By KRWG News
Texas – A 1970s-era Texas law that allows parents to show "harmful material" to their children has come under fire.
That's after an Amarillo prosecutor said he couldn't charge a man accused of forcing his 8- and 9-year-old daughters to watch hardcore online pornography.
Randall County District Attorney James Farren has asked the Texas attorney general's office to review his decision not to pursue charges in the case. That case has prompted at least one lawmaker to vow to change the state's public indecency law.
The law apparently was meant to protect the privacy of parents who wanted to teach children about sex education. But it states clearly that parents can't be prosecuted for showing "harmful material" to their children.
Farren said police reported the incident to his office after one of the girls told a counselor in June that her father made them watch adults having group sex and various other acts at his home in Amarillo. The parents of the girls, and their 7-year-old sister, are divorced and share custody.
___
On the Net:
http://www.texaspolicecentral.com/penal(underscore)code.html
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.