If a small tattoo is mayhem, what is circumcision?
In Fresno, California, a father is facing the serious charge of mayhem for imposing a small tattoo on his 7-year-old son. Mayhem is an old offence, referring to any sort of serious maiming or mutilation of the body, and usually attracts a stiff sentence - as much as life imprisonment in California. But if a small mark on the skin, without cutting or loss of tissue, is mutilation, how would you describe the removal of the foreskin from the penis, and what sort of penalty should that attract when performed without need or consent on a minor?
A judge in Fresno, California (United States) recently raised the stakes in a case that has drawn widespread attention -- reinstating aggravated mayhem charges against two Bulldog gang members accused of inking a gang tattoo on a 7-year-old boy. Judge Gary Orozco's ruling means that the two men -- the boy's father and his friend -- could face life in prison rather than a maximum term of 16 years. The case also opens the door to a broader definition for child-abuse cases, according to the defense attorneys. Even Orozco acknowledged that the case raises the question of whether a parent ever has a right to subject children to potentially painful procedures such as getting pierced ears or being circumcised.
In court Friday, prosecutor William Lacy said Gonzalez held his son down against his will while Gorman inked a gang insignia on the boy's hip.
"He's crying and saying he didn't want it," said Lacy, who called the tattoo "a branding." Orozco agreed with Lacy's interpretation of the facts, saying the tattoo -- a quarter-size dog paw, which is a symbol of the Bulldog gang -- was painful to the child and left a permanent disfigurement on the boy's hip.
The ruling outraged Foster. He told Orozco that a mayhem charge should be reserved only for more serious cases. "It must be a cruel, savage and gory crime," he said. "A tattoo on a child, though a horrible decision, simply does not rise to mayhem." Foster's research showed that the mayhem charge evolved from the case of Lawrence Singleton, who raped a young runaway, chopped off her forearms with an ax and dumped her into a drainage culvert outside of Modesto to die. In other mayhem cases, a defendant was accused of putting out a cigarette on a victim's breasts or biting off the victim's ear. "It's absurd to compare a tattoo to these cases," Foster said. Attorney Manuel Nieto, who represents Gorman, said he also researched the issue and found that mayhem typically involves cases in which the defendant wants to punish or torture the victim.
Nieto said neither Gonzalez nor Gorman wanted to hurt the child or disfigure him. He said Gonzalez just wanted his son to have a tattoo like his father. Both Gorman and Gonzalez have several tattoos. Nieto likened Gonzalez's actions to a parent who has a daughter's ears pierced or a son circumcised. The child might not like the pain, but the parent has a right to do it, Nieto said.
Orozco said he doesn't know whether parents have a right to inflict pain on children against their will. Such acts, he said, could indeed be child abuse. Now it will be up to a jury to decide whether a tattoo constitutes mayhem.
Pablo Lopex, Charges reinstated in tattooing of boy, Fresno Bee (California), 29 January 2010
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