Smart-Talks Podcast Blog
This is a collection of talks given at the annual SMART conference in Connecticut. Speakers present to tell their stories of their experiences with ritual abuse and/or mind control, their experiences treating patients with such backgrounds, or to raise awareness of the various issues surrounding recovery from ritual abuse/mind control of efforts made to raise awareness with the general public of this issue.
http://smart-talkspodcastblog.blogspot.com/
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Friday, March 30, 2012
Susan Powell's Blood Found At Josh Powell's Home, SYBIL in Her Own Words
Susan Powell's Blood Found At Josh Powell's Home, New Documents Show
By MIKE BAKER 03/30/12
TACOMA, Wash. — Authorities investigating the 2009 disappearance of a Utah woman found her blood in the family home and a hand-written note in which she expressed fear about her husband and her potential demise, according to documents unsealed Friday.
The files raise further questions about why Susan Powell's husband was never charged in her disappearance before he killed himself and their two young sons in a gas-fueled inferno in Washington state earlier this year. Investigators in West Valley City, Utah, never arrested Josh Powell or even publicly labeled him as a suspect in his wife's disappearance....
Shortly after Susan Powell disappeared, authorities found blood evidence on a floor next to a sofa and determined that it was Susan Powell's. The sofa appeared to have been recently cleaned, and two fans had been set up to blow on it.
Investigators found several life insurance policies on Susan Powell that totaled $1.5 million and determined that Josh Powell had filed paperwork to withdraw her retirement account money about 10 days after her disappearance.
The documents describe Josh Powell as unwilling to help in the investigation.
A safety deposit box used by Susan Powell had a hand-written letter titled "Last will & testament for Susan Powell," according to the documents. She wrote in that letter that she did not trust her husband and that they'd been having marital troubles for four years.
The letter also said that "if Susan Powell dies it may not be an accident, even if it looks like one," according to the documents....
Investigators had found a gas can, tarps and a shovel in Josh Powell's vehicle shortly after the investigation began. Susan Powell's cellphone was also in the car, and Josh Powell "did not have an answer as to why," according to the documents. One person interviewed by police said Powell had once made comments about how to kill someone and dispose of the body....
The documents also describe how Steven Powell had an apparent obsession with his daughter-in-law. A locked cabinet in Steve Powell's bedroom contained multiple images of Susan Powell, including some of her in her underwear. Other images showed nude female bodies with Susan Powell's face copied onto them.
Another image showed Steven Powell masturbating to an image of Susan Powell.
Susan Powell wrote in her personal journals that she did not want Steven Powell involved in her life and wished that Josh Powell would sever ties with him. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/30/josh-powell-susan-powell-missing-utah_n_1392756.html
SAT MARCH 31
7pm • Free
READING: PATRICK SURACI: SYBIL IN HER OWN WORDS
Dr. Patrick Suraci, a friend of Sybil/Shirley Mason, will read from his book SYBIL in Her Own Words: The Untold Story of Shirley Mason, Her Multiple Personalities, and Paintings. Recorded conversations between Mason and Suraci will be made public for the first time, and Suraci will share his interpretations of paintings of five of Mason's sixteen personalities.
Bluestockings, 172 Allen St
212-777-6028 • bluestockings. com http://www.indypendent.org/2012/03/30/indy-weekly-events-calendar-march-30-april-5
more information on the reading:
Projections of the paintings of 5 of Sybil’s 16 personalities are accompanied by his interpretations. Shirley’s recorded conversations with Dr. Suraci will be heard in public for the first time. Documents will be produced exposing the untrue statements made by others attempting to claim the Sybil case is a fraud, including how documents were distorted.
Sybil and MPD blog http://sybilandmpd.blogspot.com/
This blog will be about the book "Sybil" and the life of Shirley Ardell Mason. Sybil was published in 1973 and written by Flora Rheta Schreiber about the treatment of Sybil Dorsett (which is a pseudonym for Shirley Ardell Mason) for what is now called dissociative identity disorder (then called multiple personality disorder). She was treated by her psychoanalyst, Cornelia B. Wilbur.
By MIKE BAKER 03/30/12
TACOMA, Wash. — Authorities investigating the 2009 disappearance of a Utah woman found her blood in the family home and a hand-written note in which she expressed fear about her husband and her potential demise, according to documents unsealed Friday.
The files raise further questions about why Susan Powell's husband was never charged in her disappearance before he killed himself and their two young sons in a gas-fueled inferno in Washington state earlier this year. Investigators in West Valley City, Utah, never arrested Josh Powell or even publicly labeled him as a suspect in his wife's disappearance....
Shortly after Susan Powell disappeared, authorities found blood evidence on a floor next to a sofa and determined that it was Susan Powell's. The sofa appeared to have been recently cleaned, and two fans had been set up to blow on it.
Investigators found several life insurance policies on Susan Powell that totaled $1.5 million and determined that Josh Powell had filed paperwork to withdraw her retirement account money about 10 days after her disappearance.
The documents describe Josh Powell as unwilling to help in the investigation.
A safety deposit box used by Susan Powell had a hand-written letter titled "Last will & testament for Susan Powell," according to the documents. She wrote in that letter that she did not trust her husband and that they'd been having marital troubles for four years.
The letter also said that "if Susan Powell dies it may not be an accident, even if it looks like one," according to the documents....
Investigators had found a gas can, tarps and a shovel in Josh Powell's vehicle shortly after the investigation began. Susan Powell's cellphone was also in the car, and Josh Powell "did not have an answer as to why," according to the documents. One person interviewed by police said Powell had once made comments about how to kill someone and dispose of the body....
The documents also describe how Steven Powell had an apparent obsession with his daughter-in-law. A locked cabinet in Steve Powell's bedroom contained multiple images of Susan Powell, including some of her in her underwear. Other images showed nude female bodies with Susan Powell's face copied onto them.
Another image showed Steven Powell masturbating to an image of Susan Powell.
Susan Powell wrote in her personal journals that she did not want Steven Powell involved in her life and wished that Josh Powell would sever ties with him. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/30/josh-powell-susan-powell-missing-utah_n_1392756.html
SAT MARCH 31
7pm • Free
READING: PATRICK SURACI: SYBIL IN HER OWN WORDS
Dr. Patrick Suraci, a friend of Sybil/Shirley Mason, will read from his book SYBIL in Her Own Words: The Untold Story of Shirley Mason, Her Multiple Personalities, and Paintings. Recorded conversations between Mason and Suraci will be made public for the first time, and Suraci will share his interpretations of paintings of five of Mason's sixteen personalities.
Bluestockings, 172 Allen St
212-777-6028 • bluestockings. com http://www.indypendent.org/2012/03/30/indy-weekly-events-calendar-march-30-april-5
more information on the reading:
Projections of the paintings of 5 of Sybil’s 16 personalities are accompanied by his interpretations. Shirley’s recorded conversations with Dr. Suraci will be heard in public for the first time. Documents will be produced exposing the untrue statements made by others attempting to claim the Sybil case is a fraud, including how documents were distorted.
Sybil and MPD blog http://sybilandmpd.blogspot.com/
This blog will be about the book "Sybil" and the life of Shirley Ardell Mason. Sybil was published in 1973 and written by Flora Rheta Schreiber about the treatment of Sybil Dorsett (which is a pseudonym for Shirley Ardell Mason) for what is now called dissociative identity disorder (then called multiple personality disorder). She was treated by her psychoanalyst, Cornelia B. Wilbur.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
R.A. Dickey book: Childhood sexual abuse revealed in memoir by NY Mets pitcher
R.A. Dickey book: Childhood sexual abuse revealed in memoir with Daily News’ Wayne Coffey; NY Mets pitcher thought about suicide
Dickey says he got through painful times with 'strength, honesty and love'
By Andy Martino NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
PORT ST. LUCIE — Four hours after telling the world what he was once unable to share with his wife, R.A. Dickey stood in the Mets clubhouse Tuesday, detailing the impact of sexual abuse on his life, and the hope that his own history will help other victims make peace with theirs.
In a raw, new memoir, excerpted Tuesday in Sports Illustrated and detailed in the Daily News, Dickey reveals that he was abused as an 8-year-old, and later lived with so much anger and shame that he contemplated suicide as recently as 2006....
Entitled “Wherever I Wind Up: My Quest for Truth, Authenticity and the Perfect Knuckleball” (Penguin/Blue Rider Press) and written with the Daily News’ Wayne Coffey, the book is excerpted in this week’s Sports Illustrated and in the Daily News on Thursday.
The book chronicles Dickey’s 14-year odyssey through the minor leagues, his entry into the majors, including finding a used syringe in the Texas Rangers clubhouse, and his late conversion to the knuckleball, but the biggest revelations center on a troubled Tennessee childhood.
Dickey writes about closing Nashville bars with his mother at age 5, sleeping in abandoned houses as a teen, swimming with alligators and turning to sports in an effort to mitigate the pain brought on by the sexual abuse.
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/a-dickey-book-childhood-sexual-abuse-revealed-memoir-news-wayne-coffey-ny-mets-pitcher-thought-suicide-article-1.1051163
R.A. Dickey writes of confronting darker sides of human nature
By R.A. Dickey with Wayne Coffey Tuesday March 27, 2012
From WHEREVER I WIND UP: My Quest for Truth, Authenticity and the Perfect Knuckleball, by R.A. Dickey with Wayne Coffey, published by arrangement with Blue Rider Press, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Copyright 2012 by R.A. Dickey. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/baseball/mlb/03/26/dickey.excerpt/index.html
Dickey says he got through painful times with 'strength, honesty and love'
By Andy Martino NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
PORT ST. LUCIE — Four hours after telling the world what he was once unable to share with his wife, R.A. Dickey stood in the Mets clubhouse Tuesday, detailing the impact of sexual abuse on his life, and the hope that his own history will help other victims make peace with theirs.
In a raw, new memoir, excerpted Tuesday in Sports Illustrated and detailed in the Daily News, Dickey reveals that he was abused as an 8-year-old, and later lived with so much anger and shame that he contemplated suicide as recently as 2006....
Entitled “Wherever I Wind Up: My Quest for Truth, Authenticity and the Perfect Knuckleball” (Penguin/Blue Rider Press) and written with the Daily News’ Wayne Coffey, the book is excerpted in this week’s Sports Illustrated and in the Daily News on Thursday.
The book chronicles Dickey’s 14-year odyssey through the minor leagues, his entry into the majors, including finding a used syringe in the Texas Rangers clubhouse, and his late conversion to the knuckleball, but the biggest revelations center on a troubled Tennessee childhood.
Dickey writes about closing Nashville bars with his mother at age 5, sleeping in abandoned houses as a teen, swimming with alligators and turning to sports in an effort to mitigate the pain brought on by the sexual abuse.
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/a-dickey-book-childhood-sexual-abuse-revealed-memoir-news-wayne-coffey-ny-mets-pitcher-thought-suicide-article-1.1051163
R.A. Dickey writes of confronting darker sides of human nature
By R.A. Dickey with Wayne Coffey Tuesday March 27, 2012
From WHEREVER I WIND UP: My Quest for Truth, Authenticity and the Perfect Knuckleball, by R.A. Dickey with Wayne Coffey, published by arrangement with Blue Rider Press, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Copyright 2012 by R.A. Dickey. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/baseball/mlb/03/26/dickey.excerpt/index.html
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
97% of rapists never spend a day in prison, Testimony Begins In Child Sex-Abuse Trial For Philadelphia Catholic Priests, Archdiocese
Reporting Rates
Sexual assault is one of the most under reported crimes, with 54% still being left unreported.
What happens to Rapists When They are Caught and Prosecuted?
54% of rapes/sexual assaults are not reported to the police, according to a statistical average of the past 5 years. Those rapists, of course, never spend a day in prison. Factoring in unreported rapes, only about 3% of rapists ever serve a day in jail. http://rainn.org/get-information/statistics/reporting-rates
Testimony Begins In Child Sex-Abuse Trial For Philadelphia Catholic Priests, Archdiocese
By MARYCLAIRE DALE 03/27/12
PHILADELPHIA — Prosecutors aired dozens of confidential church documents in court Tuesday to try to prove the Philadelphia archdiocese routinely buried complaints that priests were molesting children.
Monsignor William Lynn is the first Roman Catholic official in the U.S. charged with endangering children by keeping accused priests in parish work.
The letters and memos read in court Tuesday centered on now-defrocked priest Edward Avery. Avery, known as the Smiling Padre, adopted six Hmong children and moonlighted as a disc jockey at parties and nightclubs throughout his three-decade church career.
According to the documents, a medical student told the archdiocese in 1992 that Avery had molested him after a DJ gig when the priest and the high school freshman were drinking heavily at a West Philadelphia nightclub. It happened again at age 19 when the two shared a motel bed on a ski trip to Vermont with Avery's brother, he said.
Avery denied the allegations to Lynn, but then said they "could" have happened. A four-day evaluation at a church-owned hospital showed he may be bipolar and have alcohol and psycho-sexual problems. Avery was admitted to St. John Vianney in Downingtown for nearly a year of sex therapy and mental health treatment.
Avery's parishioners were told that their outgoing, energetic pastor was on a "health leave" but heard no mention of the abuse allegation. Lynn's lawyers said the documents show that Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua gave those orders.
St. John Vianney never diagnosed Avery as a pedophile but said he should not be around adolescents or work as a DJ.
Lynn next recommended that Avery go to a Philadelphia parish with a tough pastor, although that parish had a school attached. Bevilacqua instead sent Avery to work as a hospital chaplain, with residency at St. Jerome's Parish. The northeast Philadelphia parish was home to many of the city's police and firefighters and had an elementary school.
Avery, 69, admitted last week that he sexually assaulted a fifth-grader there in 1999, forcing the altar boy to strip naked after Mass in the church sacristy. Instead of going on trial with Lynn, Avery pleaded guilty to sexual abuse and conspiracy and will serve 2 1/2 to five years in prison.... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/27/philly-sex-abuse-case_n_1381982.html
Sexual assault is one of the most under reported crimes, with 54% still being left unreported.
What happens to Rapists When They are Caught and Prosecuted?
54% of rapes/sexual assaults are not reported to the police, according to a statistical average of the past 5 years. Those rapists, of course, never spend a day in prison. Factoring in unreported rapes, only about 3% of rapists ever serve a day in jail. http://rainn.org/get-information/statistics/reporting-rates
Testimony Begins In Child Sex-Abuse Trial For Philadelphia Catholic Priests, Archdiocese
By MARYCLAIRE DALE 03/27/12
PHILADELPHIA — Prosecutors aired dozens of confidential church documents in court Tuesday to try to prove the Philadelphia archdiocese routinely buried complaints that priests were molesting children.
Monsignor William Lynn is the first Roman Catholic official in the U.S. charged with endangering children by keeping accused priests in parish work.
The letters and memos read in court Tuesday centered on now-defrocked priest Edward Avery. Avery, known as the Smiling Padre, adopted six Hmong children and moonlighted as a disc jockey at parties and nightclubs throughout his three-decade church career.
According to the documents, a medical student told the archdiocese in 1992 that Avery had molested him after a DJ gig when the priest and the high school freshman were drinking heavily at a West Philadelphia nightclub. It happened again at age 19 when the two shared a motel bed on a ski trip to Vermont with Avery's brother, he said.
Avery denied the allegations to Lynn, but then said they "could" have happened. A four-day evaluation at a church-owned hospital showed he may be bipolar and have alcohol and psycho-sexual problems. Avery was admitted to St. John Vianney in Downingtown for nearly a year of sex therapy and mental health treatment.
Avery's parishioners were told that their outgoing, energetic pastor was on a "health leave" but heard no mention of the abuse allegation. Lynn's lawyers said the documents show that Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua gave those orders.
St. John Vianney never diagnosed Avery as a pedophile but said he should not be around adolescents or work as a DJ.
Lynn next recommended that Avery go to a Philadelphia parish with a tough pastor, although that parish had a school attached. Bevilacqua instead sent Avery to work as a hospital chaplain, with residency at St. Jerome's Parish. The northeast Philadelphia parish was home to many of the city's police and firefighters and had an elementary school.
Avery, 69, admitted last week that he sexually assaulted a fifth-grader there in 1999, forcing the altar boy to strip naked after Mass in the church sacristy. Instead of going on trial with Lynn, Avery pleaded guilty to sexual abuse and conspiracy and will serve 2 1/2 to five years in prison.... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/27/philly-sex-abuse-case_n_1381982.html
Monday, March 26, 2012
Child traffickers thrive on disasters
Child traffickers thrive on disasters
GENEVA, 26 March 2012 - Disasters and climate related catastrophes are increasing the dangers facing children today such as child trafficking, according to a recent report by Najat Maalla M'jid, the UN Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.
"Children's vulnerability is significantly increased when they are separated from their families, unaccompanied, orphaned or displaced following humanitarian crisis," warned M'jid at a review of the report at the 19th Session of the Human Rights Council which ended on Friday.
"Some people exploit the chaotic environment that follows a natural disaster to engage in criminal activities, such as selling children for the purpose of illegal adoption, forced labour or sexual exploitation", stated the report.
"The situation enables them to circumvent national and international standards and remove children from their communities or national territory. Furthermore, the collapse or absence of a State system during and after an emergency results in a protection vacuum for children who may become separated from their families", the report said.
UNISDR United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction
http://www.unisdr.org/archive/25934
GENEVA, 26 March 2012 - Disasters and climate related catastrophes are increasing the dangers facing children today such as child trafficking, according to a recent report by Najat Maalla M'jid, the UN Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.
"Children's vulnerability is significantly increased when they are separated from their families, unaccompanied, orphaned or displaced following humanitarian crisis," warned M'jid at a review of the report at the 19th Session of the Human Rights Council which ended on Friday.
"Some people exploit the chaotic environment that follows a natural disaster to engage in criminal activities, such as selling children for the purpose of illegal adoption, forced labour or sexual exploitation", stated the report.
"The situation enables them to circumvent national and international standards and remove children from their communities or national territory. Furthermore, the collapse or absence of a State system during and after an emergency results in a protection vacuum for children who may become separated from their families", the report said.
UNISDR United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction
http://www.unisdr.org/archive/25934
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Sandusky Investigation Drew Psychologist’s Alert in 1998, Report Says
Sandusky Investigation Drew Psychologist’s Alert in 1998, Report Says
By MARK VIERA March 24, 2012
More than a decade before the former Penn State football assistant Jerry Sandusky was charged with child sexual abuse, a psychologist warned the university police in an investigation into a suspected assault of an 11-year-old boy that Sandusky’s actions in that case fit a “likely pedophile’s pattern.” But the university seemed to do nothing about Sandusky in the wake of that report in 1998.
What is unknown is whether senior officials at Penn State were unaware of the investigation, or whether they knew of it but chose to do nothing.
The details of the investigation were made public Saturday in an NBC News broadcast. NBC News, which obtained the police report and the assessments of two psychologists who had interviewed the 11-year-old boy, did not initially release the documents with the article it published online.
The investigation uncovered a clear warning about Sandusky, then the defensive coordinator for the Nittany Lions. Sandusky was charged late last year with more than 50 counts of child sexual abuse. He is accused of sexually abusing 10 boys from 1994 to 2009....
Sandusky, 68, has maintained his innocence. Last week, his lawyer, Joseph Amendola, asked a judge to dismiss the sexual abuse charges against Sandusky....
The campus police’s 1998 report totaled almost 100 pages, but the district attorney at the time decided against taking the case to trial. People with knowledge of the active Sandusky case told The New York Times in November that the district attorney’s decision in 1998 was seen as a close call, even with the evidence that the Penn State police had....
On May 19, 1998, still working under the supervision of the district attorney, Penn State’s campus police officers set up a sting operation. The boy’s mother met Sandusky and confronted him, with the police monitoring the conversation.
Sandusky admitted to showering with her son and another boy and said that he did not think that his private parts had touched her son, but acknowledged that what he had done was wrong.
“I wish I could get forgiveness,” Sandusky was quoted as saying. “I know I won’t get it from you. I wish I were dead.”
A week and a half later, according to NBC News, Schreffler and Lauro interviewed Sandusky at his office. The police report said that Sandusky had admitted to hugging the boy in the shower and to showering with other boys and had said he realized he used poor judgment in doing so.
“As a result of the investigation, it could not be determined that a sexual assault occurred and Sandusky was advised of such,” the 1998 police report read. One investigator then advised Sandusky not to shower with children and he agreed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/25/sports/ncaafootball/psychologist-alerted-penn-states-police-to-sandusky-in-1998-nbc-says.html
By MARK VIERA March 24, 2012
More than a decade before the former Penn State football assistant Jerry Sandusky was charged with child sexual abuse, a psychologist warned the university police in an investigation into a suspected assault of an 11-year-old boy that Sandusky’s actions in that case fit a “likely pedophile’s pattern.” But the university seemed to do nothing about Sandusky in the wake of that report in 1998.
What is unknown is whether senior officials at Penn State were unaware of the investigation, or whether they knew of it but chose to do nothing.
The details of the investigation were made public Saturday in an NBC News broadcast. NBC News, which obtained the police report and the assessments of two psychologists who had interviewed the 11-year-old boy, did not initially release the documents with the article it published online.
The investigation uncovered a clear warning about Sandusky, then the defensive coordinator for the Nittany Lions. Sandusky was charged late last year with more than 50 counts of child sexual abuse. He is accused of sexually abusing 10 boys from 1994 to 2009....
Sandusky, 68, has maintained his innocence. Last week, his lawyer, Joseph Amendola, asked a judge to dismiss the sexual abuse charges against Sandusky....
The campus police’s 1998 report totaled almost 100 pages, but the district attorney at the time decided against taking the case to trial. People with knowledge of the active Sandusky case told The New York Times in November that the district attorney’s decision in 1998 was seen as a close call, even with the evidence that the Penn State police had....
On May 19, 1998, still working under the supervision of the district attorney, Penn State’s campus police officers set up a sting operation. The boy’s mother met Sandusky and confronted him, with the police monitoring the conversation.
Sandusky admitted to showering with her son and another boy and said that he did not think that his private parts had touched her son, but acknowledged that what he had done was wrong.
“I wish I could get forgiveness,” Sandusky was quoted as saying. “I know I won’t get it from you. I wish I were dead.”
A week and a half later, according to NBC News, Schreffler and Lauro interviewed Sandusky at his office. The police report said that Sandusky had admitted to hugging the boy in the shower and to showering with other boys and had said he realized he used poor judgment in doing so.
“As a result of the investigation, it could not be determined that a sexual assault occurred and Sandusky was advised of such,” the 1998 police report read. One investigator then advised Sandusky not to shower with children and he agreed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/25/sports/ncaafootball/psychologist-alerted-penn-states-police-to-sandusky-in-1998-nbc-says.html
Survivorship Ritual Abuse and Child Abuse 2012 Conference - Our Healing Journey
Survivorship Ritual Abuse and Child Abuse 2012 Conference
- Our Healing Journey: Past, Present, Future
Two days of survivor and professional workshops, a safe room, great price, good food, safe environment, a chance to mingle with others who share your experience, a chance to move the movement forward...
On May 19 - 20, 2012
Survivorship will hold a conference at
Executive Inn & Suite
1755 Embaracadero
Oakland, CA 94606
http://www.survivorship.org/2012conference.html
- Our Healing Journey: Past, Present, Future
Two days of survivor and professional workshops, a safe room, great price, good food, safe environment, a chance to mingle with others who share your experience, a chance to move the movement forward...
On May 19 - 20, 2012
Survivorship will hold a conference at
Executive Inn & Suite
1755 Embaracadero
Oakland, CA 94606
http://www.survivorship.org/2012conference.html
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Sandusky labeled 'likely pedophile' in 1998 report
articles
- Jerry Sandusky Called A 'Likely Pedophile' By Psychologist In 1998
- Sandusky labeled 'likely pedophile' in 1998 report
Psychologist warned university police, but they weren't able to prove abuse of boy
- Spanish police arrest 22 gang members that tattooed bar codes onto prostitutes’ wrists
Jerry Sandusky Called A 'Likely Pedophile' By Psychologist In 1998
The Huffington Post By Melissa Jeltsen 03/24/2012
Penn State police were warned Jerry Sandusky fit the profile of a pedophile in 1998, an internal memo has revealed.
The memo, published by NBC News, was written by Alycia Chambers, who was a psychologist for an 11-year-old boy who knew Sandusky through his charity for troubled boys, Second Mile Program.
The boy is not named in the report, but is now known as Victim 6. He is one of 10 boys allegedly molested by the former Penn State coach over a 15-year period. Sandusky denies the allegations against him.
The boy's mother contacted Chambers after he returned home from a night of weightlifting with Sandusky, the memo says. He had wet hair, and explained to his mother that Sandusky asked him to take a shower with him. When they were naked, he came up behind him and tightly squeezed their bodies together, according to the memo....
Chambers reported the incident to the Pennsylvania child abuse line and wrote a detailed report for the Penn State police. In it, she concludes that Sandusky's actions matched those of a "likely pedophile":
My consultants agree that the incidents meet all of our definitions, based on experience and education, of a likely pedophile's pattern of building trust and gradual introduction of physical touch, within a context of a "loving," "special" relationship. One colleague who has contact with the Second Mile confirms that Mr. Sandusky is reasonably intelligent and thus, could hardly have failed to understand the way his behavior would be interpreted, if known. His position at the Second Mile and his interest in abused boys would suggest that he was likely to have had knowledge with regard to child abuse and might even recognize this behavior as typical pedophile "overture."
But prosecutors decided not to charge Sandusky. The case was closed for 13 years, until last November, when Sandusky was arrested.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/24/jerry-sandusky-psychologist-likely-pedophile_n_1377156.html
Sandusky labeled 'likely pedophile' in 1998 report
Psychologist warned university police, but they weren't able to prove abuse of boy
By Michael Isikoff NBC News 3/24/2012
More than a decade before former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky was charged with more than 50 counts of child sex abuse, a psychologist warned university police that his actions fit that of a “likely pedophile’s pattern.”
The finding by State College, Pa., psychologist Dr. Alycia A. Chambers, the therapist for one of Sandusky’s alleged victims, was contained in the internal Penn State files of a 1998 police investigation of the former coach for showering and bear hugging her client and another young boy in the school’s athletic locker room.
The Sandusky Files: Read the 1998 police report http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/MSNBC/Sections/NEWS/redactedpolicereport.pdf
NBC News has obtained the complete file on the investigation – the police report and assessments by two psychologists who interviewed the boys -- which provides new details about Sandusky’s behavior. It also could raise fresh questions about how school and local authorities handled his case.
“There was very little doubt in my mind (Sandusky) … was a male predator, someone that was in the process of grooming a young man for abuse ,” said Chambers, speaking publicly for the first time, with the permission of her client’s family, in an interview with NBC News. “I thought…my report was strong enough to suggest that this was somebody who should be watched.”....
Joe Amendola, Sandusky’s lawyer, said he hasn’t seen Chambers’ report, but that her conclusions will be disputed by other psychologists who will be called by the defense. “I understand that there are some people who could look at this behavior and say it’s a pedophile problem. But there are others who will say, ‘This is somebody who loves kids and loves to be around them’...Sandusky has pleaded not guilty to all charges. http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/46843083/ns/today-today_people
Report of expert who concluded no abuse occurred http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/sections/news/Seasock_Sandusky_Report_Redacted1.pdf
Spanish police arrest 22 gang members that tattooed bar codes onto prostitutes’ wrists
By Associated Press, March 24, 2012
MADRID — Spanish police arrested 22 suspected pimps who allegedly used violence to force women into prostitution and tattooed them with bar codes as a sign of ownership, officials said Saturday.
Police are calling the gang the “bar code pimps.” Officers freed one 19-year-old woman who had been beaten, held against her will and tattooed with a bar code and an amount of money — €2,000 ($2,650) — which investigators believe was the debt the gang wished to extort before releasing her....
Sex is a multibillion-dollar industry in Spain, with colorfully lit brothels staffed mainly by poor immigrant women from Latin America, Africa and eastern Europe lining highways throughout the country.
Prostitution falls in legal limbo: it is not regulated, although pimping is a crime. The northeastern city of Barcelona plans to introduce regional legislation in coming weeks banning prostitution on urban streets.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/spanish-police-arrest-22-gang-members-that-tattooed-bar-codes-onto-prostitutes-wrists/2012/03/24/gIQAil7AYS_story.html
- Jerry Sandusky Called A 'Likely Pedophile' By Psychologist In 1998
- Sandusky labeled 'likely pedophile' in 1998 report
Psychologist warned university police, but they weren't able to prove abuse of boy
- Spanish police arrest 22 gang members that tattooed bar codes onto prostitutes’ wrists
Jerry Sandusky Called A 'Likely Pedophile' By Psychologist In 1998
The Huffington Post By Melissa Jeltsen 03/24/2012
Penn State police were warned Jerry Sandusky fit the profile of a pedophile in 1998, an internal memo has revealed.
The memo, published by NBC News, was written by Alycia Chambers, who was a psychologist for an 11-year-old boy who knew Sandusky through his charity for troubled boys, Second Mile Program.
The boy is not named in the report, but is now known as Victim 6. He is one of 10 boys allegedly molested by the former Penn State coach over a 15-year period. Sandusky denies the allegations against him.
The boy's mother contacted Chambers after he returned home from a night of weightlifting with Sandusky, the memo says. He had wet hair, and explained to his mother that Sandusky asked him to take a shower with him. When they were naked, he came up behind him and tightly squeezed their bodies together, according to the memo....
Chambers reported the incident to the Pennsylvania child abuse line and wrote a detailed report for the Penn State police. In it, she concludes that Sandusky's actions matched those of a "likely pedophile":
My consultants agree that the incidents meet all of our definitions, based on experience and education, of a likely pedophile's pattern of building trust and gradual introduction of physical touch, within a context of a "loving," "special" relationship. One colleague who has contact with the Second Mile confirms that Mr. Sandusky is reasonably intelligent and thus, could hardly have failed to understand the way his behavior would be interpreted, if known. His position at the Second Mile and his interest in abused boys would suggest that he was likely to have had knowledge with regard to child abuse and might even recognize this behavior as typical pedophile "overture."
But prosecutors decided not to charge Sandusky. The case was closed for 13 years, until last November, when Sandusky was arrested.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/24/jerry-sandusky-psychologist-likely-pedophile_n_1377156.html
Sandusky labeled 'likely pedophile' in 1998 report
Psychologist warned university police, but they weren't able to prove abuse of boy
By Michael Isikoff NBC News 3/24/2012
More than a decade before former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky was charged with more than 50 counts of child sex abuse, a psychologist warned university police that his actions fit that of a “likely pedophile’s pattern.”
The finding by State College, Pa., psychologist Dr. Alycia A. Chambers, the therapist for one of Sandusky’s alleged victims, was contained in the internal Penn State files of a 1998 police investigation of the former coach for showering and bear hugging her client and another young boy in the school’s athletic locker room.
The Sandusky Files: Read the 1998 police report http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/MSNBC/Sections/NEWS/redactedpolicereport.pdf
NBC News has obtained the complete file on the investigation – the police report and assessments by two psychologists who interviewed the boys -- which provides new details about Sandusky’s behavior. It also could raise fresh questions about how school and local authorities handled his case.
“There was very little doubt in my mind (Sandusky) … was a male predator, someone that was in the process of grooming a young man for abuse ,” said Chambers, speaking publicly for the first time, with the permission of her client’s family, in an interview with NBC News. “I thought…my report was strong enough to suggest that this was somebody who should be watched.”....
Joe Amendola, Sandusky’s lawyer, said he hasn’t seen Chambers’ report, but that her conclusions will be disputed by other psychologists who will be called by the defense. “I understand that there are some people who could look at this behavior and say it’s a pedophile problem. But there are others who will say, ‘This is somebody who loves kids and loves to be around them’...Sandusky has pleaded not guilty to all charges. http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/46843083/ns/today-today_people
Report of expert who concluded no abuse occurred http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/sections/news/Seasock_Sandusky_Report_Redacted1.pdf
Spanish police arrest 22 gang members that tattooed bar codes onto prostitutes’ wrists
By Associated Press, March 24, 2012
MADRID — Spanish police arrested 22 suspected pimps who allegedly used violence to force women into prostitution and tattooed them with bar codes as a sign of ownership, officials said Saturday.
Police are calling the gang the “bar code pimps.” Officers freed one 19-year-old woman who had been beaten, held against her will and tattooed with a bar code and an amount of money — €2,000 ($2,650) — which investigators believe was the debt the gang wished to extort before releasing her....
Sex is a multibillion-dollar industry in Spain, with colorfully lit brothels staffed mainly by poor immigrant women from Latin America, Africa and eastern Europe lining highways throughout the country.
Prostitution falls in legal limbo: it is not regulated, although pimping is a crime. The northeastern city of Barcelona plans to introduce regional legislation in coming weeks banning prostitution on urban streets.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/spanish-police-arrest-22-gang-members-that-tattooed-bar-codes-onto-prostitutes-wrists/2012/03/24/gIQAil7AYS_story.html
The 15th Annual Ritual Abuse, Secretive Organizations and Mind Control Conference
forwarded with permission
The 15th Annual Ritual Abuse, Secretive Organizations and Mind Control Conference
August 10 – 12, 2012
DoubleTree near
Bradley International Airport
16 Ella Grasso Turnpike
Windsor Locks, CT
Internet conference information:
http://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/
2011 Ritual Abuse Conference CDs are now available http://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/2011-conference/
Conference Goals
- To help stop future occurrences of ritual abuse
- To help survivors of ritual abuse
- To name the groups that have participated in alleged illegal activities
- To unite those working to stop ritual abuse
Conference Schedule
There will be a small get together, deli dinner, dessert and early registration for pre-registered attendees only, on August 10, Friday evening. The conference will be all day on Saturday August 11 and Sunday August 12. Please check our conference home page for the latest conference schedule information. Some presentations will also be recorded.
There will be a Ritual Abuse And Extreme Abuse Clinician’s Conference 2012 for licensed clinicians on Friday the day before the conference. Information is at http://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/ritual-abuse-and-extreme-abuse-clinicians-conference-2012/
Conference Registration
(Please read the entire brochure before registering.)
Registration is not guaranteed, please wait for approval before making travel arrangements. Or you can preregister via E-mail at: SMARTNEWS@aol.com Please mail registration form and checks (US Banks only please), money orders (US) to: RA Conference, c/o S.M.A.R.T., P O Box 1295, Easthampton, MA 01027 USA
Name: (please include names and individual addresses of all registrees, thanks.)
___________________________
Agency: ___________________________________
Street: ____________________________
City: ___________________State:______
Zip:________E-mail_________________
Fees
Early registration fees (all fees are per person)
(note: fees must be received by the due date below to get the special prices)
One and two day registrations do not include the Friday deli dinner and dessert buffet.
Before 4/2/12 – $150 special price for both days and Friday night dinner
Before 6/10/12 – 2 day $175, one day $90
Before 7/10/12- 2 day $185, one day $95
Before 8/1/12 – 2 day $205, one day $105
After 8/6/12 – 2 day $215, one day $110
(All fees must be received by due dates above.)
(Circle one – Sat – Sun for one day registrations)
_______________________
To add Friday night early registration, get together, deli dinner and dessert – $37.00
Donation to help those on fee waiver (not tax deductible):
_____________
Total Amount Due _____________
special meals needed ____________________
Please make checks payable to S.M.A.R.T. (US banks only, please.)
Refund Policy: Fees will not be refunded after July 10, 2012. Please send us written notice. Refund will be minus $70.00 deposit per registree.
Speakers and Biographies
Please note: Listing of these speakers does not necessarily constitute our endorsement of them. They are speaking at our conference for educational value only and some may be heavy for survivors. Listening to the speakers at the conference may or may not help your recovery process, so use caution when listening to any speaker or contacting any resource mentioned in this brochure. These descriptions may be heavy for survivors to read, so please use caution while reading these.
Neil Brick is a survivor of Masonic based Ritual Abuse and MK-ULTRA. He is the editor of S.M.A.R.T. – A Ritual Abuse Newsletter. His topic is: Recent Child Abuse Crimes and Efforts to Unite Survivors.
Shamai Currim PhD is a retired therapist, educator, and educational consultant. She continues to work with survivors and has been involved with children and families with special needs, AIDS hospice, and Prison communities. She currently sits on the Board of Directors of Survivorship and the Steering Committee of the Association for the Advancement of Psychosynthesis. Her topic is: Meaghan’s Story: A Tale of Integration
deJoly LaBrier has been doing recovery work for 22 yrs. She has spoken publicly about her experiences in a military sex ring, Satanic cult and government experimentation; and is grateful for the serenity and sanity she now experiences. Her topic is: Finding Our Individual Paths Out of Chaos
Dave was satanically abused for over 50 years by those he loved and trusted, as well as others who were paid to harm him for his refusal, as a child to join their cult. Dave hopes his story and recovery will help others by giving them hope and courage. His topic is: My Life and Attitudes Before and After My Recovery
Sarah Jacqueline freed herself through deep self-journey from years of living in hell as an alleged victim of satanic abuse to now survivor. Born into a family of Satanists and has experienced and seen some horrific abuse. She speaks of hope and freeing and illusion. Her topic is: Exposing Satanic Abuse
Until age seven, Maria was subject to satanic abuse. Maria experienced perverse worship, torturous brain programming, sexual violence, body dislocations, and was drugged. Although relocated at age seven, molestation from random strangers and family members continued until she moved out. She lives well with profound awareness. She now experiences joy and peace. Her topic is : Free at Last
Alexandra is a multi disciplinary therapist. She incorporates various types of energy work, muscle testing, NLP, essential oils, and color into her cognitive behavioral therapy practice. She has an M. A. in Counseling Psychology and has been working with ritual abuse survivors for over 20 years. Her topic is: What I have learned so far.
Survivorship is an international non-profit organization for survivors of sadistic sexual abuse, ritualistic abuse, mind control, and torture. A history of Survivorship’s last twenty plus years of work helping survivors will be presented with interviews from members of Survivorship. The presentation will include Survivorship’s present day activities and ways survivors can learn more about the organization and get involved. Survivorship, FJC,470 27th St., Oakland, Ca 94612 survivorshipstaff@yahoo.com http://www.survivorship.org
Sponsorship and Co-sponsorship Information
All sponsors and cosponsors have made promotional contributions to the conference. We want to thank them for all their efforts.
Please note: Listing of these resource organizations does not necessarily constitute our endorsement of them. They are helping to promote the conference and some may be heavy for some survivors, so use caution contacting any resource mentioned in this brochure.
The conference is sponsored by S.M.A.R.T., a newsletter that examines the possible connections between ritual abuse and secretive organizations. E-mail: SMARTNEWS@aol.com http://ritualabuse.us/
Promotional Co-sponsors
Mothers Against Sexual Abuse (MASA) 404 Wilson St., Union, SC 29379 864-429-9161 Updated website at http://www.Againstsexualabuse.org, newest book http://www.Childhooditshouldnothurt.com MASA is dedicated to education and helping survivors of sexual and ritual abuse. We are in the process of trying to raise funding for a legal defense fund to assist protective parents involved in court cases where the perpetrators are winning custody over 70% of the time. MASA will be celebrating our 20 birthday March 25, 2012. We are proud of our accomplishments, but there is still so much work to be done. Every person must become a voice for the children who have no voice and no choice.
Survivorship is an international non-profit organization for survivors of sadistic sexual abuse, ritualistic abuse, mind control, and torture. The organization serves survivors, partners and other allies, therapists, clergy, and pro-survivor activists and advocates. Contact information: Survivorship, FJC,470 27th St., Oakland, Ca 94612 survivorshipstaff@yahoo.com http://www.survivorship.org
The North American Truth & Reconciliation Coalition (NATRC) seeks to raise public awareness about historical and ongoing human rights violations in North America, and works to establish an accurate and truthful historical record of such crimes, including human trafficking, organized ritual crime, child soldiering, mind control experimentation and other forms of torture, in both the private and public spheres. The North American Truth & Reconciliation Coalition (NATRC) PO Box 401 Council Bluffs, IA 51502-0401 http://natrcoalition.org
The Mission of the California Protective Parents Association is to protect children from incest and family violence through research, education and advocacy. California Protective Parents Association PO Box 15284 Sacramento CA 95851-0284 http://www.protectiveparents.com/ cppa001@aol.com
Conference Information
Conference Participants
The conference will include all those either recovering from ritual abuse and/or fighting against ritual abuse. This includes survivors, co-survivors, therapists, other helping professionals, lawyers and all others interested in learning more about ritual abuse.
Members of secret organizations, acting out perpetrators, and/or members of unsympathetic organizations are excluded from the conference. This is for the protection and safety of those in attendance.
People have told us that last year’s conference was the safest conference they have ever been to. But, this conference may not necessarily be safe for all survivors. S.M.A.R.T. recommends that you try to bring a support person that is familiar with mind control techniques and staying with that person or another safe person at all times.
Registration Waivers
Fee waiver application fees are $95.00 for two days and $50 for one day, and are non-refundable. Please do not send fees until your application is accepted. Please add $30 to attend the Friday night early registration, get together and dessert buffet. Applications will not be accepted after July 1, 2012, payment must be made by 7/14/12. Acceptance will partially be contingent on the number of paid applicants. Fee waiver registrees must volunteer for four hours at the conference. Unfortunately, we cannot afford to pay any travel expenses. Please E-mail or regular mail us for a fee waiver application.
Transportation
There is a free shuttle to and from the airport. Hotel parking is available at no charge for those attending the conference. Conference sponsors, etc. assume no responsibility for ground and/or air transportation arrangements. Conference sponsors cannot assume responsibility for additional expense or losses due to illnesses, cancellation of flights, strikes or other causes.
Accommodations
Room rates at the DoubleTree Hotel at Bradley International Airport (CT) are $89 a day for one person (not incl. tax), please mention the SMART 2012 conference to get the special rate. This rate is guaranteed until 7/7/12 or all rooms at the special rate are gone. Call 860-627-5171 for information. Lunch will be free both days for all conference attendees that register before July 20, 2012. The hotel has no information about the conference, other than room information.
Attendance Policy
Survivors should try to bring a support person with them to the conference. Presentation of a picture ID will be required of all conference participants, unless prior arrangements are made. This is for the protection of all participants. Some of the topics discussed may be very heavy for survivors. The conference is educational and not intended as therapy or treatment. Conference sponsors, cosponsor, speakers, organizers and exhibitors assume no responsibility for any reactions resulting from attending our conference. Statements made and materials exhibited and distributed by attendees, speakers and exhibitors are their own and don’t necessarily represent the policies or views of conference sponsors, cosponsor, speakers, exhibitors, organizers or attendees. Children are not permitted to attend the conference. S.M.A.R.T. and its representatives also reserve the right to remove anyone from the conference at any time. Photographing, audio taping and videotaping without written permission from S.M.A.R.T. are prohibited.
Exhibitors
Tables and half tables will be available for exhibitors. All exhibitors and their materials, etc. must be pre-approved. Write for more information. Whole tables are $25, half tables are $15. Take one table fee is $5.00 per item.
Volunteers
S.M.A.R.T. is currently looking for volunteers to help at the conference. Volunteer need to be registered at the conference. Please let S.M.A.R.T. know if you are interested.
Conference Donations
Please consider sponsoring a full or partial registree, so that all are able to attend the conference. Thank you. (Donations are not tax deductible.)
For those interested in helping to promote the conference, please write smartnews@aol.com for a press release to forward to others.
S.M.A.R.T. – Copyright 2012 (Entire Pamphlet and conference name) -
All rights reserved, no reproduction of any material without written permission from S.M.A.R.T.
The 15th Annual Ritual Abuse, Secretive Organizations and Mind Control Conference
August 10 – 12, 2012
DoubleTree near
Bradley International Airport
16 Ella Grasso Turnpike
Windsor Locks, CT
Internet conference information:
http://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/
2011 Ritual Abuse Conference CDs are now available http://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/2011-conference/
Conference Goals
- To help stop future occurrences of ritual abuse
- To help survivors of ritual abuse
- To name the groups that have participated in alleged illegal activities
- To unite those working to stop ritual abuse
Conference Schedule
There will be a small get together, deli dinner, dessert and early registration for pre-registered attendees only, on August 10, Friday evening. The conference will be all day on Saturday August 11 and Sunday August 12. Please check our conference home page for the latest conference schedule information. Some presentations will also be recorded.
There will be a Ritual Abuse And Extreme Abuse Clinician’s Conference 2012 for licensed clinicians on Friday the day before the conference. Information is at http://ritualabuse.us/smart-conference/ritual-abuse-and-extreme-abuse-clinicians-conference-2012/
Conference Registration
(Please read the entire brochure before registering.)
Registration is not guaranteed, please wait for approval before making travel arrangements. Or you can preregister via E-mail at: SMARTNEWS@aol.com Please mail registration form and checks (US Banks only please), money orders (US) to: RA Conference, c/o S.M.A.R.T., P O Box 1295, Easthampton, MA 01027 USA
Name: (please include names and individual addresses of all registrees, thanks.)
___________________________
Agency: ___________________________________
Street: ____________________________
City: ___________________State:______
Zip:________E-mail_________________
Fees
Early registration fees (all fees are per person)
(note: fees must be received by the due date below to get the special prices)
One and two day registrations do not include the Friday deli dinner and dessert buffet.
Before 4/2/12 – $150 special price for both days and Friday night dinner
Before 6/10/12 – 2 day $175, one day $90
Before 7/10/12- 2 day $185, one day $95
Before 8/1/12 – 2 day $205, one day $105
After 8/6/12 – 2 day $215, one day $110
(All fees must be received by due dates above.)
(Circle one – Sat – Sun for one day registrations)
_______________________
To add Friday night early registration, get together, deli dinner and dessert – $37.00
Donation to help those on fee waiver (not tax deductible):
_____________
Total Amount Due _____________
special meals needed ____________________
Please make checks payable to S.M.A.R.T. (US banks only, please.)
Refund Policy: Fees will not be refunded after July 10, 2012. Please send us written notice. Refund will be minus $70.00 deposit per registree.
Speakers and Biographies
Please note: Listing of these speakers does not necessarily constitute our endorsement of them. They are speaking at our conference for educational value only and some may be heavy for survivors. Listening to the speakers at the conference may or may not help your recovery process, so use caution when listening to any speaker or contacting any resource mentioned in this brochure. These descriptions may be heavy for survivors to read, so please use caution while reading these.
Neil Brick is a survivor of Masonic based Ritual Abuse and MK-ULTRA. He is the editor of S.M.A.R.T. – A Ritual Abuse Newsletter. His topic is: Recent Child Abuse Crimes and Efforts to Unite Survivors.
Shamai Currim PhD is a retired therapist, educator, and educational consultant. She continues to work with survivors and has been involved with children and families with special needs, AIDS hospice, and Prison communities. She currently sits on the Board of Directors of Survivorship and the Steering Committee of the Association for the Advancement of Psychosynthesis. Her topic is: Meaghan’s Story: A Tale of Integration
deJoly LaBrier has been doing recovery work for 22 yrs. She has spoken publicly about her experiences in a military sex ring, Satanic cult and government experimentation; and is grateful for the serenity and sanity she now experiences. Her topic is: Finding Our Individual Paths Out of Chaos
Dave was satanically abused for over 50 years by those he loved and trusted, as well as others who were paid to harm him for his refusal, as a child to join their cult. Dave hopes his story and recovery will help others by giving them hope and courage. His topic is: My Life and Attitudes Before and After My Recovery
Sarah Jacqueline freed herself through deep self-journey from years of living in hell as an alleged victim of satanic abuse to now survivor. Born into a family of Satanists and has experienced and seen some horrific abuse. She speaks of hope and freeing and illusion. Her topic is: Exposing Satanic Abuse
Until age seven, Maria was subject to satanic abuse. Maria experienced perverse worship, torturous brain programming, sexual violence, body dislocations, and was drugged. Although relocated at age seven, molestation from random strangers and family members continued until she moved out. She lives well with profound awareness. She now experiences joy and peace. Her topic is : Free at Last
Alexandra is a multi disciplinary therapist. She incorporates various types of energy work, muscle testing, NLP, essential oils, and color into her cognitive behavioral therapy practice. She has an M. A. in Counseling Psychology and has been working with ritual abuse survivors for over 20 years. Her topic is: What I have learned so far.
Survivorship is an international non-profit organization for survivors of sadistic sexual abuse, ritualistic abuse, mind control, and torture. A history of Survivorship’s last twenty plus years of work helping survivors will be presented with interviews from members of Survivorship. The presentation will include Survivorship’s present day activities and ways survivors can learn more about the organization and get involved. Survivorship, FJC,470 27th St., Oakland, Ca 94612 survivorshipstaff@yahoo.com http://www.survivorship.org
Sponsorship and Co-sponsorship Information
All sponsors and cosponsors have made promotional contributions to the conference. We want to thank them for all their efforts.
Please note: Listing of these resource organizations does not necessarily constitute our endorsement of them. They are helping to promote the conference and some may be heavy for some survivors, so use caution contacting any resource mentioned in this brochure.
The conference is sponsored by S.M.A.R.T., a newsletter that examines the possible connections between ritual abuse and secretive organizations. E-mail: SMARTNEWS@aol.com http://ritualabuse.us/
Promotional Co-sponsors
Mothers Against Sexual Abuse (MASA) 404 Wilson St., Union, SC 29379 864-429-9161 Updated website at http://www.Againstsexualabuse.org, newest book http://www.Childhooditshouldnothurt.com MASA is dedicated to education and helping survivors of sexual and ritual abuse. We are in the process of trying to raise funding for a legal defense fund to assist protective parents involved in court cases where the perpetrators are winning custody over 70% of the time. MASA will be celebrating our 20 birthday March 25, 2012. We are proud of our accomplishments, but there is still so much work to be done. Every person must become a voice for the children who have no voice and no choice.
Survivorship is an international non-profit organization for survivors of sadistic sexual abuse, ritualistic abuse, mind control, and torture. The organization serves survivors, partners and other allies, therapists, clergy, and pro-survivor activists and advocates. Contact information: Survivorship, FJC,470 27th St., Oakland, Ca 94612 survivorshipstaff@yahoo.com http://www.survivorship.org
The North American Truth & Reconciliation Coalition (NATRC) seeks to raise public awareness about historical and ongoing human rights violations in North America, and works to establish an accurate and truthful historical record of such crimes, including human trafficking, organized ritual crime, child soldiering, mind control experimentation and other forms of torture, in both the private and public spheres. The North American Truth & Reconciliation Coalition (NATRC) PO Box 401 Council Bluffs, IA 51502-0401 http://natrcoalition.org
The Mission of the California Protective Parents Association is to protect children from incest and family violence through research, education and advocacy. California Protective Parents Association PO Box 15284 Sacramento CA 95851-0284 http://www.protectiveparents.com/ cppa001@aol.com
Conference Information
Conference Participants
The conference will include all those either recovering from ritual abuse and/or fighting against ritual abuse. This includes survivors, co-survivors, therapists, other helping professionals, lawyers and all others interested in learning more about ritual abuse.
Members of secret organizations, acting out perpetrators, and/or members of unsympathetic organizations are excluded from the conference. This is for the protection and safety of those in attendance.
People have told us that last year’s conference was the safest conference they have ever been to. But, this conference may not necessarily be safe for all survivors. S.M.A.R.T. recommends that you try to bring a support person that is familiar with mind control techniques and staying with that person or another safe person at all times.
Registration Waivers
Fee waiver application fees are $95.00 for two days and $50 for one day, and are non-refundable. Please do not send fees until your application is accepted. Please add $30 to attend the Friday night early registration, get together and dessert buffet. Applications will not be accepted after July 1, 2012, payment must be made by 7/14/12. Acceptance will partially be contingent on the number of paid applicants. Fee waiver registrees must volunteer for four hours at the conference. Unfortunately, we cannot afford to pay any travel expenses. Please E-mail or regular mail us for a fee waiver application.
Transportation
There is a free shuttle to and from the airport. Hotel parking is available at no charge for those attending the conference. Conference sponsors, etc. assume no responsibility for ground and/or air transportation arrangements. Conference sponsors cannot assume responsibility for additional expense or losses due to illnesses, cancellation of flights, strikes or other causes.
Accommodations
Room rates at the DoubleTree Hotel at Bradley International Airport (CT) are $89 a day for one person (not incl. tax), please mention the SMART 2012 conference to get the special rate. This rate is guaranteed until 7/7/12 or all rooms at the special rate are gone. Call 860-627-5171 for information. Lunch will be free both days for all conference attendees that register before July 20, 2012. The hotel has no information about the conference, other than room information.
Attendance Policy
Survivors should try to bring a support person with them to the conference. Presentation of a picture ID will be required of all conference participants, unless prior arrangements are made. This is for the protection of all participants. Some of the topics discussed may be very heavy for survivors. The conference is educational and not intended as therapy or treatment. Conference sponsors, cosponsor, speakers, organizers and exhibitors assume no responsibility for any reactions resulting from attending our conference. Statements made and materials exhibited and distributed by attendees, speakers and exhibitors are their own and don’t necessarily represent the policies or views of conference sponsors, cosponsor, speakers, exhibitors, organizers or attendees. Children are not permitted to attend the conference. S.M.A.R.T. and its representatives also reserve the right to remove anyone from the conference at any time. Photographing, audio taping and videotaping without written permission from S.M.A.R.T. are prohibited.
Exhibitors
Tables and half tables will be available for exhibitors. All exhibitors and their materials, etc. must be pre-approved. Write for more information. Whole tables are $25, half tables are $15. Take one table fee is $5.00 per item.
Volunteers
S.M.A.R.T. is currently looking for volunteers to help at the conference. Volunteer need to be registered at the conference. Please let S.M.A.R.T. know if you are interested.
Conference Donations
Please consider sponsoring a full or partial registree, so that all are able to attend the conference. Thank you. (Donations are not tax deductible.)
For those interested in helping to promote the conference, please write smartnews@aol.com for a press release to forward to others.
S.M.A.R.T. – Copyright 2012 (Entire Pamphlet and conference name) -
All rights reserved, no reproduction of any material without written permission from S.M.A.R.T.
Friday, March 23, 2012
Study of the Day: 1 in 4 Adults With HIV Were Sexually Abused as Kids
Study of the Day: 1 in 4 Adults With HIV Were Sexually Abused as Kids
By Hans Villarica Mar 23 2012
New research from Duke University shows that psychological trauma predicts increased vulnerability for HIV/AIDS and faster health decline.
METHODOLOGY: Duke University researchers led by Brian Pence monitored more than 600 HIV-positive patients, aged 20 to 71, in the "Coping with HIV/AIDS in the Southeast" study. They investigated possible links to traumatic experiences, HIV-related behaviors, and health outcomes.
RESULTS: A quarter of the respondents were sexually abused as children. Moreover, half of the patients had faced three or more traumatic experiences in their lifetime, including enduring physical abuse and witnessing domestic violence as a child, living through a parent's suicide attempt or completion, or losing a child.
These painful experiences predicted worse health-related behaviors, such as instances of unprotected sex, missed antiretroviral medications, recent emergency room visits, and hospitalizations. Those who lived through such ordeals were also more likely to die or see their health decline during the two-year study period.
CONCLUSION: Psychological trauma heightens the risk for HIV infection, medication lapses, and disease progression. http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/03/study-of-the-day-1-in-4-adults-with-hiv-were-sexually-abused-as-kids/254666/
J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2012 Apr 1;59(4):409-416.
Childhood Trauma and Health Outcomes in HIV-Infected Patients: An Exploration of Causal Pathways.
Pence BW, Mugavero MJ, Carter TJ, Leserman J, Thielman NM, Raper JL, Proeschold-Bell RJ, Reif S, Whetten K.
METHODS:
In 611 outpatient people living with HIV/AIDS, we tested whether trauma's influence on later health and behaviors was mediated by coping styles, self-efficacy, social support, trust in the medical system, recent stressful life events, mental health, and substance abuse.
RESULTS:
In models adjusting only for sociodemographic and transmission category confounders (estimating total effects), pasttrauma exposure was associated with 7 behavioral and health outcomes....
CONCLUSIONS:
These data suggest that past trauma influences adult health and behaviors through pathways other than the psychosocial mediators considered in this model. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22107822
By Hans Villarica Mar 23 2012
New research from Duke University shows that psychological trauma predicts increased vulnerability for HIV/AIDS and faster health decline.
METHODOLOGY: Duke University researchers led by Brian Pence monitored more than 600 HIV-positive patients, aged 20 to 71, in the "Coping with HIV/AIDS in the Southeast" study. They investigated possible links to traumatic experiences, HIV-related behaviors, and health outcomes.
RESULTS: A quarter of the respondents were sexually abused as children. Moreover, half of the patients had faced three or more traumatic experiences in their lifetime, including enduring physical abuse and witnessing domestic violence as a child, living through a parent's suicide attempt or completion, or losing a child.
These painful experiences predicted worse health-related behaviors, such as instances of unprotected sex, missed antiretroviral medications, recent emergency room visits, and hospitalizations. Those who lived through such ordeals were also more likely to die or see their health decline during the two-year study period.
CONCLUSION: Psychological trauma heightens the risk for HIV infection, medication lapses, and disease progression. http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/03/study-of-the-day-1-in-4-adults-with-hiv-were-sexually-abused-as-kids/254666/
J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2012 Apr 1;59(4):409-416.
Childhood Trauma and Health Outcomes in HIV-Infected Patients: An Exploration of Causal Pathways.
Pence BW, Mugavero MJ, Carter TJ, Leserman J, Thielman NM, Raper JL, Proeschold-Bell RJ, Reif S, Whetten K.
METHODS:
In 611 outpatient people living with HIV/AIDS, we tested whether trauma's influence on later health and behaviors was mediated by coping styles, self-efficacy, social support, trust in the medical system, recent stressful life events, mental health, and substance abuse.
RESULTS:
In models adjusting only for sociodemographic and transmission category confounders (estimating total effects), pasttrauma exposure was associated with 7 behavioral and health outcomes....
CONCLUSIONS:
These data suggest that past trauma influences adult health and behaviors through pathways other than the psychosocial mediators considered in this model. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22107822
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Church’s Lawyers Have SNAP in Their Sights, global online pedophile network
Church’s Lawyers Have SNAP in Their Sights - Victims’ advocacy group’s national director speaks to RD about a flurry of subpoenas, and fears of ongoing harassment
By Kathryn Joyce March 16, 2012
In October, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), the oldest, largest, and most visible peer counseling group for victims of clergy sex abuse in any denomination, received a subpoena from a Kansas City, Missouri, priest being prosecuted for sexually abusing an older male victim SNAP has never met. The subpoena demanded a sweeping range of documents and correspondence concerning thousands of the estimated 100,000-plus people SNAP has counseled over two decades.
In December, the group received a second subpoena from the other side of the state, from the Archdiocese of St. Louis, facing its own charges concerning the alleged abuse of a 19-year-old woman. SNAP has fought the requests, citing Missouri laws protecting the privacy of rape survivors, and describing the records-request as a coordinated Church effort to bully sex abuse victims into silence and harass a longtime opponent into bankruptcy.
While the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has denied that there is a national strategy for the Church to fight sex abuse cases more aggressively, even the Church’s staunchest defenders see the pattern. As William Donohue, the pugilistic president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, told the New York Times this week, bishops are going after SNAP because “SNAP is a menace to the Catholic Church.”....
Why do you think they are doing this?
What they’re trying to do is to discredit, derail, bankrupt, and silence SNAP. And to scare anyone—police, prosecutors, victims, concerned Catholics—from contacting us and reporting crimes and exposing corruption.
What they have said in court filings is we’re trying to get to the truth of this case. But if you think about it, the easiest way to get to the truth of John Doe BP v. Fr. Michael Tierney and the Kansas City Diocese and Jane Doe v. Fr. Joseph D. Ross and the St. Louis Archdiocese is to depose the parties, the people involved, John Doe and Jane Doe. And they haven’t even tried. In both cases, they haven’t even sought the records. In essence they’re using these two court cases as a ruse and a weapon.
http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/atheologies/5803/church%E2%80%99s_lawyers_have_snap_in_their_sightschurch%E2%80%99s_lawyers_have_snap_in_their_sights.hm
Italy police break up global online pedophile network
By Catherine Hornby, Reuters March 8, 2012
ROME - Italian police have broken up a pedophile network spanning at least 28 countries that used social media websites to swap pornographic images and videos of child abuse.
Ten people have been arrested in Italy, the United States, France and Portugal, and another 112 are being investigated on suspicion of child pornography, Italy's computer crime police bureau NIT said in a statement....
The data revealed an Italian-founded criminal group with more than 700 followers around the world, exchanging thousands of images and videos, NIT said. http://www.timescolonist.com/news/Italy+police+break+global+online+pedophile+network/6270037/story.html
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Responding to Village Voice on Sex Trafficking
Responding to Village Voice on Sex Trafficking
By NICHOLAS KRISTOF March 21, 2012
After my Sunday column criticizing Village Voice Media for providing a forum for sex traffickers on its Backpage.com websites, Village Voice has struck back. It has just gone on line with an article “What Nick Kristof got wrong”:
The article begins:
Nicholas D. Kristof was wrong about the most devastating ‘fact’ in his Sunday, March 18th, column in The New York Times regarding Backpage.com. He wrote about an underage victim of human trafficking: “Alissa says pimps routinely peddled her on Backpage.” A video that accompanied his online op-ed was headlined: “Age 16, She Was Sold on Backpage.com” That is not true. According to Alissa’s court testimony, she was 16 in 2003. Backpage.com did not exist anywhere in America in 2003.
It’s interesting that Village Voice doesn’t dispute anything in my column or the accompanying video, but only the online blurb for the video. The Voice is right that Alissa was 16 in 2003 — for about two days. In fact, Alissa turned 16 at the end of 2003. So all during 2004, she was 16 years old. And so it was in 2004, not 2003, that she was traveling up and down the east coast being pimped. Backpage operated in at least 11 cities during 2004, including Miami and Fort Lauderdale, both of them cities Alissa where says she was pimped on Backpage. Then at 17, as Backpage expanded to 30 cities including Boston, she was pimped even more broadly on Backpage — and also in Village Voice print ads, she says.
Moreover, contrary to what the Voice says, Alissa continued in the sex trade until 2007, when she got out for good. Backpage was steadily expanding and becoming a major force in this period, and pimps routinely used it to sell her, she says.
I’m frankly a bit surprised that Village Voice is even trying to deny its role. Attorneys General around the country have linked Backpage to arrests for trafficking of underage girls in 22 different states. As my column noted, one recent case involved a 15-year-old girl here in New York. A previous column I wrote cited a 13-year-old girl peddled on Backpage.
http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/21/responding-to-village-voice-on-sex-trafficking/
By NICHOLAS KRISTOF March 21, 2012
After my Sunday column criticizing Village Voice Media for providing a forum for sex traffickers on its Backpage.com websites, Village Voice has struck back. It has just gone on line with an article “What Nick Kristof got wrong”:
The article begins:
Nicholas D. Kristof was wrong about the most devastating ‘fact’ in his Sunday, March 18th, column in The New York Times regarding Backpage.com. He wrote about an underage victim of human trafficking: “Alissa says pimps routinely peddled her on Backpage.” A video that accompanied his online op-ed was headlined: “Age 16, She Was Sold on Backpage.com” That is not true. According to Alissa’s court testimony, she was 16 in 2003. Backpage.com did not exist anywhere in America in 2003.
It’s interesting that Village Voice doesn’t dispute anything in my column or the accompanying video, but only the online blurb for the video. The Voice is right that Alissa was 16 in 2003 — for about two days. In fact, Alissa turned 16 at the end of 2003. So all during 2004, she was 16 years old. And so it was in 2004, not 2003, that she was traveling up and down the east coast being pimped. Backpage operated in at least 11 cities during 2004, including Miami and Fort Lauderdale, both of them cities Alissa where says she was pimped on Backpage. Then at 17, as Backpage expanded to 30 cities including Boston, she was pimped even more broadly on Backpage — and also in Village Voice print ads, she says.
Moreover, contrary to what the Voice says, Alissa continued in the sex trade until 2007, when she got out for good. Backpage was steadily expanding and becoming a major force in this period, and pimps routinely used it to sell her, she says.
I’m frankly a bit surprised that Village Voice is even trying to deny its role. Attorneys General around the country have linked Backpage to arrests for trafficking of underage girls in 22 different states. As my column noted, one recent case involved a 15-year-old girl here in New York. A previous column I wrote cited a 13-year-old girl peddled on Backpage.
http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/21/responding-to-village-voice-on-sex-trafficking/
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Dutch Church Is Accused of Castrating Young Men, Sexual predators rarely committed
articles:
- Dutch Church Is Accused of Castrating Young Men
- Catholic church abuse: inspectors knew minors were castrated
- Sexual predators rarely committed under Justice program
- ‘Standing Silent’ follows uncovering of sexual abuse in Baltimore’s Orthodox Jewish community
Dutch Church Is Accused of Castrating Young Men
By STEPHEN CASTLE
March 20, 2012
BRUSSELS - A young man in the care of the Roman Catholic Church in the Netherlands was surgically castrated decades ago after complaining about sexual abuse, according to new evidence that only adds to the scandal engulfing the church there.
The case, which dates from the 1950s, has increased pressure for a government-led inquiry into sexual abuse in the Dutch church, amid suspicions that as many as 10 young men may have suffered the same fate.
“This case is especially painful because it concerns a victim who was victimized for a second time,” said Peter Nissen, a professor of the history of religion at Radboud University in the Netherlands. “He had the courage to go to the police and was castrated.”
It is unclear, however, whether the reported castration was performed as a punishment for whistle-blowing or what was seen as a treatment for homosexuality.
In 2010, about 2,000 people complained of abuse by priests, church institutions or religious orders in the Netherlands after the Roman Catholic Church commissioned an inquiry. It finally concluded that the number of actual victims over several decades could be 10 times higher.
That committee, led by Wim Deetman, a former education minister, was presented with evidence of the castration case when it was contacted by a friend of the young man, who was castrated in 1956, two years before his death in a road accident....
The victim, Henk Heithuis, lived in Catholic institutions from infancy after being taken into care. When he complained about sexual abuse to the police, Mr. Heithuis, 20 at the time, was transferred to a Catholic psychiatric hospital before being admitted to the St. Joseph Hospital in Veghel, where he was castrated....
Mr. Dohmen, the investigative journalist who broke the news in the daily NRC Handelsblad, said that correspondence from the 1950s and Mr. Heithuis’s testimony to Mr. Rogge suggested that there could have been an additional nine cases....
Mr. Dohmen said that the man accused of abusing Mr. Heithuis was investigated but not prosecuted. He was transferred to Nova Scotia, where he started a home for boys.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/21/world/europe/dutch-church-accused-of-castrating-10-young-men.html
Catholic church abuse: inspectors knew minors were castrated
Monday 19 March 2012
Government inspectors were aware that minors were being castrated while being looked after in Catholic-run psychiatric institutions, local paper the Limburger reported on Monday.
The NRC reported on Saturday at least one boy under the age of 16 was castrated to 'help' his homosexual feelings while in Catholic church care in the 1950s.
Minutes of meetings held in the 1950s show inspectors were present when the castrations were openly discussed, the Limburger said. The minutes also showed directors of the institutions did not think parents needed to be involved in the decision-making process when minors were involved.
Report
But there are indications at least 10 other boys were also castrated, the NRC reported on Saturday. The claims were not included in the Deetman report on sexual abuse within the Catholic church which was published at the end of last year....
The Deetman committee was set up by the church itself in 2010 after the sexual abuse scandal broke. It reported in December having identified some 800 priests and monks who abused children in their care between 1945 and 1985.
In addition, church officials, bishops and lay people were aware of what was going on but failed to take action to protect children, the report said.
Politician
The NRC also said on Saturday the final Deetman report did not mention that a leading politician with the Catholic people's party KVP had tried to have prison sentences dropped against several priests accused of abusing children in 1958. Vic Marijnen, who went on to become prime minister in 1963, was chairman of the children's home where Henk Heithuis and dozens of other children were abused until 1959. http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2012/03/catholic_church_abuse_inspecto.php
Sexual predators rarely committed under Justice program
By Brad Heath, USA TODAY
3/20/12 BUTNER, N.C. – Inside the sprawling federal prison here is a place the government reserves for the worst of the worst — sexual predators too dangerous to be set free. Six years ago, the federal government set out to indefinitely detain some of the nation's most dangerous sex offenders, keeping them locked up even after their prison sentences had ended.
But despite years of effort, the government has so far won court approval for detaining just 15 men.
Far more often, men the U.S.Justice Department branded as "sexually dangerous" predators remained imprisoned here for years without a mandatory court hearing before the government was forced to let them go, a USA TODAY investigation has found. The Justice Department has either lost or dropped its cases against 61 of the 136 men it sought to detain. Some were imprisoned for more than four years without a trial before they were freed.
Dozens of others are still waiting for their day in court. They remain in a prison unit where authorities and former detainees said explicit drawings of children are commonplace, but where few of the men have received any treatment for the disorders that put them there.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-03-13/dangerous-sexual-predators-detained/53621210/1?loc=interstitialskip
USA Today: Sexual predators rarely committed under DOJ program
By James R. Marsh on March 20, 2012
USA Today has an excellent investigative article on the DOJ's federal civil commitment program for sexually dangerous sex offenders. Not surprisingly, many of those requiring indeterminate incarceration were convicted of child pornography crimes.
According to the article:
Six years ago, the federal government set out to indefinitely detain some of the nation's most dangerous sex offenders, keeping them locked up even after their prison sentences had ended.
But despite years of effort, the government has so far won court approval for detaining just 15 men.
The Justice Department has either lost or dropped its cases against 61 of the 136 men it sought to detain.
Dozens of others are still waiting for their day in court. They remain in a prison unit where authorities and former detainees said explicit drawings of children are commonplace, but where few of the men have received any treatment for the disorders that put them there.
Despite that, neither the Justice Department nor other watchdog agencies have offered any public assessment of how well the federal civil commitment law works.
We have repeatedly pointed out that individuals incarcerated for possession, receipt and distribution of child pornography are significantly more likely than not to have sexually abused a child via a hands-on act. http://www.childlaw.us/2012/03/usa-today-sexual-predators-rar.html
‘Standing Silent’ follows uncovering of sexual abuse in Baltimore’s Orthodox Jewish community By Emily Wax, March 19, 2012
One by one the victims stood and described their alleged molesters: the Torah teacher, the rabbi, the ice cream truck driver, the man at the mikvah.
That meeting, held nearly six years ago in a small room in a synagogue in Pikesville, just outside Baltimore, went on for four hours. Seated in a circle with the other victims was Phil Jacobs, a Baltimore Jewish Times journalist. He was not there as a reporter. He was there because he, too, had experienced sexual abuse.
But after the meeting, a young man who knew Jacobs was a journalist approached and asked to be interviewed, to have his story told. That was the beginning of Jacobs’s effort to document sexual abuse in Baltimore’s Orthodox Jewish community, bringing the harrowing experiences shared by the 18 victims in that room out into the open.
The first of his stories, “Today, Steve is 25” was published in February 2007, 10 months after the Pikesville meeting.
That process of reporting and writing has been made into a documentary film, “Standing Silent,” directed by Scott Rosenfelt and now being shown at film festivals across the country. Partially funded by a Sundance Institute grant, it details how Jacobs, an Orthodox Jew himself, has been credited with — and criticized for — uncovering a painful secret in Baltimore’s Orthodox community....
There are no hard numbers to document the extent of the problem, but Elaine Witman, director of the Shofar Coalition, a nonprofit agency that provides services for victims of sexual and other abuse in the Baltimore area’s Jewish community, says the center is seeing an increase in the number of Jews coming forward to report abuse. In 2010, 67 people requested help for childhood sexual abuse from the coalition. That number nearly doubled in 2011, to 132 people, said Witman, who attributes the increase to Jacobs’s articles and the coalition’s efforts toreduce the shame that has kept the issue quiet for so long.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/documentary-standing-silent-recounts-efforts-to-uncover-abuse-in-orthodox-community/2012/02/28/gIQAewi9NS_story.html
- Dutch Church Is Accused of Castrating Young Men
- Catholic church abuse: inspectors knew minors were castrated
- Sexual predators rarely committed under Justice program
- ‘Standing Silent’ follows uncovering of sexual abuse in Baltimore’s Orthodox Jewish community
Dutch Church Is Accused of Castrating Young Men
By STEPHEN CASTLE
March 20, 2012
BRUSSELS - A young man in the care of the Roman Catholic Church in the Netherlands was surgically castrated decades ago after complaining about sexual abuse, according to new evidence that only adds to the scandal engulfing the church there.
The case, which dates from the 1950s, has increased pressure for a government-led inquiry into sexual abuse in the Dutch church, amid suspicions that as many as 10 young men may have suffered the same fate.
“This case is especially painful because it concerns a victim who was victimized for a second time,” said Peter Nissen, a professor of the history of religion at Radboud University in the Netherlands. “He had the courage to go to the police and was castrated.”
It is unclear, however, whether the reported castration was performed as a punishment for whistle-blowing or what was seen as a treatment for homosexuality.
In 2010, about 2,000 people complained of abuse by priests, church institutions or religious orders in the Netherlands after the Roman Catholic Church commissioned an inquiry. It finally concluded that the number of actual victims over several decades could be 10 times higher.
That committee, led by Wim Deetman, a former education minister, was presented with evidence of the castration case when it was contacted by a friend of the young man, who was castrated in 1956, two years before his death in a road accident....
The victim, Henk Heithuis, lived in Catholic institutions from infancy after being taken into care. When he complained about sexual abuse to the police, Mr. Heithuis, 20 at the time, was transferred to a Catholic psychiatric hospital before being admitted to the St. Joseph Hospital in Veghel, where he was castrated....
Mr. Dohmen, the investigative journalist who broke the news in the daily NRC Handelsblad, said that correspondence from the 1950s and Mr. Heithuis’s testimony to Mr. Rogge suggested that there could have been an additional nine cases....
Mr. Dohmen said that the man accused of abusing Mr. Heithuis was investigated but not prosecuted. He was transferred to Nova Scotia, where he started a home for boys.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/21/world/europe/dutch-church-accused-of-castrating-10-young-men.html
Catholic church abuse: inspectors knew minors were castrated
Monday 19 March 2012
Government inspectors were aware that minors were being castrated while being looked after in Catholic-run psychiatric institutions, local paper the Limburger reported on Monday.
The NRC reported on Saturday at least one boy under the age of 16 was castrated to 'help' his homosexual feelings while in Catholic church care in the 1950s.
Minutes of meetings held in the 1950s show inspectors were present when the castrations were openly discussed, the Limburger said. The minutes also showed directors of the institutions did not think parents needed to be involved in the decision-making process when minors were involved.
Report
But there are indications at least 10 other boys were also castrated, the NRC reported on Saturday. The claims were not included in the Deetman report on sexual abuse within the Catholic church which was published at the end of last year....
The Deetman committee was set up by the church itself in 2010 after the sexual abuse scandal broke. It reported in December having identified some 800 priests and monks who abused children in their care between 1945 and 1985.
In addition, church officials, bishops and lay people were aware of what was going on but failed to take action to protect children, the report said.
Politician
The NRC also said on Saturday the final Deetman report did not mention that a leading politician with the Catholic people's party KVP had tried to have prison sentences dropped against several priests accused of abusing children in 1958. Vic Marijnen, who went on to become prime minister in 1963, was chairman of the children's home where Henk Heithuis and dozens of other children were abused until 1959. http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2012/03/catholic_church_abuse_inspecto.php
Sexual predators rarely committed under Justice program
By Brad Heath, USA TODAY
3/20/12 BUTNER, N.C. – Inside the sprawling federal prison here is a place the government reserves for the worst of the worst — sexual predators too dangerous to be set free. Six years ago, the federal government set out to indefinitely detain some of the nation's most dangerous sex offenders, keeping them locked up even after their prison sentences had ended.
But despite years of effort, the government has so far won court approval for detaining just 15 men.
Far more often, men the U.S.Justice Department branded as "sexually dangerous" predators remained imprisoned here for years without a mandatory court hearing before the government was forced to let them go, a USA TODAY investigation has found. The Justice Department has either lost or dropped its cases against 61 of the 136 men it sought to detain. Some were imprisoned for more than four years without a trial before they were freed.
Dozens of others are still waiting for their day in court. They remain in a prison unit where authorities and former detainees said explicit drawings of children are commonplace, but where few of the men have received any treatment for the disorders that put them there.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-03-13/dangerous-sexual-predators-detained/53621210/1?loc=interstitialskip
USA Today: Sexual predators rarely committed under DOJ program
By James R. Marsh on March 20, 2012
USA Today has an excellent investigative article on the DOJ's federal civil commitment program for sexually dangerous sex offenders. Not surprisingly, many of those requiring indeterminate incarceration were convicted of child pornography crimes.
According to the article:
Six years ago, the federal government set out to indefinitely detain some of the nation's most dangerous sex offenders, keeping them locked up even after their prison sentences had ended.
But despite years of effort, the government has so far won court approval for detaining just 15 men.
The Justice Department has either lost or dropped its cases against 61 of the 136 men it sought to detain.
Dozens of others are still waiting for their day in court. They remain in a prison unit where authorities and former detainees said explicit drawings of children are commonplace, but where few of the men have received any treatment for the disorders that put them there.
Despite that, neither the Justice Department nor other watchdog agencies have offered any public assessment of how well the federal civil commitment law works.
We have repeatedly pointed out that individuals incarcerated for possession, receipt and distribution of child pornography are significantly more likely than not to have sexually abused a child via a hands-on act. http://www.childlaw.us/2012/03/usa-today-sexual-predators-rar.html
‘Standing Silent’ follows uncovering of sexual abuse in Baltimore’s Orthodox Jewish community By Emily Wax, March 19, 2012
One by one the victims stood and described their alleged molesters: the Torah teacher, the rabbi, the ice cream truck driver, the man at the mikvah.
That meeting, held nearly six years ago in a small room in a synagogue in Pikesville, just outside Baltimore, went on for four hours. Seated in a circle with the other victims was Phil Jacobs, a Baltimore Jewish Times journalist. He was not there as a reporter. He was there because he, too, had experienced sexual abuse.
But after the meeting, a young man who knew Jacobs was a journalist approached and asked to be interviewed, to have his story told. That was the beginning of Jacobs’s effort to document sexual abuse in Baltimore’s Orthodox Jewish community, bringing the harrowing experiences shared by the 18 victims in that room out into the open.
The first of his stories, “Today, Steve is 25” was published in February 2007, 10 months after the Pikesville meeting.
That process of reporting and writing has been made into a documentary film, “Standing Silent,” directed by Scott Rosenfelt and now being shown at film festivals across the country. Partially funded by a Sundance Institute grant, it details how Jacobs, an Orthodox Jew himself, has been credited with — and criticized for — uncovering a painful secret in Baltimore’s Orthodox community....
There are no hard numbers to document the extent of the problem, but Elaine Witman, director of the Shofar Coalition, a nonprofit agency that provides services for victims of sexual and other abuse in the Baltimore area’s Jewish community, says the center is seeing an increase in the number of Jews coming forward to report abuse. In 2010, 67 people requested help for childhood sexual abuse from the coalition. That number nearly doubled in 2011, to 132 people, said Witman, who attributes the increase to Jacobs’s articles and the coalition’s efforts toreduce the shame that has kept the issue quiet for so long.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/documentary-standing-silent-recounts-efforts-to-uncover-abuse-in-orthodox-community/2012/02/28/gIQAewi9NS_story.html
Sunday, March 18, 2012
New trial date set for Steven Powell
New trial date set for Steven Powell
March 16, 2012, by Ben Winslow
TACOMA, Washington
A new trial date has been scheduled for the father of Josh Powell. Steven Powell appeared briefly in Pierce Co. Superior Court on Friday, where a judge scheduled an April 23 hearing on a motion to suppress evidence in the criminal case against him. The judge also scheduled a May 7 trial.
Steven Powell is facing voyeurism and child pornography-related charges. He’s accused of taking photos and video of girls and women. Police claim that one of those he filmed without their knowledge is his daughter-in-law, missing West Valley City mother Susan Cox Powell.
She vanished in 2009 and has not been found. Powell’s son, Josh Powell, killed himself and his children last month in an explosion and fire at a home he was renting.
http://fox13now.com/2012/03/16/new-trial-date-set-for-steven-powell/
March 16, 2012, by Ben Winslow
TACOMA, Washington
A new trial date has been scheduled for the father of Josh Powell. Steven Powell appeared briefly in Pierce Co. Superior Court on Friday, where a judge scheduled an April 23 hearing on a motion to suppress evidence in the criminal case against him. The judge also scheduled a May 7 trial.
Steven Powell is facing voyeurism and child pornography-related charges. He’s accused of taking photos and video of girls and women. Police claim that one of those he filmed without their knowledge is his daughter-in-law, missing West Valley City mother Susan Cox Powell.
She vanished in 2009 and has not been found. Powell’s son, Josh Powell, killed himself and his children last month in an explosion and fire at a home he was renting.
http://fox13now.com/2012/03/16/new-trial-date-set-for-steven-powell/
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Where Pimps Peddle Their Goods - Backpage Village Voice Media
Where Pimps Peddle Their Goods
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
March 17, 2012
I WENT on a walk in Manhattan the other day with a young woman who once had to work these streets, hired out by eight pimps while she was just 16 and 17. She pointed out a McDonald’s where pimps sit while monitoring the girls outside, and a building where she had repeatedly been ordered online as if she were a pizza....
After Alissa testified against her pimps, six of them went to prison for up to 25 years. Yet these days, she reserves her greatest anger not at pimps but at companies that enable them. She is particularly scathing about Backpage.com, a classified advertising Web site that is used to sell auto parts, furniture, boats — and girls. Alissa says pimps routinely peddled her on Backpage.
“You can’t buy a child at Wal-Mart, can you?” she asked me. “No, but you can go to Backpage and buy me on Backpage.”
Backpage accounts for about 70 percent of prostitution advertising among five Web sites that carry such ads in the United States, earning more than $22 million annually from prostitution ads, according to AIM Group, a media research and consulting company. It is now the premier Web site for human trafficking in the United States, according to the National Association of Attorneys General. And it’s not a fly-by-night operation. Backpage is owned by Village Voice Media, which also owns the estimable Village Voice newspaper....
Liz McDougall, general counsel of Village Voice Media, told me that it is “shortsighted, ill-informed and counterproductive” to focus on Backpage when many other Web sites are also involved, particularly because Backpage tries to screen out ads for minors and reports possible trafficking cases to the authorities. McDougall denied that Backpage dominates the field....
Backpage’s exit from prostitution advertising wouldn’t solve the problem, for smaller Web sites would take on some of the ads. But it would be a setback for pimps to lose a major online marketplace. When Craigslist stopped taking such ads in 2010, many did not migrate to new sites: online prostitution advertising plummeted by more than 50 percent, according to AIM Group.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/opinion/sunday/kristof-where-pimps-peddle-their-goods.html
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
March 17, 2012
I WENT on a walk in Manhattan the other day with a young woman who once had to work these streets, hired out by eight pimps while she was just 16 and 17. She pointed out a McDonald’s where pimps sit while monitoring the girls outside, and a building where she had repeatedly been ordered online as if she were a pizza....
After Alissa testified against her pimps, six of them went to prison for up to 25 years. Yet these days, she reserves her greatest anger not at pimps but at companies that enable them. She is particularly scathing about Backpage.com, a classified advertising Web site that is used to sell auto parts, furniture, boats — and girls. Alissa says pimps routinely peddled her on Backpage.
“You can’t buy a child at Wal-Mart, can you?” she asked me. “No, but you can go to Backpage and buy me on Backpage.”
Backpage accounts for about 70 percent of prostitution advertising among five Web sites that carry such ads in the United States, earning more than $22 million annually from prostitution ads, according to AIM Group, a media research and consulting company. It is now the premier Web site for human trafficking in the United States, according to the National Association of Attorneys General. And it’s not a fly-by-night operation. Backpage is owned by Village Voice Media, which also owns the estimable Village Voice newspaper....
Liz McDougall, general counsel of Village Voice Media, told me that it is “shortsighted, ill-informed and counterproductive” to focus on Backpage when many other Web sites are also involved, particularly because Backpage tries to screen out ads for minors and reports possible trafficking cases to the authorities. McDougall denied that Backpage dominates the field....
Backpage’s exit from prostitution advertising wouldn’t solve the problem, for smaller Web sites would take on some of the ads. But it would be a setback for pimps to lose a major online marketplace. When Craigslist stopped taking such ads in 2010, many did not migrate to new sites: online prostitution advertising plummeted by more than 50 percent, according to AIM Group.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/opinion/sunday/kristof-where-pimps-peddle-their-goods.html
Relationships 101 – Brutalized by a Spouse, Surviving Ritual Child Sex Abuse
Relationships 101 – Brutalized by a Spouse, Surviving Ritual Child Sex Abuse
Dr. Beth’s (www.drbetherickson.com) first guest is Dr. Connie Hebert (www.conniehebert.com) whose husband verbally, physically, and emotionally abused her until she took her daughter and left. But it took her 20 years to fully recover from the degradation she felt. Cheryl Rainfield (www.cherylrainfield.com) then speaks with Dr. Beth about the ritual sexual abuse she experienced from infancy on and the children she saw murdered until she escaped to a shelter when she was 16. She is the author of the fictionalized account of her life in Scars.
http://webtalkradio.net/2012/03/05/relationships-101-%E2%80%93-brutalized-by-a-spouse-surviving-ritual-child-sex-abuse/
Dr. Beth’s (www.drbetherickson.com) first guest is Dr. Connie Hebert (www.conniehebert.com) whose husband verbally, physically, and emotionally abused her until she took her daughter and left. But it took her 20 years to fully recover from the degradation she felt. Cheryl Rainfield (www.cherylrainfield.com) then speaks with Dr. Beth about the ritual sexual abuse she experienced from infancy on and the children she saw murdered until she escaped to a shelter when she was 16. She is the author of the fictionalized account of her life in Scars.
http://webtalkradio.net/2012/03/05/relationships-101-%E2%80%93-brutalized-by-a-spouse-surviving-ritual-child-sex-abuse/
Friday, March 16, 2012
High school foreign exchange students repeatedly placed with convicted murderer, The Twice-Victimized of Sexual Assault
articles
- High school foreign exchange students repeatedly placed with convicted murderer
- Dozens of high school foreign exchange students have been raped, sexually abused, or harassed by American host parents
- The Twice-Victimized of Sexual Assault, fewer than 40 percent of rapes and sexual assaults are reported to the police.
High school foreign exchange students repeatedly placed with convicted murderer
Fri Mar 16, 2012 By Anna Schecter and Kate Snow Rock Center
The day after a Rock Center report on the sexual abuse of high school foreign exchange students aired, the State Department’s Inspector General issued a scathing report that challenged spokesperson Toria Nuland’s assertion to NBC News that the Department has taken the necessary steps to protect students.
The IG report said an exchange organization had for years been placing high school students in the home of a convicted murderer. The Department did not terminate the organization from the program until a year after this information was discovered, the report said....
Some organizations that placed students in the homes of convicted felons continued for extended periods to operate as “designated sponsors,” according to the report. Those "designated sponsors" are regulated by the State Department.
The report cited 118 allegations of sexual abuse or harassment of high school exchange students in 2010 and 2011....
The most recent IG report found only 39 of 92 organizations had been reviewed.
Furthermore, the IG found 15 of the organizations did not comply with regulations. They failed to complete criminal background checks on families, resulting in teens being placed in homes of sex offenders and other felons. Instead of shutting down or suspending the organizations as required by law, most received only a letter of reprimand. http://rockcenter.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/16/10722997-high-school-foreign-exchange-students-repeatedly-placed-with-convicted-murderer
Culture Shock: ‘He touched places that he shouldn’t have’
Dozens of high school foreign exchange students have been raped, sexually abused, or harassed by American host parents in towns and cities across the country, a Rock Center investigation has found. The State Department regulates more than 80 organizations that place foreign teens in American homes where they study at American high schools. The study abroad experience, a rite of passage and diplomatic gesture, became a nightmarish experience for some teens. NBC News’ Kate Snow reports http://video.msnbc.msn.com/rock-center/46741718
The Twice-Victimized of Sexual Assault
By JANE E. BRODY December 12, 2011
Nearly every woman I know can recall one or more instances in which she was sexually assaulted, harassed, threatened, inappropriately touched or even raped. Yet few told anyone about it at the time, or reported it to the police. I have clear memories of three such episodes from my childhood, one of which involved a man who owned a store in my neighborhood....
I had trouble sleeping, and I avoided the block where the store was. Yet, fearing that the assault was somehow my fault, I said nothing to my parents.
Experts on sexual assault and rape report that even today, despite improvements in early sex education and widespread publicity about sexual assaults, the overwhelming majority of both felony and misdemeanor cases never come to public or legal attention.
It is all too easy to see why. More often than not, women who bring charges of sexual assault are victims twice over, treated by the legal system and sometimes by the news media as lying until proved truthful.
“There is no other crime I can think of where the victim is more victimized,” said Rebecca Campbell, a professor of psychology at Michigan State University who for 20 years has been studying what happens legally and medically to women who are raped. “The victim is always on trial. Rape is treated very differently than other felonies.”
So, too, are the victims of lesser sexual assaults. In 1991, when Anita Hill, a lawyer and academic, told Congress that the Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas had sexually harassed her repeatedly when she worked for him, Ms. Hill was vilified as a character assassin and liar acting on behalf of abortion-rights advocates....
Victims must be better supported with better forensics, investigations and prosecutions, Dr. Campbell said. “This is a public safety issue. Most rapists are serial rapists, and they must be held accountable.”
In one study, published in 1987 in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 126 admitted rapists had committed 907 rapes involving 882 different victims.
Rapists are not the only serial sexual offenders. Witness the all-too-frequent revelations of sexual abuse of children involving multiple victims and persisting for decades even when others in positions of authority knew it was going on....
Last year, according to the Department of Justice, 188,280 Americans were victims of sexual violence.
Among female victims, nearly three-quarters are assaulted by men they know — friends, acquaintances or intimate partners, according to federal statistics.
But fewer than 40 percent of rapes and sexual assaults are reported to the police. Underreporting is more common among male victims and women raped by acquaintances or domestic partners. Only one-quarter of rapes are committed by strangers.
The result of underreporting and poor prosecution: 15 of 16 rapists will never spend a day in jail, according to the network....
The consequences (of rape) can include pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease; feelings of helplessness, hopelessness and low self-esteem; self-blame and depression; substance abuse and eating disorders; fears of intimacy; numbness; post-traumatic stress disorder (nightmares, flashbacks, anxiety attacks, difficulty functioning); borderline personality disorder; unexplained physical problems; and even suicide. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/13/health/the-twice-victimized-of-sexual-assault.html
- High school foreign exchange students repeatedly placed with convicted murderer
- Dozens of high school foreign exchange students have been raped, sexually abused, or harassed by American host parents
- The Twice-Victimized of Sexual Assault, fewer than 40 percent of rapes and sexual assaults are reported to the police.
High school foreign exchange students repeatedly placed with convicted murderer
Fri Mar 16, 2012 By Anna Schecter and Kate Snow Rock Center
The day after a Rock Center report on the sexual abuse of high school foreign exchange students aired, the State Department’s Inspector General issued a scathing report that challenged spokesperson Toria Nuland’s assertion to NBC News that the Department has taken the necessary steps to protect students.
The IG report said an exchange organization had for years been placing high school students in the home of a convicted murderer. The Department did not terminate the organization from the program until a year after this information was discovered, the report said....
Some organizations that placed students in the homes of convicted felons continued for extended periods to operate as “designated sponsors,” according to the report. Those "designated sponsors" are regulated by the State Department.
The report cited 118 allegations of sexual abuse or harassment of high school exchange students in 2010 and 2011....
The most recent IG report found only 39 of 92 organizations had been reviewed.
Furthermore, the IG found 15 of the organizations did not comply with regulations. They failed to complete criminal background checks on families, resulting in teens being placed in homes of sex offenders and other felons. Instead of shutting down or suspending the organizations as required by law, most received only a letter of reprimand. http://rockcenter.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/16/10722997-high-school-foreign-exchange-students-repeatedly-placed-with-convicted-murderer
Culture Shock: ‘He touched places that he shouldn’t have’
Dozens of high school foreign exchange students have been raped, sexually abused, or harassed by American host parents in towns and cities across the country, a Rock Center investigation has found. The State Department regulates more than 80 organizations that place foreign teens in American homes where they study at American high schools. The study abroad experience, a rite of passage and diplomatic gesture, became a nightmarish experience for some teens. NBC News’ Kate Snow reports http://video.msnbc.msn.com/rock-center/46741718
The Twice-Victimized of Sexual Assault
By JANE E. BRODY December 12, 2011
Nearly every woman I know can recall one or more instances in which she was sexually assaulted, harassed, threatened, inappropriately touched or even raped. Yet few told anyone about it at the time, or reported it to the police. I have clear memories of three such episodes from my childhood, one of which involved a man who owned a store in my neighborhood....
I had trouble sleeping, and I avoided the block where the store was. Yet, fearing that the assault was somehow my fault, I said nothing to my parents.
Experts on sexual assault and rape report that even today, despite improvements in early sex education and widespread publicity about sexual assaults, the overwhelming majority of both felony and misdemeanor cases never come to public or legal attention.
It is all too easy to see why. More often than not, women who bring charges of sexual assault are victims twice over, treated by the legal system and sometimes by the news media as lying until proved truthful.
“There is no other crime I can think of where the victim is more victimized,” said Rebecca Campbell, a professor of psychology at Michigan State University who for 20 years has been studying what happens legally and medically to women who are raped. “The victim is always on trial. Rape is treated very differently than other felonies.”
So, too, are the victims of lesser sexual assaults. In 1991, when Anita Hill, a lawyer and academic, told Congress that the Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas had sexually harassed her repeatedly when she worked for him, Ms. Hill was vilified as a character assassin and liar acting on behalf of abortion-rights advocates....
Victims must be better supported with better forensics, investigations and prosecutions, Dr. Campbell said. “This is a public safety issue. Most rapists are serial rapists, and they must be held accountable.”
In one study, published in 1987 in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 126 admitted rapists had committed 907 rapes involving 882 different victims.
Rapists are not the only serial sexual offenders. Witness the all-too-frequent revelations of sexual abuse of children involving multiple victims and persisting for decades even when others in positions of authority knew it was going on....
Last year, according to the Department of Justice, 188,280 Americans were victims of sexual violence.
Among female victims, nearly three-quarters are assaulted by men they know — friends, acquaintances or intimate partners, according to federal statistics.
But fewer than 40 percent of rapes and sexual assaults are reported to the police. Underreporting is more common among male victims and women raped by acquaintances or domestic partners. Only one-quarter of rapes are committed by strangers.
The result of underreporting and poor prosecution: 15 of 16 rapists will never spend a day in jail, according to the network....
The consequences (of rape) can include pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease; feelings of helplessness, hopelessness and low self-esteem; self-blame and depression; substance abuse and eating disorders; fears of intimacy; numbness; post-traumatic stress disorder (nightmares, flashbacks, anxiety attacks, difficulty functioning); borderline personality disorder; unexplained physical problems; and even suicide. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/13/health/the-twice-victimized-of-sexual-assault.html
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Fugitives from justice: Roman Catholic priests
Fugitives from justice: Roman Catholic priests
Few clergy who fled the U.S. after being accused of sexual abuse of minors have been returned to face the charges
Web application by David Eads, Katie Nieland, Joe Germuska, Brian Boyer
Research and reporting by David Jackson, Gary Marx, Brian Boyer
March 11, 2012
Since 1985, at least 32 Roman Catholic priests have left the United States for foreign countries while facing criminal charges or a police investigation over allegations that they sexually assaulted or abused minors, according to federal warrants, news reports and law enforcement sources. Only five have been returned to the U.S. to face trial; some died abroad. The number of fugitive priests grows by more than two dozen if it includes those who left the country while facing internal church probes or civil allegations of child sex misconduct, instead of a criminal investigation, and those who were transferred to foreign countries by church authorities before or after allegations surfaced. Many have maintained their innocence. Authorities also have pursued religious leaders from other faith traditions who fled the U.S. amid abuse allegations.
http://media.apps.chicagotribune.com/fugitives/priests.html
Few clergy who fled the U.S. after being accused of sexual abuse of minors have been returned to face the charges
Web application by David Eads, Katie Nieland, Joe Germuska, Brian Boyer
Research and reporting by David Jackson, Gary Marx, Brian Boyer
March 11, 2012
Since 1985, at least 32 Roman Catholic priests have left the United States for foreign countries while facing criminal charges or a police investigation over allegations that they sexually assaulted or abused minors, according to federal warrants, news reports and law enforcement sources. Only five have been returned to the U.S. to face trial; some died abroad. The number of fugitive priests grows by more than two dozen if it includes those who left the country while facing internal church probes or civil allegations of child sex misconduct, instead of a criminal investigation, and those who were transferred to foreign countries by church authorities before or after allegations surfaced. Many have maintained their innocence. Authorities also have pursued religious leaders from other faith traditions who fled the U.S. amid abuse allegations.
http://media.apps.chicagotribune.com/fugitives/priests.html
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Foreign exchange students sexually abused in program overseen by State Department
Foreign exchange students sexually abused in program overseen by State Department
Mar 13, 2012
By Anna Schecter
Rock Center
Dozens of high school foreign exchange students have been raped, sexually abused, or harassed by American host parents in towns and cities across the country, an NBC News investigation has found.
In one of the most egregious cases, at least four exchange students were sexually abused over the course of two years by the same host father, even after the first victim sounded alarms.
“He said ‘this is American culture,’ and I should get used to it,” Christopher Herbon of Germany told NBC News in an exclusive interview to be broadcast Wednesday night on Rock Center.
The organization that placed them with the host father has been accused of orchestrating a cover-up to protect its reputation over the safety of the students....
But NBC News’ investigation found two major flaws in the system. A lack of oversight can allow sexual predators to take advantage of the program. And when sexual abuse does happen, there is evidence that the students are sent back to their home countries with little or no support from the exchange organizations or the State Department....
Meyer pleaded guilty to first degree sexual assault and served four of a six year sentence.
http://rockcenter.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/13/10669162-foreign-exchange-students-sexually-abused-in-program-overseen-by-state-department
Mar 13, 2012
By Anna Schecter
Rock Center
Dozens of high school foreign exchange students have been raped, sexually abused, or harassed by American host parents in towns and cities across the country, an NBC News investigation has found.
In one of the most egregious cases, at least four exchange students were sexually abused over the course of two years by the same host father, even after the first victim sounded alarms.
“He said ‘this is American culture,’ and I should get used to it,” Christopher Herbon of Germany told NBC News in an exclusive interview to be broadcast Wednesday night on Rock Center.
The organization that placed them with the host father has been accused of orchestrating a cover-up to protect its reputation over the safety of the students....
But NBC News’ investigation found two major flaws in the system. A lack of oversight can allow sexual predators to take advantage of the program. And when sexual abuse does happen, there is evidence that the students are sent back to their home countries with little or no support from the exchange organizations or the State Department....
Meyer pleaded guilty to first degree sexual assault and served four of a six year sentence.
http://rockcenter.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/13/10669162-foreign-exchange-students-sexually-abused-in-program-overseen-by-state-department
Eighteenth Annual Northern California Child Sexual Abuse Awareness Conference
ISSB of CA and CPPA present the Eighteenth Annual
Northern California Child Sexual Abuse Awareness Conference:
Featuring Dr. Jaime Romo
Healing the Sexually Abused Heart
April 28th, 2012, 9:30 am to 5:00 pm,
at the Veterans Memorial Center, 203 East 14th Street, Davis, California
As always, the 2012 ISSB Conference will be offered at no-cost and no-registration, so that all who care to may attend, and can remain anonymous if they so choose.
What does recovery, healing, and transformation look like, sound like, and feel like? Dr. Romo will share his journey from childhood sexual abuse to crash landing and profound transformation. He will share maps and guiding resources for our healing journeys, knowing that the map is not the territory. In this presentation, participants will voluntarily explore the power of their own responses to foundational questions: “Who am I? What do I want? What is my purpose?” Finally, participants will hear from extraordinary victims turned survivor and thriver about what helped them in their journeys and what they have found to be their purposes. We will be inspired and challenged to find and be the solutions we have been searching for.
Dr. Jaime Romo is an educator, consultant, and author. He promotes healing from abuse and the prevention of child sexual abuse, particularly abuse by religious authorities or in the context of religious settings. For more information about Dr. Romo, please go to his website: http://jaimeromo.com
This workshop is appropriate for therapists, survivors, friends, and relatives. Professionals can earn up to 6 CEU's by registering, but the 2012 ISSB Conference will be offered at no-cost and no-registration, as always, so that all who care to may attend, and can remain anonymous if they so choose.
Local accommodations are available for visitors from out of town. If you have other questions, please email us at issbca@gmail.com, and visit our website, at www.issb.us for information about our organization and our previous 17 Annual California Child Sexual Abuse Awareness conferences. We hope to see you in Davis on April 28!
Online mail in registration form:
http://www.issb.us/images/Registration_and_flyer_2012.pdf
Northern California Child Sexual Abuse Awareness Conference:
Featuring Dr. Jaime Romo
Healing the Sexually Abused Heart
April 28th, 2012, 9:30 am to 5:00 pm,
at the Veterans Memorial Center, 203 East 14th Street, Davis, California
As always, the 2012 ISSB Conference will be offered at no-cost and no-registration, so that all who care to may attend, and can remain anonymous if they so choose.
What does recovery, healing, and transformation look like, sound like, and feel like? Dr. Romo will share his journey from childhood sexual abuse to crash landing and profound transformation. He will share maps and guiding resources for our healing journeys, knowing that the map is not the territory. In this presentation, participants will voluntarily explore the power of their own responses to foundational questions: “Who am I? What do I want? What is my purpose?” Finally, participants will hear from extraordinary victims turned survivor and thriver about what helped them in their journeys and what they have found to be their purposes. We will be inspired and challenged to find and be the solutions we have been searching for.
Dr. Jaime Romo is an educator, consultant, and author. He promotes healing from abuse and the prevention of child sexual abuse, particularly abuse by religious authorities or in the context of religious settings. For more information about Dr. Romo, please go to his website: http://jaimeromo.com
This workshop is appropriate for therapists, survivors, friends, and relatives. Professionals can earn up to 6 CEU's by registering, but the 2012 ISSB Conference will be offered at no-cost and no-registration, as always, so that all who care to may attend, and can remain anonymous if they so choose.
Local accommodations are available for visitors from out of town. If you have other questions, please email us at issbca@gmail.com, and visit our website, at www.issb.us for information about our organization and our previous 17 Annual California Child Sexual Abuse Awareness conferences. We hope to see you in Davis on April 28!
Online mail in registration form:
http://www.issb.us/images/Registration_and_flyer_2012.pdf
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Church's Legal Pressure on Abuse Victims’ Group, SNAP petition, Bradley Manning's treatment was cruel and inhuman
articles
- Church Puts Legal Pressure on Abuse Victims’ Group
- Cardinal Dolan - "Stop the legal bullying!" - SNAP Petition
- Bradley Manning's treatment was cruel and inhuman, UN torture chief rules
Church Puts Legal Pressure on Abuse Victims’ Group
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
March 12, 2012
Turning the tables on an advocacy group that has long supported victims of pedophile priests, lawyers for the Roman Catholic Church and priests accused of sexual abuse in two Missouri cases have gone to court to compel the group to disclose more than two decades of e-mails that could include correspondence with victims, lawyers, whistle-blowers, witnesses, the police, prosecutors and journalists.
The group, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP, is neither a plaintiff nor a defendant in the litigation. But the group has been subpoenaed five times in recent months in Kansas City and St. Louis, and its national director, David Clohessy, was questioned by a battery of lawyers for more than six hours this year. A judge in Kansas City ruled that the network must comply because it “almost certainly” had information relevant to the case.
The network and its allies say the legal action is part of a campaign by the church to cripple an organization that has been the most visible defender of victims, and a relentless adversary, for more than two decades. “If there is one group that the higher-ups, the bishops, would like to see silenced,” said Marci A. Hamilton, a law professor at Yeshiva University and an advocate for victims of clergy sex crimes, “it definitely would be SNAP. And that’s what they’re going after. They’re trying to find a way to silence SNAP.”
Lawyers for the church and priests say they cannot comment because of a judge’s order. But William Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, a church advocacy group in New York, said targeting the network was justified because “SNAP is a menace to the Catholic Church.”
Mr. Donohue said leading bishops he knew had resolved to fight back more aggressively against the group: “The bishops have come together collectively. I can’t give you the names, but there’s a growing consensus on the part of the bishops that they had better toughen up and go out and buy some good lawyers to get tough. We don’t need altar boys.”
He said bishops were also rethinking their approach of paying large settlements to groups of victims. “The church has been too quick to write a check, and I think they’ve realized it would be a lot less expensive in the long run if we fought them one by one,” Mr. Donohue said.
However, a spokeswoman for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Sister Mary Ann Walsh, said Mr. Donohue was incorrect.
“There is no national strategy,” she said, and there was no meeting where legal counsel for the bishops decided to get more aggressive....
Mr. Clohessy was deposed in January by lawyers for five accused priests and the diocese. In the 215-page transcript, made public on March 2, most of the questions were not about the case but about the network — its budget, board of directors, staff members, donors and operating procedures.
Mr. Clohessy testified that he had never had contact with John Doe.
“It was not a fishing expedition,” Mr. Clohessy said. “It was a fishing, crabbing, shrimping, trash-collecting, draining the pond expedition. The real motive is to harass and discredit and bankrupt SNAP, while discouraging victims, witnesses, whistle-blowers, police, prosecutors and journalists from seeking our help.” http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/13/us/catholic-church-pressures-victims-network-with-subpoenas.html
Cardinal Dolan - "Stop the legal bullying!"
As the head of America' bishops, we urge you to publicly denounce, and stop, the bullying tactics used by bishops and church defense lawyers against those seeking help from the support group SNAP, including victims of abuse by clerics, witnesses, whistleblowers, police, prosecutors and journalists. http://www.snapnetwork.org/snap_petition
Bradley Manning's treatment was cruel and inhuman, UN torture chief rules
UN special rapporteur on torture's findings likely to reignite criticism of US government's treatment of WikiLeaks suspect
Ed Pilkington in New York
guardian.co.uk, Monday 12 March 2012 09.41 EDT
The UN special rapporteur on torture has formally accused the US government of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment towards Bradley Manning, the US soldier who was held in solitary confinement for almost a year on suspicion of being the WikiLeaks source.
Juan Mendez has completed a 14-month investigation into the treatment of Manning since the soldier's arrest at a US military base in May 2010. He concludes that the US military was at least culpable of cruel and inhumane treatment in keeping Manning locked up alone for 23 hours a day over an 11-month period in conditions that he also found might have constituted torture.
"The special rapporteur concludes that imposing seriously punitive conditions of detention on someone who has not been found guilty of any crime is a violation of his right to physical and psychological integrity as well as of his presumption of innocence," Mendez writes.
The findings of cruel and inhuman treatment are published as an addendum to the special rapporteur's report to the UN general assembly on the promotion and protection of human rights. They are likely to reignite criticism of the US government's harsh treatment of Manning ahead of his court martial later this year.....
The Pentagon has refused to allow Mendez to see Manning in private, insisting that all conversations must be monitored. "You should have no expectation of privacy in your communications with Private Manning," the Pentagon wrote.
The lack of privacy is a violation of human rights procedures, the UN says, and considered unacceptable by the UN special rapporteur. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/12/bradley-manning-cruel-inhuman-treatment-un
- Church Puts Legal Pressure on Abuse Victims’ Group
- Cardinal Dolan - "Stop the legal bullying!" - SNAP Petition
- Bradley Manning's treatment was cruel and inhuman, UN torture chief rules
Church Puts Legal Pressure on Abuse Victims’ Group
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
March 12, 2012
Turning the tables on an advocacy group that has long supported victims of pedophile priests, lawyers for the Roman Catholic Church and priests accused of sexual abuse in two Missouri cases have gone to court to compel the group to disclose more than two decades of e-mails that could include correspondence with victims, lawyers, whistle-blowers, witnesses, the police, prosecutors and journalists.
The group, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, known as SNAP, is neither a plaintiff nor a defendant in the litigation. But the group has been subpoenaed five times in recent months in Kansas City and St. Louis, and its national director, David Clohessy, was questioned by a battery of lawyers for more than six hours this year. A judge in Kansas City ruled that the network must comply because it “almost certainly” had information relevant to the case.
The network and its allies say the legal action is part of a campaign by the church to cripple an organization that has been the most visible defender of victims, and a relentless adversary, for more than two decades. “If there is one group that the higher-ups, the bishops, would like to see silenced,” said Marci A. Hamilton, a law professor at Yeshiva University and an advocate for victims of clergy sex crimes, “it definitely would be SNAP. And that’s what they’re going after. They’re trying to find a way to silence SNAP.”
Lawyers for the church and priests say they cannot comment because of a judge’s order. But William Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, a church advocacy group in New York, said targeting the network was justified because “SNAP is a menace to the Catholic Church.”
Mr. Donohue said leading bishops he knew had resolved to fight back more aggressively against the group: “The bishops have come together collectively. I can’t give you the names, but there’s a growing consensus on the part of the bishops that they had better toughen up and go out and buy some good lawyers to get tough. We don’t need altar boys.”
He said bishops were also rethinking their approach of paying large settlements to groups of victims. “The church has been too quick to write a check, and I think they’ve realized it would be a lot less expensive in the long run if we fought them one by one,” Mr. Donohue said.
However, a spokeswoman for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Sister Mary Ann Walsh, said Mr. Donohue was incorrect.
“There is no national strategy,” she said, and there was no meeting where legal counsel for the bishops decided to get more aggressive....
Mr. Clohessy was deposed in January by lawyers for five accused priests and the diocese. In the 215-page transcript, made public on March 2, most of the questions were not about the case but about the network — its budget, board of directors, staff members, donors and operating procedures.
Mr. Clohessy testified that he had never had contact with John Doe.
“It was not a fishing expedition,” Mr. Clohessy said. “It was a fishing, crabbing, shrimping, trash-collecting, draining the pond expedition. The real motive is to harass and discredit and bankrupt SNAP, while discouraging victims, witnesses, whistle-blowers, police, prosecutors and journalists from seeking our help.” http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/13/us/catholic-church-pressures-victims-network-with-subpoenas.html
Cardinal Dolan - "Stop the legal bullying!"
As the head of America' bishops, we urge you to publicly denounce, and stop, the bullying tactics used by bishops and church defense lawyers against those seeking help from the support group SNAP, including victims of abuse by clerics, witnesses, whistleblowers, police, prosecutors and journalists. http://www.snapnetwork.org/snap_petition
Bradley Manning's treatment was cruel and inhuman, UN torture chief rules
UN special rapporteur on torture's findings likely to reignite criticism of US government's treatment of WikiLeaks suspect
Ed Pilkington in New York
guardian.co.uk, Monday 12 March 2012 09.41 EDT
The UN special rapporteur on torture has formally accused the US government of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment towards Bradley Manning, the US soldier who was held in solitary confinement for almost a year on suspicion of being the WikiLeaks source.
Juan Mendez has completed a 14-month investigation into the treatment of Manning since the soldier's arrest at a US military base in May 2010. He concludes that the US military was at least culpable of cruel and inhumane treatment in keeping Manning locked up alone for 23 hours a day over an 11-month period in conditions that he also found might have constituted torture.
"The special rapporteur concludes that imposing seriously punitive conditions of detention on someone who has not been found guilty of any crime is a violation of his right to physical and psychological integrity as well as of his presumption of innocence," Mendez writes.
The findings of cruel and inhuman treatment are published as an addendum to the special rapporteur's report to the UN general assembly on the promotion and protection of human rights. They are likely to reignite criticism of the US government's harsh treatment of Manning ahead of his court martial later this year.....
The Pentagon has refused to allow Mendez to see Manning in private, insisting that all conversations must be monitored. "You should have no expectation of privacy in your communications with Private Manning," the Pentagon wrote.
The lack of privacy is a violation of human rights procedures, the UN says, and considered unacceptable by the UN special rapporteur. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/12/bradley-manning-cruel-inhuman-treatment-un
Monday, March 12, 2012
Survivorship Webinar - The aftereffects of extreme child abuse and the resiliency of the human spirit
Upcoming Webinar:
Saturday, April 21
12 pm Pacific Time
Presenter: Wanda Karriker
"The aftereffects of extreme child abuse and the resiliency of the human spirit."
Dr. Karriker believes that to deny the existence of ritual abuse and/or mind control is to desecrate the memory of victims who died at the hands of evil and to discredit the work of all people who have striven to expose crimes in which abusive rituals, mind control techniques, and similar forms of extreme abuse have been used to sexually exploit, physically harm, emotionally torment, and spiritually damage its victims. In this webinar, she will (1) discuss the rationale for and the development of the Extreme Abuse Survey Series conducted online in English and German in 2007; (2) share responses from more than 2,000 survivors, professional helpers, and child caregivers from six continents which validate that individual survivors are not alone in their struggles with the aftereffects of these unspeakable crimes; and (3) tell webinar participants about the efforts that the EAS researchers have made and will continue to make (via a book to be published later this year in English and German) to honor their commitment to provide opportunities for the voices of extreme abuse survivors to be heard around the world.
Wanda Karriker, Ph.D. is a retired psychologist who wrote the novel, “Morning, Come Quickly,” to share what she has learned personally and professionally about the after effects of extreme child abuse and the resiliency of the human spirit. She is a co-developer of the Extreme Abuse Survey Series. (http://extreme-abuse-survey.net)
REGISTRATION
Registration closes Thursday evening April 19, 2012
To reserve a space in the webinar, e-mail Shamai at shamai@survivorship.org and give her this information:
1. Your name
2. The webinar you wish to attend: "The aftereffects of extreme child abuse and the resiliency of the human spirit."
3. Amount and method of payment (check, PayPal, money order)
4. Your preferred e-mail address (so we can send you instructions)
5. The name you will be using for the webinar. (This does not have to be your real name or your message board screen name.)
You will receive a confirmation email immediately and an invitation link and instructions after the registration closes
COST
Webinars are on a sliding scale from $50.00 to full scholarship (while we offer full scholarships for webinars please consider paying whatever you are able to. Even $5 will help to cover the cost of the webinar provider). Please remember to factor in the cost of the telephone call if you don’t have a computer headset. The PayPal button is near the bottom of the page at http://www.survivorship.org/webinars.html
If you wish to pay by check please send it to: Survivorship, Family Justice Center, 470 27th Street, Oakland, CA 94612.
PAST WEBINARS
Survivorship members may listen to past webinars in the members’ section.
For information on joining Survivorship, go to http://www.survivorship.org/about/membership.html
Complete details on all our webinars are at http://www.survivorship.org/webinars.html
Saturday, April 21
12 pm Pacific Time
Presenter: Wanda Karriker
"The aftereffects of extreme child abuse and the resiliency of the human spirit."
Dr. Karriker believes that to deny the existence of ritual abuse and/or mind control is to desecrate the memory of victims who died at the hands of evil and to discredit the work of all people who have striven to expose crimes in which abusive rituals, mind control techniques, and similar forms of extreme abuse have been used to sexually exploit, physically harm, emotionally torment, and spiritually damage its victims. In this webinar, she will (1) discuss the rationale for and the development of the Extreme Abuse Survey Series conducted online in English and German in 2007; (2) share responses from more than 2,000 survivors, professional helpers, and child caregivers from six continents which validate that individual survivors are not alone in their struggles with the aftereffects of these unspeakable crimes; and (3) tell webinar participants about the efforts that the EAS researchers have made and will continue to make (via a book to be published later this year in English and German) to honor their commitment to provide opportunities for the voices of extreme abuse survivors to be heard around the world.
Wanda Karriker, Ph.D. is a retired psychologist who wrote the novel, “Morning, Come Quickly,” to share what she has learned personally and professionally about the after effects of extreme child abuse and the resiliency of the human spirit. She is a co-developer of the Extreme Abuse Survey Series. (http://extreme-abuse-survey.net)
REGISTRATION
Registration closes Thursday evening April 19, 2012
To reserve a space in the webinar, e-mail Shamai at shamai@survivorship.org and give her this information:
1. Your name
2. The webinar you wish to attend: "The aftereffects of extreme child abuse and the resiliency of the human spirit."
3. Amount and method of payment (check, PayPal, money order)
4. Your preferred e-mail address (so we can send you instructions)
5. The name you will be using for the webinar. (This does not have to be your real name or your message board screen name.)
You will receive a confirmation email immediately and an invitation link and instructions after the registration closes
COST
Webinars are on a sliding scale from $50.00 to full scholarship (while we offer full scholarships for webinars please consider paying whatever you are able to. Even $5 will help to cover the cost of the webinar provider). Please remember to factor in the cost of the telephone call if you don’t have a computer headset. The PayPal button is near the bottom of the page at http://www.survivorship.org/webinars.html
If you wish to pay by check please send it to: Survivorship, Family Justice Center, 470 27th Street, Oakland, CA 94612.
PAST WEBINARS
Survivorship members may listen to past webinars in the members’ section.
For information on joining Survivorship, go to http://www.survivorship.org/about/membership.html
Complete details on all our webinars are at http://www.survivorship.org/webinars.html
Saturday, March 10, 2012
DOJ Director on Violence Against Women in the United States
DOJ Director on Violence Against Women in the United States
Rahim Kanani, Contributor 3/08/2012
In one of the most in-depth discussions to date on violence against women in the United States, and to coincide with International Women’s Day, I interviewed Susan B. Carbon, Director of the United States Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women (OVW)....
One in every four women and one in every seven men have experienced severe physical violence by a current or former spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend.[1] Stalkers victimize approximately 5.2 million women and 1.4 million men each year in the U.S, with domestic violence-related stalking the most common type of stalking and often the most dangerous.[2] One in ten 9th-12th grade students were physically hurt on purpose by a boyfriend or girlfriend in 2009 alone.[3] One in five women and one in 71 men have been raped in their lifetimes, and nearly 1.3 million women in the U.S. are raped every year.[4]....
Susan Carbon: Since the 1990s, we have learned a great deal more about prevalence of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. For example, research has helped us better understand how rapists target their victims and escape justice. This is particularly significant on our college campuses. College rapists may avoid the justice system by attacking acquaintances, picking women who will not be considered credible due to alcohol use or other factors, and by minimizing injuries by plying their victims with alcohol rather than using physical force.
Nineteen percent of undergraduate women reported experiencing completed or attempted sexual assault since entering college. Most of these assaults occurred when the victim was incapacitated by alcohol. Rapes involving alcohol are much more prevalent than rapes involving date-rape drugs.[9] Risk of incapacitated rape increases significantly during college.[10] In one study, over 80% of undetected college rapists reported committing rapes of women who were incapacitated because of drugs or alcohol.[11] Many college rapists create “cases” that victims are least likely to report and that prosecutors are less likely to prosecute.[12] Only 2% of victims of incapacitated rape reported the assault to law enforcement.[13]
Campuses often fail to respond to college rapists,[14] who continue to offend. Even the best- intentioned universities’ adjudication and other processes often blame the victim and fail to discipline the perpetrator.[15] In one study, 63% of rapists reported committing repeat rapes, averaging six each.[16] More than two-thirds (68%) of the repeat rapists admitted to other forms of interpersonal violence, averaging 14 violent acts. Their level of violence was nearly 10 times that of non-rapists, and nearly 3.5 times that of single-act rapists.[17] This portrait of college rapists is more consistent with the data on recidivism among sex offenders than with the still-prevalent image of a college student who, under the influence of alcohol, mistakenly crosses the line between sexual pressure and rape.[18]....
There is also a body of research indicating that the increased availability of legal services has significantly contributed to a decline in domestic violence in the United States.[35] Obtaining a protection order has been shown in multiple studies to reduce future assault and improve quality of life.[36] Even when orders were violated, there was a significant reduction in subsequent abuse.[37]....
Although we tend to think of sexual assault as a crime usually involving only two people, a 2002 study using data from the National Crime Victimization Survey revealed that sexual assaults are often witnessed by at least one person in the bystander role.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rahimkanani/2012/03/08/doj-director-on-violence-against-women-in-the-united-states
Rahim Kanani, Contributor 3/08/2012
In one of the most in-depth discussions to date on violence against women in the United States, and to coincide with International Women’s Day, I interviewed Susan B. Carbon, Director of the United States Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women (OVW)....
One in every four women and one in every seven men have experienced severe physical violence by a current or former spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend.[1] Stalkers victimize approximately 5.2 million women and 1.4 million men each year in the U.S, with domestic violence-related stalking the most common type of stalking and often the most dangerous.[2] One in ten 9th-12th grade students were physically hurt on purpose by a boyfriend or girlfriend in 2009 alone.[3] One in five women and one in 71 men have been raped in their lifetimes, and nearly 1.3 million women in the U.S. are raped every year.[4]....
Susan Carbon: Since the 1990s, we have learned a great deal more about prevalence of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. For example, research has helped us better understand how rapists target their victims and escape justice. This is particularly significant on our college campuses. College rapists may avoid the justice system by attacking acquaintances, picking women who will not be considered credible due to alcohol use or other factors, and by minimizing injuries by plying their victims with alcohol rather than using physical force.
Nineteen percent of undergraduate women reported experiencing completed or attempted sexual assault since entering college. Most of these assaults occurred when the victim was incapacitated by alcohol. Rapes involving alcohol are much more prevalent than rapes involving date-rape drugs.[9] Risk of incapacitated rape increases significantly during college.[10] In one study, over 80% of undetected college rapists reported committing rapes of women who were incapacitated because of drugs or alcohol.[11] Many college rapists create “cases” that victims are least likely to report and that prosecutors are less likely to prosecute.[12] Only 2% of victims of incapacitated rape reported the assault to law enforcement.[13]
Campuses often fail to respond to college rapists,[14] who continue to offend. Even the best- intentioned universities’ adjudication and other processes often blame the victim and fail to discipline the perpetrator.[15] In one study, 63% of rapists reported committing repeat rapes, averaging six each.[16] More than two-thirds (68%) of the repeat rapists admitted to other forms of interpersonal violence, averaging 14 violent acts. Their level of violence was nearly 10 times that of non-rapists, and nearly 3.5 times that of single-act rapists.[17] This portrait of college rapists is more consistent with the data on recidivism among sex offenders than with the still-prevalent image of a college student who, under the influence of alcohol, mistakenly crosses the line between sexual pressure and rape.[18]....
There is also a body of research indicating that the increased availability of legal services has significantly contributed to a decline in domestic violence in the United States.[35] Obtaining a protection order has been shown in multiple studies to reduce future assault and improve quality of life.[36] Even when orders were violated, there was a significant reduction in subsequent abuse.[37]....
Although we tend to think of sexual assault as a crime usually involving only two people, a 2002 study using data from the National Crime Victimization Survey revealed that sexual assaults are often witnessed by at least one person in the bystander role.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rahimkanani/2012/03/08/doj-director-on-violence-against-women-in-the-united-states
Friday, March 9, 2012
Milwaukee woman charged with cutting fetus from mother has multiple personality disorder, report says
Milwaukee woman charged with cutting fetus from mother has multiple personality disorder, report says - By Bruce Vielmetti Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 03/08/2012
MILWAUKEE - The woman charged with cutting the late-term fetus from a young mother, with hopes of passing the baby off as her own, suffers from a multiple personality disorder, according to the report of a new mental exam.
The 57-page report released Thursday concludes that Annette Morales-Rodriguez suffered horrific sexual abuse and abandonment as a child and has adopted extremely dissociative behavior to block it out. The truth only emerged during 13 hours of interviews in which her alter-ego, "Lara," emerged, according to the report.
"Lara admitted to tragically believing that as a separate 'person' she could sacrificially spare Annette from imprisonment by coming forward herself and confessing to the crime," states Anne Speckhard, an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Medical School who was part of the defense team for Lorena Bobbitt....
Morales-Rodriguez, 34, has entered a similar plea, but a state psychiatrist in December found that she did not suffer from a mental disease or defect. She is charged with two counts of first-degree intentional homicide in the October deaths of Maritza Ramirez, 23, and her unborn son.
According to the criminal complaint, Morales-Rodriguez went looking for a pregnant woman near a south side social service agency, found Ramirez and offered her a ride....
Speckhard, the defense expert, also has testified in courts around the country and before Congress about post-traumatic stress disorder, and worked with international committees on terrorism and its sociocultural effects. She also has studied and written about the traumatic stress of abortion, according to her website.
But in court Thursday, Assistant District Attorney Mark Williams questioned her qualifications, noting her doctorate is in family social science, and that federal judges in Wisconsin have declined to recognize her as an expert in two other cases.
Whether it ever becomes evidence, Speckhard's report offers fascinating reading about a condition - dissociative disorder disease, or DID - believed to exist in less than 1 percent of people.
According to the report, in the first several hours of an interview at the jail, Morales-Rodriguez spoke of a fairly happy, normal childhood. But eventually, Speckhard noticed that when the conversation turned to the facts of the case or other trauma, Morales-Rodriguez's eyes would roll up and her eyelids would flutter rapidly, as "Lara" would emerge.
According to Speckhard, Lara is only a personality fragment, developed to absorb the most traumatic experiences and memories of Morales-Rodriguez's abuse and abandonment by her mother, and the death of her grandmother. Like those events, the October murders don't register in Annette's memory, while Lara can recall them in numb detail. The report includes lengthy accounts of each personality speaking of the other, and mentions a videotaped emergence of Lara during the second daylong interview.
"The change was quite dramatic in bodily posture, musculature, emotional tone, etc." the report states.
Speckhard concludes that Morales-Rodriguez continues to suffer from a severe mental defect that affects her capacity to "understand and morally evaluate her decisions and actions" and is dire need of lengthy therapy.
According to the report:
Morales-Rodriguez suffered long-term sexual abuse until about age 12. Her mother left the family, and her grandmother, who had taken over parenting, died when Morales-Rodriguez was 16, a very traumatic event that triggered her first realization of Lara....
http://www.twincities.com/wisconsin/ci_20134741/milwaukee-woman-charged-cutting-fetus-from-mother-has
MILWAUKEE - The woman charged with cutting the late-term fetus from a young mother, with hopes of passing the baby off as her own, suffers from a multiple personality disorder, according to the report of a new mental exam.
The 57-page report released Thursday concludes that Annette Morales-Rodriguez suffered horrific sexual abuse and abandonment as a child and has adopted extremely dissociative behavior to block it out. The truth only emerged during 13 hours of interviews in which her alter-ego, "Lara," emerged, according to the report.
"Lara admitted to tragically believing that as a separate 'person' she could sacrificially spare Annette from imprisonment by coming forward herself and confessing to the crime," states Anne Speckhard, an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Medical School who was part of the defense team for Lorena Bobbitt....
Morales-Rodriguez, 34, has entered a similar plea, but a state psychiatrist in December found that she did not suffer from a mental disease or defect. She is charged with two counts of first-degree intentional homicide in the October deaths of Maritza Ramirez, 23, and her unborn son.
According to the criminal complaint, Morales-Rodriguez went looking for a pregnant woman near a south side social service agency, found Ramirez and offered her a ride....
Speckhard, the defense expert, also has testified in courts around the country and before Congress about post-traumatic stress disorder, and worked with international committees on terrorism and its sociocultural effects. She also has studied and written about the traumatic stress of abortion, according to her website.
But in court Thursday, Assistant District Attorney Mark Williams questioned her qualifications, noting her doctorate is in family social science, and that federal judges in Wisconsin have declined to recognize her as an expert in two other cases.
Whether it ever becomes evidence, Speckhard's report offers fascinating reading about a condition - dissociative disorder disease, or DID - believed to exist in less than 1 percent of people.
According to the report, in the first several hours of an interview at the jail, Morales-Rodriguez spoke of a fairly happy, normal childhood. But eventually, Speckhard noticed that when the conversation turned to the facts of the case or other trauma, Morales-Rodriguez's eyes would roll up and her eyelids would flutter rapidly, as "Lara" would emerge.
According to Speckhard, Lara is only a personality fragment, developed to absorb the most traumatic experiences and memories of Morales-Rodriguez's abuse and abandonment by her mother, and the death of her grandmother. Like those events, the October murders don't register in Annette's memory, while Lara can recall them in numb detail. The report includes lengthy accounts of each personality speaking of the other, and mentions a videotaped emergence of Lara during the second daylong interview.
"The change was quite dramatic in bodily posture, musculature, emotional tone, etc." the report states.
Speckhard concludes that Morales-Rodriguez continues to suffer from a severe mental defect that affects her capacity to "understand and morally evaluate her decisions and actions" and is dire need of lengthy therapy.
According to the report:
Morales-Rodriguez suffered long-term sexual abuse until about age 12. Her mother left the family, and her grandmother, who had taken over parenting, died when Morales-Rodriguez was 16, a very traumatic event that triggered her first realization of Lara....
http://www.twincities.com/wisconsin/ci_20134741/milwaukee-woman-charged-cutting-fetus-from-mother-has
Thursday, March 8, 2012
2 Children Found Living In Bus In Splendora, Tex
2 Children Found Living In Bus In Splendora, Tex
03/8/2012
SPLENDORA, Texas (Associated Press) -- Two children who were found living in a stench-filled abandoned school bus near Houston, its windows blocked and the lot around it covered in trash, are in the custody of Texas child welfare workers, officials said Thursday.
A postal worker discovered the children, ages 11 and 5, at the bus in Splendora about 10 a.m. Wednesday, officials said. Their parents are believed to be in prison for embezzling money from Hurricane Ike victims in 2008. The children are not enrolled at local schools.
The bus appeared to have electricity, an air conditioning unit installed in one window and bunk beds inside for the children. But several neighbors told the Houston Chronicle that the children typically looked unkempt and could often be spotted running around at night.
"They always had dirty clothes on (and) no shoes, even in the winter," said nearby resident Gayla Payne, who said the 11-year-old girl told her daughter that she bathes twice a week.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/08/2-children-live-in-bus_n_1333251.htm
03/8/2012
SPLENDORA, Texas (Associated Press) -- Two children who were found living in a stench-filled abandoned school bus near Houston, its windows blocked and the lot around it covered in trash, are in the custody of Texas child welfare workers, officials said Thursday.
A postal worker discovered the children, ages 11 and 5, at the bus in Splendora about 10 a.m. Wednesday, officials said. Their parents are believed to be in prison for embezzling money from Hurricane Ike victims in 2008. The children are not enrolled at local schools.
The bus appeared to have electricity, an air conditioning unit installed in one window and bunk beds inside for the children. But several neighbors told the Houston Chronicle that the children typically looked unkempt and could often be spotted running around at night.
"They always had dirty clothes on (and) no shoes, even in the winter," said nearby resident Gayla Payne, who said the 11-year-old girl told her daughter that she bathes twice a week.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/08/2-children-live-in-bus_n_1333251.htm
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Human Trafficking - Forced Prostitution. Slave Labor. $32 billion industry
articles:
- Crime Inc. - Human Trafficking - Forced Prostitution.
- The High-Dollar Trade in American Girls
- 2 former Orioles batboys say they were abused by former Red Sox clubhouse manager
Crime Inc. - Human Trafficking - Forced Prostitution. Slave Labor. CNBC goes inside a $32 billion underground industry that knows no moral bounds and stretches around the globe.
From prostitution to slave labor, human trafficking is a booming business. This $32 billion dollar underground industry knows no moral bounds, stretching around the globe. Crime Inc. examines the underground industry where hopelessness and greed create a sinister and sometimes lethal combination.
Sex Trade
The Commercial sex trade is a thriving business and you don't have to go far to find its victims. In Tijuana, just across the California/Mexico border, many girls are forced into prostitution.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/42490340
The High-Dollar Trade in American Girls
http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000023572
2 former Orioles batboys say they were abused by former Red Sox clubhouse manager By Justin Fenton, The Baltimore Sun March 5, 2012
As a teenager growing up in the shadow of Memorial Stadium, working as a batboy in the clubhouses with the Baltimore Orioles and opposing teams was a dream job for Ronald Shelton.
But Shelton said he quietly left the job before he had planned to do so after being twice sexually assaulted in an equipment room in 1990 by a Red Sox clubhouse manager, Donald Fitzpatrick, when the Boston team was in town. Now all these years later, Fitzpatrick has been linked to a growing number of claims of sexual assault. And Shelton has come forward.
"He told me to 'Be good,' and as I got older, I came to understand what that meant: Do not tell," said Shelton, now a 38-year-old father. He said the experience made him fear being considered "abnormal," and as a result of his experience, he is fiercely protective of his son.
Shelton and a second, unnamed former Orioles batboy this week joined a growing number of former Red Sox attendants who say that Fitzpatrick, who died in 2005, abused them.
Boston lawyer Mitchell Garabedian said Monday that though the statute of limitations for legal action has expired in many of the cases, the alleged victims are seeking settlements from the Red Sox as well as the Orioles because the teams failed to protect the young employees....
The Boston Globe reported that a total of 21 individuals have come forward to make claims spanning decades, and the newspaper called it the "worst sexual abuse scandal in Major League Baseball history."....
Allegations of sexual abuse by Fitzpatrick are not new — he was convicted of sexually assaulting young boys in 2002 and one former clubhouse attendant showed up at a nationally televised game in 1991 holding a sign that read, "Don Fitzpatrick sexually assaulted me." The Red Sox have paid settlements to several former attendants.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/breaking/bs-md-ci-batboy-sex-abuse-20120305,0,2438664.story
- Crime Inc. - Human Trafficking - Forced Prostitution.
- The High-Dollar Trade in American Girls
- 2 former Orioles batboys say they were abused by former Red Sox clubhouse manager
Crime Inc. - Human Trafficking - Forced Prostitution. Slave Labor. CNBC goes inside a $32 billion underground industry that knows no moral bounds and stretches around the globe.
From prostitution to slave labor, human trafficking is a booming business. This $32 billion dollar underground industry knows no moral bounds, stretching around the globe. Crime Inc. examines the underground industry where hopelessness and greed create a sinister and sometimes lethal combination.
Sex Trade
The Commercial sex trade is a thriving business and you don't have to go far to find its victims. In Tijuana, just across the California/Mexico border, many girls are forced into prostitution.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/42490340
The High-Dollar Trade in American Girls
http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000023572
2 former Orioles batboys say they were abused by former Red Sox clubhouse manager By Justin Fenton, The Baltimore Sun March 5, 2012
As a teenager growing up in the shadow of Memorial Stadium, working as a batboy in the clubhouses with the Baltimore Orioles and opposing teams was a dream job for Ronald Shelton.
But Shelton said he quietly left the job before he had planned to do so after being twice sexually assaulted in an equipment room in 1990 by a Red Sox clubhouse manager, Donald Fitzpatrick, when the Boston team was in town. Now all these years later, Fitzpatrick has been linked to a growing number of claims of sexual assault. And Shelton has come forward.
"He told me to 'Be good,' and as I got older, I came to understand what that meant: Do not tell," said Shelton, now a 38-year-old father. He said the experience made him fear being considered "abnormal," and as a result of his experience, he is fiercely protective of his son.
Shelton and a second, unnamed former Orioles batboy this week joined a growing number of former Red Sox attendants who say that Fitzpatrick, who died in 2005, abused them.
Boston lawyer Mitchell Garabedian said Monday that though the statute of limitations for legal action has expired in many of the cases, the alleged victims are seeking settlements from the Red Sox as well as the Orioles because the teams failed to protect the young employees....
The Boston Globe reported that a total of 21 individuals have come forward to make claims spanning decades, and the newspaper called it the "worst sexual abuse scandal in Major League Baseball history."....
Allegations of sexual abuse by Fitzpatrick are not new — he was convicted of sexually assaulting young boys in 2002 and one former clubhouse attendant showed up at a nationally televised game in 1991 holding a sign that read, "Don Fitzpatrick sexually assaulted me." The Red Sox have paid settlements to several former attendants.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/breaking/bs-md-ci-batboy-sex-abuse-20120305,0,2438664.story
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Survivorship Professional Webinar – Sexual Ethics – March 31, 2012
PROFESSIONAL WEBINAR
Now offering ethics requirements as well as CEUs
Not only can we offer you CEUs. (through the California Board of Behavioral Sciences which covers Marriage and Family Therapists (MFT); Licensed Clinical Social Workers (LCSW); Licensed Educational Psychologists (LEP); Licensed Professional Clinical Counselors (LPCC); MFT Interns (IMF); Associate Clinical Social Workers (ASW); and Professional Clinical Counselor Interns (PCCI) in the State of California) you will also be able to use this as an ethics requirement under your licensure.
Upcoming Professional Webinar:
Sexual Ethics
Saturday, March 31, 2012
noon Pacific Time (3 hours)
PRESENTER
Staci Sprout, LICSW, CSAT, has 16 years of post-graduate experience as a psychotherapist and social worker in clinical practice, community mental health, hospitals, nursing homes, and public health. For the last five years her practice has focused almost exclusively as an individual, group and couples therapist working with adults in recovery from sexual and related addictions, at revolution psychotherapy. She completed the HARE Psychopathy training in 2008 and has conducted forensic evaluations for adults accused of sexual crimes. As a therapy client and addict herself with over 20 years of successful personal recovery, Staci brings a compassionate and direct approach to the complex topic of sexual ethics. She can be reached via www.stacisprout.com.
WEBINAR SUMMARY
This webinar is designed to raise awareness about key ethical sexual issues facing helping professionals today. Offered are practical tools to enhance treatment of sexual issues, an ethical decision-making model that examines real challenges, guidance on when to refer, consideration of ethnic and cultural issues, information about less obvious yet important sexual boundary issues in the helping relationship, and a case study presentation of sexual challenges in a clinical setting transforming and resolving over time.
- ETHICAL STATEMENT: Receive a sample personal ethics statement, as a starting point for your practice or organization, that addresses sexual issues
- ETHICAL CHOICES: Learn a working model of ethical decision-making called “The Five Stars of Ethical Excellence” to assist in deliberation of even the most challenging ethical/liability dilemmas, applied to several real challenges facing clinicians today
- EMPOWERMENT: Learn a practical, dynamic tool that includes a vision of sexual health to assists clients in discerning their sexual behavior and values, and then explore them more deeply over time. This tool is called “The Four Pillars of Sexual Integrity”
- SCOPE OF PRACTICE ISSUES: Receive clear guidance on when to refer to sexual specialists, including Certified Sex Therapists (CST), LGBTQ Specialists, and Certified Sexual Addictions Therapists (CSAT), and/or Sex Offender Treatment Providers (SOTP).
REGISTRATION
Registration closes the Thursday evening before the webinar
To reserve a space in the webinar, e-mail Shamai at shamai@survivorship.org and give her this information:
1. Your name
2. The webinar you wish to attend (Sexual Ethics)
3. Amount and method of payment (check, PayPal, money order)
4. Your preferred e-mail address (so we can send you instructions)
5. Whether you require CEU’s and for which discipline/licence number
You will receive a confirmation email immediately and an invitation link and instructions after the registration closes
COST
Professional Webinars are $50 and include CEUs upon request.
The PayPal button is near the bottom of the page at http://www.survivorship.org/webinars.html
If you wish to pay by check please send it to: Survivorship, Family Justice Center, 470 27th Street, Oakland, CA 94612.
Complete details on all our webinars are at http://www.survivorship.org/webinars.html
If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact Shamai@survivorship.org
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