ATTORNEY and women's and children's rights advocate Margarette Macaulay is advocating harsh penalties for men who commit incest and stricter penalties for family members who hide their actions.

The lawyer, who noted that incest was still too prevalent in Jamaica, and who was peeved that in many cases the crime goes unreported because families cover up the act, believes the organs of the men involved should be cut off.

The Sexual Offences Act allows persons convicted of incest to face the same penalty as rape convicts, which is a maximum sentence of life in prison.

"But I still don't think that is sufficient, I think they should cut off all their organs," Macaulay said, stating that the enforcement part of incest still remains a problem, and many offenders don't get prosecuted because families cover up their crimes.

Macaulay, who was addressing reporters and editors at the Observer's weekly Monday Exchange meeting at the newspaper's head office in Kingston yesterday, said that the problem of incest is generational, in some cases involving even grandfathers.

"I'm really passionate about incest. It's happening a lot; it happens generationally, like a man has done it to his daughters and now he's doing it to his grandchildren," she said.

In many cases the cover-up goes so far that the pregnancies resulting from incestuous relationships are aborted, with the help of the children's mothers.

"The families themselves and including women in the family, cover it up, and so most of the incest offences never see the light of day," Macaulay said. "It used to be like domestic violence used to be -- behind closed doors -- but now it's behind closed families, the family will cover it up."

Police statistics show that 45 children were reported to be involved in incest cases in 2008. Statistics were not available for 2009. But Macaulay charged that many of the cases go unreported because the families don't come forward.

"They [families] are complicit either before the fact or during the fact or after the fact," Macaulay said. "To me it is more serious than a stranger-rape which is bad enough. These are people you trust, who are supposed to care for you. So therefore the law has to come down really, really strong on it."

Added she: "But there is no clear provision in the Act that the family members who know can be prosecuted."

But families who are found to be complicit can be charged under the Child Care and Protection Act, which allows that anyone who knows of a child who was abused or is being abused physically, sexually or mentally, should report it or face being charged with an offence bearing a maximum fine of $500,000 or up to six months' imprisonment or a mixture of a fine and prison term.

Meanwhile, Joyce Hewett, WOMAN Inc past president and co-ordinator for public education and legal reform, said that while the organisation -- which runs the only shelter for victims of domestic violence in Jamaica -- doesn't serve women under 18, it has dealt with women who have had problems with issues like incest in their childhood.

"Women over 18 who have been sexually molested and assaulted as children oftentimes carry the burden throughout their lives," Hewett said.

She said WOMAN Inc includes incest counselling for those who seek it. The group has a 24-hour anonymous hotline with counsellors to help women in need.