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 No Legal Provision for Termination of Rapist’s Parental Rights in Minnesota

By: Aditi Singhai

Student, VI Semester, B.A.LL.B. (Hons.), Department of Law, Prestige Institute of Management and Research, Indore

Minnesota, a state in the United States of America, has no legal provision that terminates the parental rights of the rapist. Rape is an unlawful sexual activity that occurs without the consent of either party, and the offender of the conduct is pronounced a rapist. Minnesota provides custody decisions on the basis of the “child's best interest”, but the state does not have laws regarding the termination of parental rights. Hence, rapists can claim the best parental guardian choice. Also, Minnesota does not limit where registered sex offender inhabits; however, states such as Michigan and Lowa hold down how far a registered offender inhabits from schools and childcare institutions.

A member of the Minnesota Senate, Kari Dziedzic, drafted the first bill in 2012 for ending parental rights in rape instances, although the operation was of lower concern and never got introduced. Dziedzic praised the fact that the majority of states must join the statute prohibiting parental rights when the child is conceived through unlawful sexual activity.

In 2015, President Barack Obama signed up for the Rape Survivor Child Custody Act, which inspired states to lay down legal provisions related to terminating rapists’s parental rights when there was clear and conceiving evidence of the rape. The act was implemented by many states, and it was very effective in the states where there was no legal provision on the prohibition of rapists’s parental rights.

In 2016, the bill was introduced regarding ending parental rights in rape instances under clear and convincing evidence. This was the last occasion when this subject matter was experienced at the legislature level and did not receive a committee hearing.

Earlier, the State of Alabama provided parental rights to the rapist, but in September 2019, it revised the law and implemented Jessi’s Law, which prohibited the parental rights of the rapist's children. As of 2022, 49 states possess laws that manage parental rights in the event of rape. Minnesota remains the sole state without any statute regarding the termination of the parental rights of rapists.

When the rapists demand parental custody, In the Tiffany Gordon case, she was raped at the age of 12 when she was a minor by a youngish man she knew who approached her along with her sister and a comrade on a late-night car drive. In the first instance, she felt that they would be going to McDonald’s. Instead, 18-year-old Christopher Mirasolo sexually assaulted her. After a month, Tiffany realized that she had conceived the child. Then Tiffany’s prosecutor filed the allegations against Mirasolo, who might have been compulsorily awarded 25 years for the rape of a minor. But he was sentenced to prison for only two years, as he had not pleaded guilty to attempting rape. Although the judge let him out in a year, after that, he again raped a young girl and was awarded prison for 5 to 15 years. Furthermore, she left school and started working odd jobs to raise her child. For almost nine years, she didn’t express concern about the sexual assault she faced until 2017, when she appealed for state assistance. County probate judge Gregory S. Ross, without looking for the facts about how she got pregnant, permitted joint custody for Tiffany’s rapist; furthermore, he ordered Tiffany to live within 100 miles of Mirasolo, adding his name to her child’s birth certificate.

In the end, is it justifiable to provide parental rights to the rapist? Rape is a situation in which, irrespective of gender, a person is forced to have non-consensual sex. If a woman is a victim of it, there are chances that she might conceive a child; it is something she never imagined; if it happens, it may shatter her down or she may fall into depression. If she agrees to give birth to the child she conceives from the rape, it would be the most courageous step she took for herself and for her child. It is commendable to know that it would not be easy, even though she does everything to raise her child. And suddenly, her rapist demands custody of her child. Is that acceptable? Being raped is itself a traumatic experience, and fighting against the rapist to share her child custody is even worse. The person who provided deep scars to her physically and mentally and states providing rights to the rapist of parental rights, is it justiciable on the victim’s side? She had already been assaulted, and now she has to share her child with the one who did her moral wrong. Rape is one of the crimes for which legal provision makes it compulsory to wrap up parental rights. Minnesota is a U.S. state that has no provision terminating the parental rights of rapists. Furthermore, rapists can demand custody of the child in court. The Minnesota legislature or judiciary must look into this sensitive matter, as it is not about the rights of the rapist claiming parental rights but of the innocent victim facing her culprit and sharing her child custody with the one who provided her with scars that she never wished for.