her to get married at age 11 is still on the books today. Most people are extremely surprised that it is still allowed in the majority of our states.

Extent of Child Marriage

A different study, looking at the mental health of child brides in America (2011), estimated between 8.9% and 11.96% of women are married as minors in the United States. While the general public often assumes that child marriage is issue that doesn’t pertain to America, it is widespread across the country today.

(Yan Le Strat, Caroline Dubertret, and Bernard Le Foll. “Child Marriage in the United States and Its Association With Mental Health in Women.” Pediatrics 524, 526. 2011.)

As of June 2020, 40 states have set absolute minimum marriage ages by statute, which vary between 14 and 18 years of age. In recent years, several states have increased their marriage age, including, in 2020, Idaho, Indiana, and Minnesota.

According to information compiled by the Pew Research Center, child marriage is generally more common in some of the Southern United States. The highest incidences of child marriages are in West Virginia, Florida, Texas, Nevada, Oklahoma, Arkansas, California, Tennessee, and North Carolina.

(David McClendon and Aleksandra Sandstrom. “Child marriage is rare in the U.S., though this varies by state.” Pew Research Center. November 1, 2016.)

According to a Frontline report by Anjali Tsui, Dan Nolan and Chris Amico, the states with the highest rates of child marriage in 2010 were: Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, West Virginia and Missouri. The states with the lowest rates were Delaware, New Jersey, Montana, Indiana, North Dakota, Ohio, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts.

(Anjali Tsui et al. "Child Marriage in America: By the Numbers." Frontline. July 6, 2017).

Progress

In recent years, a growing number of state legislatures have begun addressing child marriage. Since 2015, at least half of states have enacted reforms to their minimum marriage age laws, according to the Tahirih Justice Center, a nonprofit working to end child marriages. However, the group says "most states' laws still fall far short of the protections that are truly needed."

In the majority of states, a minor could still legally marry an adult with whom sex outside of marriage would legally be a crime, according to an August 2020 report from the Tahirih Justice Center. Under federal law, marriage provides a statutory defense to prosectution for sexual abuse of a minor.

(Kaia Hubbard. “Child Marriage Is Not Uncommon in the U.S., but States Are Taking Action.” U.S. News. September 01, 2021.)