4-25-2010 National:
NEW YORK (AP) — Combatting child abuse is a cause with universal support. Yet a push to create a national database of abusers, as authorized by Congress in 2006, is barely progressing as serious flaws come to light in the state-level registries that would be the basis for a national list.
In North Carolina, an appeals court ruled last month that the registry there is unconstitutional because alleged abusers had no chance to defend themselves before being listed.
In New York, a class-action settlement is taking effect on behalf of thousands of people who were improperly denied the chance for a hearing to get removed from the state registry.
And the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a case this fall arising from the plight of a California couple whose names remain on that state's registry years after they were cleared of an abuse allegation made by their rebellious teenage daughter.
"Nobody wants to be seen as soft on child abuse — and that's gotten us where we are," said Carolyn Kubitschek, a New York attorney who has waged several court battles over the registries. "In the state of New York, it is still almost impossible to get off the list."
More than 40 states have the abuse registries — which are distinct from the better-known registries of convicted sex offenders that every state makes publicly available on the Internet. The abuse lists aren't accessible to the public, but are used by day-care centers, schools, adoption agencies and other entities to screen people who want to adopt, be foster parents or get a job working with children.
Even critics of the registries say they can serve a vital purpose in barring perpetrators of serious abuse from roles where they would interact routinely with children. It's the process underlying many of the registries that has come into question — and their potential to entangle innocent people as well as wrongdoers.
A person doesn't have to be convicted or even charged with a crime to get listed. Under the general practice in most states, entries are based on a child protection investigator's assertion that the person committed an act of abuse or neglect; hearings or appeals, if granted at all, often come long after the name is entered.
"Anybody can call a child abuse hotline and report abuse — anybody, including your ex-spouse who hates you, your landlord who's trying to evict you," Kubitschek said.
By law, she said, child protection services must investigate each call — and their subsequent reports can lead to a person's placement on an abuse registry before they are notified or allowed to defend themselves.
The problems with due process were highlighted last year in an interim report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which has been directed by Congress to assess the feasibility of a national child abuse registry.
"Strong due process protections could necessitate significant changes to CPS investigation processes in some states that could be costly to implement and may discourage participation in a national registry," the HHS report said.
The report also questioned whether a national registry might be plagued by "false positives" affecting innocent people sharing a name with a perpetrator.
The potential problems will be assessed by a new HHS-commissioned study over the next two years, examining the state registries, gauging the states' interest in participating in a national registry, and trying to determine if one is indeed needed.
"Would a national registry in fact be useful to states?" said Barbara Broman, an HHS official who oversaw preparation of the interim report. "We do not know the answer to that question."
Congress authorized a national child abuse registry in 2006 as part of the Adam Walsh Act, named for a Florida boy abducted and murdered in 1981. His father, John Walsh, hosts the TV series "America's Most Wanted."
Among those urging faster progress toward a national registry is Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who says such a list would help track child abusers who cross state lines to avoid detection and offend again in the new location.
"It doesn't make any sense at all that while we try to watch sex offenders like hawks, we let child batterers, who physically batter children, slip through the cracks," he told a news conference last month.
However, Howard Davidson of the American Bar Association's Center on Children and the Law, said most people on the state registries are accused of neglect, not battering or other physical abuse.
Davidson supports use of the registries to screen potential adoptive or foster parents. But he questions whether they're a suitable tool for employers to vet job applicants because of inconsistencies in the level of proof required to register a name.
A disproportionate number of people on the registries are poor, Davidson said, decreasing their chances of successfully challenging an unfair inclusion on the list.
Even the National Child Abuse Coalition, a major player in Washington in advocating on behalf of abused children, is cautious about the proposed national registry.
Tom Birch, the coalition's legislative counsel, said there are many unanswered questions about the registry's costs and how it would reconcile differences in the states' definitions and handling of child maltreatment.
"Rushing ahead to create a national registry is not the way to go at this point," he said. "It would need to be done right."
While the abuse registries remain out of the spotlight in most states, there have been some notable recent developments. Among them:
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California has had a series of cases involving people who were exonerated of abuse allegations yet struggled to get their names off the state's Child Abuse Central Index.
One such case is scheduled to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court this fall. Lawyers say it will draw attention to the registry debate even though the issue before the justices involves a dispute over Los Angeles County's position in the case — not some of the more fundamental issues raised during their nine-year legal battle.
The couple, Craig and Wendy Humphries of Valencia, were arrested in 2001 after their daughter, then 15, accused them of abuse; their younger children were placed in foster care. State courts ruled the allegation was false but they remain on the list of 800,000 names.
In 2008, a federal appeals court found the registry system unconstitutional because there's no way for the innocent to clear their names. The ruling empathized with the Humphries as "living every parent's nightmare."
Esther Boynton, the Humphries' attorney, is frustrated by what she considers a slow, piecemeal government response to the ruling.
"It shows how the defendant is circling the wagons, how hard they will fight," she said. "This goes on and on and on. My clients are living through that."
Boynton knows the ordeal firsthand — she was placed on the abuse index in 1990 after accidentally splashing her 17-year-old daughter with hot coffee. Only three years later, applying for a volunteer job, did she learn she was on the list; it took two more years of litigation to get removed.
Later, Boynton represented a Bakersfield stockbroker, Scott Whyte, who had been accused of child abuse by an ex-girlfriend in 1986. Whyte avoided contact with their son for years, worried that another allegation might land him in prison, before he was cleared and won a 2007 court ruling upholding his right to challenge the index system.
Despite the vindication, Whyte says being on the registry left lasting scars.
"I will never get over this — it is still oozing out of me," he said in a telephone interview. "I think I've given up my anger, but I have to continually readdress that. Forgiveness was so difficult."
Boynton says the officials responsible for the registries have good intentions, with the aim of protecting children, but often overlook the harm that can befall people wrongly placed on the lists.
"If they do look, they'll see that parents and children have a shared interest," she said. "Accurate information helps everyone. Inaccurate information can pull people apart unfairly."
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North Carolina's Court of Appeals ruled in March that the state's registry process was unconstitutional because it gave suspected abusers no chance to defend themselves prior to being listed. The ruling also required a higher standard of proof before a name could be entered.
Sherry Bradsher, director of the state's Division of Social Services, said the legislature would amend the law to conform with the ruling. Temporarily, she said, the roughly 8,000 names on the list will not be made available — but their long-term status is uncertain.
The law was challenged by Kelly Holt, whose name had been on the list since 2007 even though he denied abusing his son and was never charged with a crime.
His attorney, Miriam Thompson, said the unanimous appeals court ruling brought tears to her eyes with its eloquent affirmation of the right to due process.
"I have two daughters — I'm all for protecting them," Thompson said. "But you've got to provide a better system before you accuse someone and put them on that list. That's a punishment, a state action with consequences. Before you do that, you've got to prove it."
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In New York State, lawyer Thomas Hoffman is representing thousands of people who may have been improperly denied the chance for a hearing to get removed from the state abuse registry.
Hoffman says somewhere between 17,000 and 25,000 requests for hearings were terminated prematurely by the Office of Children and Family Services between 2003 and 2007 — in many cases with the request letters simply shredded. Under a proposed class action settlement, the state has agreed to restore their right to a hearing and promised not to allow employers access to their names in the meantime.
However, Hoffman says it may take years for these hearings to be scheduled — which could leave many of the affected individuals in limbo while prospective employers get no response of any sort to screening requests.
"At least 50 percent of the people who get a hearing are exonerated," Hoffman said. "There are a lot of people who don't belong there, and it's taking too long to exonerate them."
"There's a good purpose for these lists," Hoffman added. "But you could have a divorce case, fighting over custody, the dad puts the kid in car with no seat belt on and the mom calls it in. Suddenly you're on the same list as the pedophile, and the employer doesn't know difference."
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Missouri's Supreme Court, in a 2007 ruling, said the state's method of placing people on the abuse registry was unconstitutional because it allowed a listing based solely on a state investigator's determination. Now, a hearing is required beforehand.
Since the ruling, disputes have flared over how many names should be removed from the registry.
"It's a horrible thing to be on this list," said Timothy Belz, the lawyer who won the 2007 case. "You can't get a job as a teacher, a nurse. You can't volunteer for your church's nursery duty.
"If you're a sex offender, your name doesn't go on the list until you're convicted," Belz added. "But if you're a little late getting a kid to the emergency room after he cut his finger, you could be on the list for ever."
Belz attributed the due-process problems to zealous legislators.
"You can't find a lawyer or judge who isn't shocked," he said. "Yet you go to the legislature and it's like pulling teeth to get it changed. All it takes is one kid to get molested, one horrible story, and the legislators just go nuts. The legislature ought to require itself to cool off." ..Source.. Fox News
April 25, 2010
Flaws found in state child-abuse registries
February 2, 2010
Federal study finds sharp drop in serioous child abuse between 1993 and 2006
All advocates need to notice, this IS NOT a report on sex offenses, it is a report of child abuses (maltreatment). Within maltreatment one form of maltreatment is sexual abuse (and that is not sexual offenses), and neglect, physical abuse, mental abuse, etc are other forms of maltreatment.2-2-2010 National:
NEW YORK — A massive new federal study documents an unprecedented and dramatic decrease in incidents of serious child abuse, especially sexual abuse. Experts hailed the findings as proof that crackdowns and public awareness campaigns had made headway.
An estimated 553,000 children suffered physical, sexual or emotional abuse in 2005-06, down 26 percent from the estimated 743,200 abuse victims in 1993, the study found.
"It's the first time since we started collecting data about these things that we've seen substantial declines over a long period, and that's tremendously encouraging," said professor David Finkelhor of the University of New Hampshire, a leading researcher in the field of child abuse.
"It does suggest that the mobilization around this issue is helping and it's a problem that is amenable to solutions," he said.
The findings were contained in the fourth installment of the National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect, a congressionally mandated study that has been conducted periodically by the Department of Health and Human Services. The previous version was issued in 1996, based on 1993 data.
The new study is based on information from more than 10,700 "sentinels" — such as child welfare workers, police officers, teachers, health care professionals and day care workers — in 122 counties across the country. The detailed data collected from them was then used to make national estimates.
The number of sexually abused children decreased from 217,700 in 1993 to 135,300 in 2005-2006 — a 38 percent drop, the study shows. The number of children who experienced physical abuse fell by 15 percent and the number of emotionally abused children dropped by 27 percent.
The 455-page study shied away from trying to explain the trends, but other experts offered their theories.
"There's much more public awareness and public intolerance around child abuse now," said Linda Spears, the Child Welfare League of America's vice president for public policy. "It was a hidden concern before — people were afraid to talk about it if it was in their family."
She also noted the proliferation of programs designed to help abusers and potential abusers overcome their problems.
Finkelhor, whose own previous research detected a drop in abuse rates, said the study reveals "real, substantial declines" that cannot be dismissed on any technical grounds, such as changing definitions of abuse.
He suggested that the decline was a product of several coinciding trends, including a "troop surge" in the 1990s when more people were deployed in child protection services and the criminal justice system intensified its anti-abuse efforts with more arrests and prison sentences.
Finkelhor also suggested that the greatly expanded use of medications may have enabled many potential child abusers to treat the conditions that otherwise might have led them to molest or mistreat a child.
"There's also been a general change in perceptions and norms about what one can get away with, so much more publicity about these things," he said.
One curious aspect of the study was the manner of its release. Although HHS had launched the study in 2004 and invested several million dollars, it was posted a few days ago on the Internet with no fanfare — neither a press release nor a news conference. Finkelhor, noting that experts in the field had been impatiently awaiting the study, described this low-profile approach as "shocking."
The findings might be disconcerting to some in the child-welfare field who base their funding pitches on the specter of ever-rising abuse rates, said Richard Wexler, executive director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform.
"The best use of scarce child welfare dollars is on prevention and family preservation — not on hiring more people to investigate less actual abuse," said Wexler.
The study found some dramatic differences in child abuse rates based on socio-economic factors. Poor children were three times more likely than other kids to experience abuse, and rates of abuse in African-American families were significantly higher than for whites and Hispanics.
Family structure also was a factor — for example, children whose single parent had a live-in partner faced an abuse rate 10 times that of a child living with two parents.
Wexler said a primary reason for the overall drop in abuse rates was the relatively prosperous economy during the period under study.
"The fact that the economic gains were unequal explains why maltreatment declined less in black families," he said.
The main author of the study, Andrea Sedlak of the Rockville, Md.-based research firm Westat Inc., said she was heartened by the overall findings of declining abuse rates. However, she was troubled to find that more than half of child maltreatment incidents are not investigated by child-protection agencies.
"Is the system still so strapped?" she asked. "There's still a lot of material here saying the system has a long way to go."
The study does not cover the recent period in which the United States plunged into a recession, prompting some reports of increased domestic violence and abuse in hard-off families. ..Source.. DAVID CRARY
October 18, 2009
MI- Child sexual abuse drops, but online victims are on the rise
10-18-2009 Michigan:
He could be a coach.
He could be a teacher
Or perhaps he is a father.
However, he could also be a child molester, possibly a predator.
He is someone who haunts the popular social networking Web sites and chat rooms where children often share personal information about their lives. He is hoping to find the one child he can victimize.
"There is no profile of a predator or a child who will fall victim to a predator," said Stacie Rumenap, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Stop Child Predators. "In some cases, it is the creepy guy who lives down the street; but in a lot of cases, it's a schoolteacher, police officer, legislator, or members of Congress. There is no demographic."
Among those linked to inappropriate contact with or conversations with underage children was former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., who resigned his seat in 2006 after his contacts with teenage congressional pages through sexually explicit e-mail and instant messages were disclosed.
Yet, researchers in a March study found that the Internet remains a relatively safe social environment.
What is pedophilia?
Pedophilia is a paraphilia that involves an abnormal interest in children. A paraphilia is a disorder characterized by recurrent intense sexual urges and sexually arousing fantasies involving sexual contact by an adult toward a child.
Another disorder in the paraphilias group is hebephilia, which is a sexual preference for pre-pubescent youths, and ephebophilia, which is a sexual interest in teenagers.
Experts say pedophiles are predominately male.
A child molester is any older child or adult who touches a child for his or her own sexual gratification. A child sexual predator is an individual who is a sexually violent person who hunts or stalks a child.
Generally accepted academic studies say one out of every four women is sexually molested by an adult before she reaches age 18. For men, that number is one out of every 10.
How prevalent is abuse online?
Statistics show that child sexual abuse has decreased 50 percent in the past year, said David Burton, an assistant professor at the Smith College School for Social Work in Northampton, Mass.
"It doesn't mean it's not happening; there's still a lot of it, but it's decreased quite a bit," Burton said.
However, the number of kids actually victimized as a result of someone they met online grew 21 percent, up to an estimated 615 kids in 2006, according to a study led by David Finkelhor, director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center. He described this as a "very modest growth" given the number of children using the Internet today.
"The most encouraging news is the very large increase in the number of arrests of offenders," Finkelhor said in a Web podcast by ConnectSafety.org. "It suggests how aggressive and proactive law enforcement is, and how many are being caught before getting to a kid."
In August, investigators conducting an online sting targeting child molesters said that within minutes of signing online, they had 150 people interested in chatting with their underage persona. Nine of those men were arrested when they drove to a Livingston County home to allegedly have sex with the person they thought was a child.
Those men return to Livingston County Circuit Court on Oct. 30 for a pretrial hearing on felony charges.
"In some interviews, (accused pedophiles) say they know law enforcement is patrolling the Internet, but they are willing to take the risk," Rumenap said.
Detective Matthew Shutes, who heads the Livingston County Sheriff's Department's Internet Crimes Unit, is one of those officers. He said the nature of online chatting has changed, thanks to media reports about stings like the one in August in Livingston County.
"They are using other means," he said. "A Yahoo! chat room three or four years ago was flooded with these sharks. The avenues of a predator's communication has changed."
Shutes said child molesters or predators are using social networking sites, like Facebook, to meet children. They are also using online gaming sites, like RuneScape, to find potential victims.
RuneScape is a 3-D multiplayer adventure with monsters to kill and quests to complete in order to win treasure.
Shutes uses several personas, including a 13-year-old girl, when he visits an online chat room. Within 20 seconds, he gets two immediate hits. The number steadily climbs as he sits in the chat room, waiting to see who will bite.
"They will immediately make contact with me via the instant message," he said. "Within under a minute, I've gotten a conference invitation asking if I'm interested in a nude cam show, which is common."
When Shutes repeatedly replies that he is a "13-year-old girl," assumed child molesters or pedophiles jump "like ticks on a dog," he said.
Not all of Shutes' online conversations will lead to a criminal investigation, but the way it starts is generally the same.
"The topic of sex is always approached by them," Shutes said. "In the past four years of my experience, that topic is broached in the first couple minutes. They get right down to business."
About one in seven youths — defined as ages 10-17 — received a sexual solicitation online or are approached via the Internet, according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Four percent received an aggressive sexual solicitation — a solicitor who asked to meet them somewhere; called them on the telephone; or sent them offline mail, money or gifts — while 34 percent had an unwanted exposure to sexual material, including pictures of naked people or people having sex.
"The Internet has allowed child predators a whole new form of communication," Rumenap said. "They no longer have to go to schools."
Who are pedophiles in the community?
In 80 percent of child molestation cases, according to experts, the accused is someone the child knows — a parent, teacher, coach, stepparent, etc.
Burton said about 30 percent of sexual offenders were sexually abused as children. They often had a "crappy childhood full of violence" and neglect as well as emotional abuse, social awkwardness and an inability to meet one's sexual needs with adults.
Which children are most at risk?
The Internet child molester or predator is searching for children who exhibit loneliness or express unhappiness about their family life, experts say.
Loreen Olson, an associate professor at the University of Missouri who studies the luring communication of child sexual predators, and her research team identified what they call the "cycle of entrapment" by a predator. She describes it as a wheel.
On the hub of the wheel is what researchers call "deceptive trust development," which describes the predator's ability to build a trusting relationship with the child in order to improve the likelihood of a sexual encounter. The deception is the child molester's true intent to victimize the child.
On the spokes of that wheel are grooming, approach and isolation. All three spokes work together, Olson said.
Grooming is the subtle behaviors that an adult uses to get the child inoculated to sexual touch, and it can be done by showing the child pornography, including pictures or videos. In person, grooming also includes touching the child, such as rubbing the back or sitting close to the child.
"The perp works to isolate the child both physically as well as psychologically," Olson said. "They may criticize the family, allow the child to vent about that and build upon it. They try to pull the child out of his or her supportive social network, physically and emotionally."
Can a molester be successfully treated?
Experts disagree on whether a child molester can be successfully treated.
Burton said statistics show that recidivism rates for molesters who are treated ranges between 5 percent and 20 percent. He said treatment could include cognitive behavioral therapy, where a child molester works on his childhood issues or learns to manage his emotions.
"Most sex offenders are fathers and brothers. They are regular people, frankly. Treatment for them goes well," he said. "Treatment is effective. ... These people who are victims need to know that."
A 2001 report from the Center for Sex Offender Management found that the underreporting of sexual assault contributes to the underreporting of recidivism. This leads to a problem accurately predicting recidivism rates for child molesters.
"We do not know the answer," Burton said.
For the psychopathic offender — or predator — who has no remorse and does not care about his victim, treatment "may be impossible," Burton said.
Rumenap said child molesters may be treatable. However, "this type of crime doesn't stop," she noted.
"This type of crime, very similar to adult rape cases, is not about sex," she explained. "It's about power, control and, sometimes, it's about sex. We see sex offenders being released only to be redoing their crime.
"Sex offenders," she noted, "are four times more likely to repeat their crime. ... You can't cure sex offenders, but you can deter them from going back to prison."
Rumenap's group, Stop Child Predators, has pushed for mandatory longer sentences for the child molester or predator. She defines longer as at least 25 years in prison.
The group also has advocated for states to make electronic monitoring mandatory for parolees whose crime includes sex offenses.
"What price do you put on a child?" Rumenap said.
"It doesn't mean it's not happening; there's still a lot of it, but it's decreased quite a bit," Burton said.
However, the number of kids actually victimized as a result of someone they met online grew 21 percent, up to an estimated 615 kids in 2006, according to a study led by David Finkelhor, director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center. He described this as a "very modest growth" given the number of children using the Internet today.
"The most encouraging news is the very large increase in the number of arrests of offenders," Finkelhor said in a Web podcast by ConnectSafety.org. "It suggests how aggressive and proactive law enforcement is, and how many are being caught before getting to a kid."
In August, investigators conducting an online sting targeting child molesters said that within minutes of signing online, they had 150 people interested in chatting with their underage persona. Nine of those men were arrested when they drove to a Livingston County home to allegedly have sex with the person they thought was a child.
Those men return to Livingston County Circuit Court on Oct. 30 for a pretrial hearing on felony charges.
"In some interviews, (accused pedophiles) say they know law enforcement is patrolling the Internet, but they are willing to take the risk," Rumenap said.
Detective Matthew Shutes, who heads the Livingston County Sheriff's Department's Internet Crimes Unit, is one of those officers. He said the nature of online chatting has changed, thanks to media reports about stings like the one in August in Livingston County.
"They are using other means," he said. "A Yahoo! chat room three or four years ago was flooded with these sharks. The avenues of a predator's communication has changed."
Shutes said child molesters or predators are using social networking sites, like Facebook, to meet children. They are also using online gaming sites, like RuneScape, to find potential victims.
RuneScape is a 3-D multiplayer adventure with monsters to kill and quests to complete in order to win treasure.
Shutes uses several personas, including a 13-year-old girl, when he visits an online chat room. Within 20 seconds, he gets two immediate hits. The number steadily climbs as he sits in the chat room, waiting to see who will bite.
"They will immediately make contact with me via the instant message," he said. "Within under a minute, I've gotten a conference invitation asking if I'm interested in a nude cam show, which is common."
When Shutes repeatedly replies that he is a "13-year-old girl," assumed child molesters or pedophiles jump "like ticks on a dog," he said.
Not all of Shutes' online conversations will lead to a criminal investigation, but the way it starts is generally the same.
"The topic of sex is always approached by them," Shutes said. "In the past four years of my experience, that topic is broached in the first couple minutes. They get right down to business."
About one in seven youths — defined as ages 10-17 — received a sexual solicitation online or are approached via the Internet, according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Four percent received an aggressive sexual solicitation — a solicitor who asked to meet them somewhere; called them on the telephone; or sent them offline mail, money or gifts — while 34 percent had an unwanted exposure to sexual material, including pictures of naked people or people having sex.
"The Internet has allowed child predators a whole new form of communication," Rumenap said. "They no longer have to go to schools."
Who are pedophiles in the community?
In 80 percent of child molestation cases, according to experts, the accused is someone the child knows — a parent, teacher, coach, stepparent, etc.
Burton said about 30 percent of sexual offenders were sexually abused as children. They often had a "crappy childhood full of violence" and neglect as well as emotional abuse, social awkwardness and an inability to meet one's sexual needs with adults.
Which children are most at risk?
The Internet child molester or predator is searching for children who exhibit loneliness or express unhappiness about their family life, experts say.
Loreen Olson, an associate professor at the University of Missouri who studies the luring communication of child sexual predators, and her research team identified what they call the "cycle of entrapment" by a predator. She describes it as a wheel.
On the hub of the wheel is what researchers call "deceptive trust development," which describes the predator's ability to build a trusting relationship with the child in order to improve the likelihood of a sexual encounter. The deception is the child molester's true intent to victimize the child.
On the spokes of that wheel are grooming, approach and isolation. All three spokes work together, Olson said.
Grooming is the subtle behaviors that an adult uses to get the child inoculated to sexual touch, and it can be done by showing the child pornography, including pictures or videos. In person, grooming also includes touching the child, such as rubbing the back or sitting close to the child.
"The perp works to isolate the child both physically as well as psychologically," Olson said. "They may criticize the family, allow the child to vent about that and build upon it. They try to pull the child out of his or her supportive social network, physically and emotionally." ..Source.. by Lisa Roose-Church
June 11, 2009
MI- Mothers need to protect their children from sexual predators
A close review of this article will reveal that everyone believes that the horrible death of this child was due to a sexual predator. Folks are drawing that conclusion because the mother befriended two different previously convicted sex offenders. So far, I have not seen anything in the news to indicate that "sex crime" was committed here, even though that may ultimately prove to be the case. The point is that folks need to keep an open mind as the majority of child abductions are caused by someone other than a sex offender according to NISMART Reports (National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children ). Abductions by previously convicted sex offenders are the rarest of abductions.
6-11-2009 Michigan:
In Michigan, the mother of missing 5-year-old Nevaeh Buchanan says person of interest and registered sex offender George Kennedy was like a "father-figure" to her daughter. Mother, Jennifer Buchanan, admits to looking past Kennedy's previous child sexual offense and allowing him to build a relationship with her daughter.
While my sympathies go out to this mother over the disappearance of her daughter, we can all learn a lesson from this mother's mistake. Buchanan minimized this predator's offense and put her daughter directly in harm's way. Allow me for a moment to speak from personal experience and be a voice for survivors and children everywhere.
As a child, my own biological father severely abused me both mentally and physically. I was just 10 years old when his abuse became sexual. After four years of silently dealing with my father's abuse, I finally got the courage to tell my mother. My mother's reaction was a common one: denial. She became a contributor, if not an equal contributor, to my abuse.
In my early 20's, after years of brainwashing, denial, and silent suffering, my brother was able to validate my abuse. As a child, he had suspected my abuse and placed a tape recorder in the bedroom, catching my father's abuse in the act. My brother's tape marked the beginning of a very long and difficult healing process: confronting my father, saying goodbye, forgiving, and eventually having the courage to press charges. Despite all of these revelations, my mother continued to deny and minimize my father's abuse, leaving our relationship behind in order to continue a relationship with him.
Though my situation differs from little Nevaeh Buchanan, the lesson here is the same. As a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and a mother of a 3-year-old little girl, I find myself wanting to scream out, "Mothers - Protect your children!" Current statistics indicate that at least 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys will be sexually abused before their 18th birthday. We need to use the National Sex Offender Registry to our advantage and not be in denial about the potential of these predators. Be on the lookout for common signs of sexual abuse in your child:
1. Unusual interest in or avoidance of all things sexual in nature.
2. Aspects of sexual abuse in drawings, games, or fantasies.
3. Sleep problems or nightmares.
4. Sudden fear of a person or place where the child was previously comfortable.
5. Depression, withdrawal, eating disorders.
We have come a long way in our country in bringing awareness to childhood sexual abuse, but with an estimated 60 million survivors in our country today, we still have a long way to go. Mothers - be a voice, a protector, and an advocate for your child. If ever you need help with identifying or reporting abuse, please call the National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4ACHILD. ..Source.. by Amanda Richardson is author of 'Saved From Silence.'
April 12, 2009
SC- Child abusers escape jail time
4-12-2009 South Carolina:
In at least 10 S.C. cases since 2002 involving death or serious injury, judges gave offenders probation
In 2001, Steven McCarter was accused of killing his 3-month-old daughter, Anna, by shaking her to death.
He initially was charged in the Chester County case with homicide by child abuse, which carries a minimum 20-year sentence. McCarter contended her death was an accident, though five years later, he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of inflicting great bodily injury on a child, records show.
That charge carries no minimum sentence and a maximum of 20 years. But Circuit Judge Kenneth Goode let the then-28-year-old McCarter walk out of the courtroom a free man.
McCarter, who had prior assault, theft and driving violation convictions — was given a 12-year prison sentence that was suspended to five years’ probation, records show.
McCarter’s ex-wife, Heather McCarter, was shocked by the sentence.
“What kind of a judge would not give a baby killer prison time?” the 27-year-old Colorado mother of four said in a recent interview. “I can almost guarantee if this had gone to trial in front of a different judge, I think he would have gotten more than five years of probation.”
Steven McCarter is now serving seven years and six months of his sentence after his probation was revoked for an aggravated assault conviction last year involving another woman, records show.
(eAdvocate Post)
A State newspaper investigation found that since 2002, S.C. judges gave no prison time in at least 10 cases — four of which were handled by Goode — in which defendants were charged with inflicting great bodily injury on a child.No time behind bars
Since 2002, S.C. judges have given no prison time in at least 10 cases in which defendants were initially charged with inflicting great bodily injury on a child — a felony that carries a maximum 20-year sentence but no minimum. Following is a brief summary of the probationary sentences in the 10 cases:
Judge Kenneth Goode in 2004 sentenced Antonio Sanders to three years’ probation after he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature in Fairfield County.
Goode in 2006 sentenced Sheree Jivers to five years’ probation after she pleaded guilty to inflicting great bodily injury on a child in Lexington County.
Goode in 2006 sentenced Steven McCarter to five years’ probation after he pleaded guilty to inflicting great bodily injury on a child in Chester County.
Goode in 2008 sentenced Talisha Lavette Smith to five years’ probation after she pleaded guilty in Richland County to inflicting great bodily injury on a child.
Judge Markley Dennis in 2002 sentenced Cynthia McKnight to six months’ probation after she pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of unlawful neglect of a child in Berkeley County.
Dennis in 2003 sentenced Kenneth Lester Bell to five years’ probation after he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of unlawful neglect of a child in Berkeley County.
Judge Paul Burch in 2004 sentenced Viola Bruce to two years’ probation after she pleaded guilty in Darlington County to inflicting great bodily injury on a child.
Judge Edward Cottingham in 2008 sentenced Anton Bushnell to one year of probation after he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature in Marlboro County.
Judge James Lockemy in 2008 sentenced Eric Graham to two years’ probation after he pleaded guilty to inflicting great bodily injury on a child in Dillon County.
Judge Casey Manning in 2008 sentenced Richard Johnson Jr. to three years’ probation after he pleaded guilty in Richland County to a reduced charge of unlawful neglect of a child.
SOURCES: S.C. Office of Court Administration records, police incident reports, State Law Enforcement Division rap sheets.
Short of death, the charge is the most serious involving harm to a child. By comparison, a person who seriously injures an adult can be charged with assault and battery with intent to kill, which also carries a 20-year maximum.
One of Goode’s other cases involved Talisha Lavette Smith, a former Summit neighborhood day care operator who has been in the news for receiving probation after admitting to slapping then-7-month-old Kendra Gaddie so hard last year that it caused bleeding on her brain.
Smith, 26, who has no prior record, pleaded guilty Dec. 8 to the charge of inflicting great bodily injury on a child. She was given a 10-year sentence suspended to five years’ probation. Smith has declined to talk to reporters; efforts to reach her last week were unsuccessful.
“It’s an abomination the way the court system treats child victims in determining sentences for crimes of this magnitude,” Kendra’s mother, Michelle Gaddie, said last week.
A state Senate Judiciary subcommittee on Wednesday will consider a bill spearheaded by Gaddie that would require mandatory two-year prison sentences for day care operators convicted of inflicting great bodily injury on a child.
Gaddie said she and Heather McCarter plan to attend.
“Hurting a child is the worst thing you can do,” McCarter said. “If they’re pleading guilty, there’s some kind of guilt there.”
LIGHT SENTENCES
A State newspaper review of state court administration data on the charge of inflicting great bodily injury on a child found that during the past eight years:
• In slightly more than half of the 72 cases where sentencing information was available, defendants received sentences ranging from probation to nine years — less than half the maximum. Nearly two-thirds of those cases involved pleas to the original charge, not pleas to lesser charges.
• In another 62 cases where sentencing information was not available, prosecutors or judges dropped the charges, though the newspaper’s sampling of 14 of those cases in two judicial circuits found that charges typically were dropped in exchange for pleas to reduced charges and shorter sentences.
• In five of six cases in which defendants were convicted at trial instead of pleading guilty, judges gave sentences of at least 15 years.
“It’s unconscionable for any judge to give anyone who pleads guilty to injuring a child probation,” said Veronica Swain Kunz, chief executive officer of the S.C. Victim Assistance Network. “It goes back to women and children being viewed as property.”
She said she supports the state bill being considered Wednesday, noting, “I think (minimum mandatory sentences) should be much, much greater than two years.”
But prosecutors and judges interviewed by The State raised concerns about the bill, introduced Jan. 29 by state Sen. Mike Fair, R-Greenville.
They said mandatory minimums rob prosecutors and judges of flexibility in crafting pleas and sentences, which could result in more trials and a backlog of cases in an already overburdened court system.
“They’re looking at the wrong end of the telescope,” said 15th Circuit Solicitor Greg Hembree of Conway, past president of the S.C. Solicitors Association. “If you have one judge who’s off the reservation, you get rid of the one guy. We’re building systems all the time for the one exception.”
Circuit Judge Paul Burch of Pageland, president of the S.C. Association of Circuit Court Judges, said the Legislature needs to be “real careful about what they need to do about mandatory minimums,” though he noted the association has not taken an official position on the issue.
Burch and Circuit Judge Edward Cottingham of Bennettsville were the sentencing judges in two of the 10 probation-only cases in The State’s analysis. Both said their sentences were based on recommendations from prosecutors.
“When possible, I accept the solicitor’s recommendation because he knows things I don’t know,” Cottingham said. “But if I had a child in front of me who was really hurt, I would make a great deal about differing with the solicitor.”
GOODE’S OTHER CASES
Contacted last week, Goode declined comment through an office spokesman on specifics of the Smith case or his other three probation-only cases in the newspaper’s study.
The 58-year-old Winnsboro jurist, who has been on the bench since 1999, announced last month he was retiring, effective June 30. The State newspaper since December had been examining his handling of several child abuse and sex offender cases, including the Smith case. Lawmakers and the state judicial screening committee also were looking into the cases.
Besides Smith and McCarter, Goode gave no prison time to two other defendants who were charged with inflicting great bodily injury on a child. Both were “shaken baby syndrome” cases involving parents, records show.
In 2003, Cayce police said Sheree Jivers, then 20, “did violently shake her 8-month-old child, causing permanent brain damage and protracted impairment of body members and organs,” according to an arrest warrant.
In shaking her son, Jivers caused the child’s head to hit the wall of her bedroom “with a force so great that the child’s skull was fractured,” the warrant said.
In 2006, Jivers, who had no prior record, pleaded guilty to the original charge and was given a 10-year prison sentence suspended to five years’ probation, records show.
In 2001, Antonio Sanders, then 21, was accused of shaking his 2-month-old son so hard that his “eyes were damaged and his pupils were dislocated,” according to a Fairfield County Sheriff’s Department incident report. The report also noted that doctors believed there was bleeding in the infant’s head.
Sanders, who has a prior domestic violence conviction, pleaded guilty in 2004 to a reduced charge of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature — which carries a maximum 10-year prison sentence, records show. Goode gave him a seven-year prison sentence, suspended to three years’ probation.
Sanders was sent to prison in 2007 to serve two years of his sentence after his probation was revoked because he was charged with driving violations, records show. He was released from prison Feb. 29.
Efforts in recent weeks to reach Sanders and Jivers were unsuccessful.
Eighth Circuit Solicitor Jerry Peace of Greenwood, who wasn’t involved in Goode’s cases, said last week that spouses or other relatives of parents accused of harming their children sometimes will put pressure on prosecutors to cut deals for lighter sentences.
But he acknowledged that some of Goode’s sentences have raised questions.
“Kenny Goode is a friend of mine, but his sentencing philosophy was different,” he said.
IN THE PEE DEE
Goode, an at-large judge who hears cases all over the state, wasn’t the only judge to give no prison time to defendants charged with seriously harming children.
Three of the 10 cases in the newspaper’s study were from the 4th judicial circuit of Darlington, Dillon, Marlboro and Chesterfield counties — more than any other judicial circuit.
Two of the three cases involved parents who said they were disciplining their children. Still, the defendants were charged with inflicting great bodily injury on a child, records show.
In July 2008, Judge Cottingham, of Bennettsville in Marlboro County, who for several years has had a reduced caseload as a judge on retired-active status, gave Anton Bushnell, 32, of Bennettsville, a one-year prison sentence suspended to one year of probation after he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature.
Bushnell, who at the time had two prior convictions for assault and battery, was accused of beating his 9-year-old son with a belt and a bath brush. The father told police he beat his son for getting into “some trouble at school,” according to a Bennettsville police incident report.
The boy told police that after his father beat him initially, he ran to a neighbor’s house, but his father carried him back home and beat him on his head, face, neck and arms, the report said. The boy was taken to the hospital with a swollen and bruised arm, and later was placed in foster care, according to the report.
Cottingham, who served full-time on the bench from 1984 to 2000, said last week he based his probationary sentence on the recommendation of the solicitor’s office and the evidence in the case.
“The record shows the child was not hurt seriously, and it shows it was a father who did it because there was a discipline problem at school,” he said, though he acknowledged Bushnell was facing a possible 10-year sentence on the reduced charge.
Efforts last week to reach Bushnell were unsuccessful.
In a Darlington County case, Judge Burch gave Viola Bruce, then 56, a three-year prison sentence suspended to two years’ probation in 2004 after she pleaded guilty to inflicting great bodily injury on a child, records show. Bruce at the time had prior convictions for assault and battery and public drunkenness, records show.
She was accused of shaking an infant — at the time less than 6 months old — while baby-sitting the boy, according to a Darlington police report. Citing medical reports, the investigating officer said the baby has “retinal hemorrhage which can only be caused from someone shaking him vigorously.”
Efforts last week to reach Bruce were unsuccessful.
Burch, of Pageland in neighboring Chesterfield County, told The State he had no independent recollection of the nearly five-year-old case. But he provided the newspaper with a copy of the sentencing sheet indicating that then-assistant solicitor Will Rogers — now the 4th Circuit solicitor — recommended probation.
Asked if he normally accepted prosecutors’ sentencing recommendations, Burch, who has been on the bench since 1991, replied, “I do unless there is something unusual about it.”
Rogers, who took over this year as solicitor, said last week he didn’t “remember anything about the plea” in the Bruce case, though he acknowledged his recommendation on the sentencing sheet.
As for the Bushnell case involving the father and son, Rogers said he “wouldn’t be surprised” if his office had recommended probation.
In the third Pee Dee case, Rogers said his office recommended probation last year in a case in which a father was accused of severely beating his 3-year-old son.
In that case, Eric R. Graham, then 25, pleaded guilty to inflicting great bodily injury on a child and was given a two-year prison sentence suspended to two years’ probation, records show.
Graham told police he disciplined his son for spitting on him and for being “grown and sassy,” according to a Dillon County Sheriff’s Department incident report.
The boy had bruises on the back of his legs — bruises that were still visible a week after the beating, according to the report. Efforts last week to reach Graham were unsuccessful.
The sentencing judge in that case — James Lockemy of Dillon, who now sits on the S.C. Court of Appeals, the state’s second-highest court — declined to discuss specifics of the case when contacted last week, noting, “It’s all on the record about what occurred.”
Rogers said based on his initial review of the case file, “It was a father spanking a child, and maybe he went a little too far with it.”
Rogers said he couldn’t specifically say why his office recommended probationary sentences in any of the cases without fully reviewing all of the files. But he denied his office is weak on child abuse prosecution.
“You have to look at the individual case,” he said. “First, we’re supposed to seek justice. If there is a case that we don’t feel like we can prove ... we shouldn’t proceed with the case.”
He added, though, “The guys we know are a danger need to be put in prison.” ..News Source.. by RICK BRUNDRETT
June 22, 2008
MN- Do children lie about sexual abuse? Not usually
This is one of a series of articles by the Post-Bullettin, see also:
Why so much silence about child abuse?
Former abuse victim resists the rage
Child abuse victim finally speaks out
Abuse cases difficult to prosecute
Indirect abuse nonetheless harmful
Wounded children often become abusers
Verbal abuse, neglect the most common
Scars of abuse -- seen and unseen
6-22-2008 Minnesota:
Children do lie, but seldom about being abused, an expert said. "All human beings can and do lie, but it's hard for kids to do it about sex," said Victor Vieth, director of the National Child Protection Training Center at Winona State University. "They can't lie about something they have no knowledge of," he said, and children don't learn about oral sex on Sesame Street.
Young children might try to trick parents with other things, such as if they cleaned their rooms, but they aren't very good at it, he said. "It has to be that way or us parents wouldn't have a chance," he said.
Older children can lie about sex abuse, but that's hard, for other reasons, he said.
"It's no fun to make an accusation of sexual abuse," Vieth said. They know others will know they made the accusations and they could be teased about it, he said. They also know they might have to be examined in a hospital and testify in court in front of others, including the media. "When exactly does it start being fun for those kids?" he said.
Children also come under heavy pressure to recant, he said. Most find living with a lie if they recant is easier than living with abuse if they do testify. In fact, say those working with children, the opposite is closer to the truth -- children tend to underreport abuse.
Lying is rare, said Nancy Reuvers, supervisor of child/family services for Dodge County. "If anything, they will protect their parents," she said.
"They still love their parents," said Jennifer Adamson, a child protection social worker.
They fear that if they tell, their parents will be taken from them or they will have to leave their homes.
"And if they tell, things change," Reuvers said.
Author and psychologist Anne Salter, however, said many people convicted of sexual abuse do lie. In her book "Predators Pedophiles, Rapists, And Other Sex Offenders," she said a study of much of the data about numbers of abusers who were abused are based on self reporting.
One test of convicted offenders asked if they had been abused. Half of the offenders were told they would have to take polygraph tests afterward.
Of those who didn't have to take a polygraph test, an average of 64.3 percent said they were abused; of those told they would be tested, 30.3 percent said they were abused.
"The only rule for deception in sex offenders I have ever found is this: if it is in the offender's best interests to lie, and if he can do it and not get caught, he will lie," she wrote. ..News Source.. by John Weiss
