- FBI: Child Abuse ‘Almost at an Epidemic Level' in U.S.
- Sex trafficking: Lifelong struggle of exploited children
- Human trafficking: The lives bought and sold
FBI: Child Abuse ‘Almost at an Epidemic Level' in U.S.
Tara John July 30, 2015
The bureau rescued 600 children last year Tens of thousands of children are being sexually exploited each year in the U.S., according to an investigation by the BBC. Despite rescuing 600 children last year, the FBI says child sex abuse is at epidemic levels where tens of thousands of children are believed to be sexually exploited in the country each year. "The level of paedophilia is unprecedented right now," Joseph Campbell of the FBI told the BBC.
Campbell, who works in the Criminal Investigation Division, has seen individuals from all walks of life engaged in both child pornography and child exploitation, calling it a problem "almost at an epidemic level." Hundreds of American children are also being sold into sex, according to the BBC, where poverty and neglect are thought to be some of the main reasons why young kids are vulnerable to sex trafficking.... http://time.com/3978236/american-children-sold-sex/
Sex trafficking: Lifelong struggle of exploited children By Ian Pannell BBC News 30 July 2015
In the US, poverty, deprivation and exploitation draw thousands of its own children down into a dark underworld that offers few ways out. It is a world few Americans are aware of. But tens of thousands of American children are thought to be sexually exploited every year. It's believed that every night hundreds are sold for sex. The FBI says child sex abuse is almost at an epidemic level, despite the agency rescuing 600 children last year.... http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-33710224
Human trafficking: The lives bought and sold
28 July 2015
Millions of men, women and children around the world are currently victims of human trafficking - bought and sold as commodities into prostitution and forced labour. This trade in people criss-crosses the globe - and it is a lucrative business. The International Labour Office estimates that forced labour generates $150bn (£96bn) in illegal profits every year. Two thirds ($99bn; £63bn) comes from sexual exploitation.
But who are the people behind the numbers?
Kemi and Bilkisu, from Nigeria, Jane from the UK and Gabby from the US describe how they fell prey to traffickers.
Kemi's story, Nigeria
Thousands of women and girls from West Africa are bought and sold every year - most end up in Europe. The UN's Office on Drugs and Crime estimates West African trafficking victims, many of whom originate in Nigeria, make up about 10% of those forced into sex work in Western Europe.
Benin City, in Nigeria's south, is a key player - with networks and infrastructure built around the trade in people....
Gabby's story, US
It is a similar story in the United States, where tens of thousands of children are being trafficked into prostitution. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) says child exploitation is at "near-epidemic levels". Gabby, from Baltimore, says she was abused by her father between the ages of eight and 12 - a relationship that she feels has influenced how she interacts with men. "I learnt very early that you could get things that you wanted or needed through sexual favours," she says. Gabby says she turned to drugs and fell into a relationship with an addict who, years later, pushed her into prostitution.... http://www.bbc.com/news/world-33592634
Thursday, July 30, 2015
Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Bill Cosby to Be Deposed in Molestation Lawsuit, Meirion Jones: 'Everyone on right side of the Savile argument has been forced out of the BBC'
- Bill Cosby to Be Deposed by Sept. 30 in Molestation Lawsuit: 'We Are Looking Forward to That Day,' Says Accuser's Lawyer
- LAPD's Bill Cosby investigation could help establish pattern of abuse
- Barbara Kay: To understand Bill Cosby, start with Alfred C. Kinsey
- Meirion Jones: 'Everyone on right side of the Savile argument has been forced out of the BBC'
Bill Cosby to Be Deposed by Sept. 30 in Molestation Lawsuit: 'We Are Looking Forward to That Day,' Says Accuser's Lawyer
By Tara Fowler 07/29/2015
Bill Cosby will be deposed in the next two months in a molestation lawsuit, according to attorney Gloria Allred.
Allred, who represents Judy Huth and 16 other Cosby accusers, said Tuesday that a California judge has ordered the comedian to give a deposition in the civil suit filed by her client, according to a statement obtained by PEOPLE. That deposition, she said, is scheduled to come no later than Sept. 30....
Huth has claimed that Cosby, 78, molested her inside the Playboy Mansion when she was just 15 years old. She is just one of the nearly 50 women who've accused Cosby of some form of sexual abuse.
While the statute of limitations has expired for a criminal case, California law allows allegations of underage sexual abuse to come to court as a civil lawsuit even decades after the alleged incident happened.
Cosby and his lawyers have continually denied the allegations against him.... http://www.people.com/article/bill-cosby-to-be-deposed-molestation-lawsuit
LAPD's Bill Cosby investigation could help establish pattern of abuse By Richard Winton
Of the many misconduct allegations made by women against Bill Cosby in Los Angeles over the decades, L.A. police are actively investigating just one.
It involves claims by a woman who says Cosby assaulted her at the Playboy Mansion in 2008, when she was 18.
She alleges Cosby gave her a drink that caused her to black out. When she awoke, she said, she found herself naked on a bed in the mansion with Cosby biting her toes with his pants around his ankles, according to her attorney. Cosby’s attorneys have denied the accusations.
In January, Chloe Goins, 24, was interviewed for 2 1/2 half hours by an LAPD detective. Officials say they are continuing to investigate, and prosecutors say detectives have not presented them with a case.
Earlier this year, the L.A. district attorney rejected another Cosby case presented by the LAPD because it happened decades ago. Goins’ case is more recent but also faces challenges.
Under California law, the legal deadline for prosecuting most rape cases involving an adult victim is 10 years.... http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-lapd-s-bill-cosby-investigation-could-help-establish-pattern-of-abuse-20150729-story.html
Barbara Kay: To understand Bill Cosby, start with Alfred C. Kinsey
Barbara Kay July 29, 2015
....But the most sophisticated strategy was the “Kinsey approach.” Hefner was a huge fan of Alfred C. Kinsey, an Indiana University zoologist, whose 1948 report, Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, was the Sexual Revolution’s Ur-text (a “Human Female” volume came out in 1953). Hefner boasted of being “Kinsey’s pamphleteer,” proud to bruit the often-cited Kinsey mantra: “fornicate early, fornicate often, fornicate in every possible way” (including bestiality, which Kinsey described in more tender language than he applied to human sex).
....Young Lotharios may have gotten lucky with this ploy, but they were pushing what later researchers proved was bad science. Kinsey’s “research” claimed such suspiciously high ratios of extramarital sex, abortions, homosexuality, bisexuality, bestiality and incest in the general population as to suggest that the only abnormal or deviant sexual condition was abstinence. According to W. Allen Wallis, past president of the American Statistical Association: “They were touting [Kinsey’s book] everywhere even though the statistics were appalling.”
Kinsey’s team, some of whom later lent their names to pedophilia advocacy, claimed that sexuality begins at birth, concluding it was normal for children to engage in peer and inter-generational sex. In the history of social science, no other academic researcher of early child development (Piaget, Maslow et. al) has publicly asserted that sexual intercourse, including incest, has no harmful effect on children. How did Kinsey arrive at this erroneous conclusion? Unethically.
For example (see Tables 30-33 of his Male volume), Kinsey reports that in sex-play experiments of male children from infancy to mid-teens, most arrived at orgasm, the youngest boy observed to climax being “two months.” A four-year old was reported to have had 26 climaxes in 24 hours. How did this non-consensual experimentation take place at all? This is not science. This is child abuse.
Kinsey’s claims were also based on feedback he solicited from convicted pedophiles. Rapists told Kinsey that their child victims enjoyed the sex (a common delusion amongst pedophiles), which he reported as fact. He protected one rapist actively being sought by the police, and accorded legitimacy to the views of another, on record for raping 800 children, the youngest two months of age. Not exactly a “community” sampling.... http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/barbara-kay-to-understand-bill-cosby-start-with-alfred-c-kinsey
Meirion Jones: 'Everyone on right side of the Savile argument has been forced out of the BBC' Dominic Ponsford 29 July 2015
Three days after finishing work on Panorama documentary The Fake Sheikh Exposed, producer Meirion Jones was told his services were no longer required by the programme.
His previous job as head of investigations at Newsnight had been filled in his absence. He was effectively out of a job.
After 26 years at the BBC, Jones (pictured above, Reuters) felt like this career at the corporation had come to an end and he was being squeezed out.
Jones believes he was punished because he tried to expose the Jimmy Savile scandal at the BBC and spoke out about the way his Newsnight investigation of December 2011 was suppressed.
Liz MacKean, who worked on the Savile story with Jones, left after 23 years with the corporation in April last year. She also felt she no longer had a future with the BBC.
Speaking out in detail for the first time since he left the BBC in February, Jones paints a picture of a corporation which appears to have failed to learn the lessons of the biggest scandal in its history.
He believes those on the side of exposing the Savile scandal mistakes have been sidelined and encouraged to leave the corporation – while others involved in suppressing the Savile story have kept their jobs....
Press Gazette put Jones’ criticisms to the BBC.
A spokesperson said: "Meirion Jones has made his views known before and we have always been clear that nobody was forced out of the BBC for exposing the Savile scandal.... http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/meirion-jones-speaks-out-everyone-who-was-right-side-savile-argument-has-been-forced-out-bbc
Monday, July 27, 2015
Elizabeth Loftus and the Hoffman Report, Jehovah's Witnesses failed to report 1,000 alleged perpetrators, ‘I’m No Longer Afraid’: 35 Women Tell Their Stories About Being Assaulted by Bill Cosby, and the Culture That Wouldn’t Listen
- Elizabeth Loftus and the Hoffman Report
- Jehovah's Witnesses failed to report 1,000 alleged perpetrators, child sex abuse royal commission hears
- Bill Cosby: 35 Women Accuse the Actor of Assault on New York Magazine Cover
- ‘‘I’m No Longer Afraid’: 35 Women Tell Their Stories About Being Assaulted by Bill Cosby, and the Culture That Wouldn’t Listen
- 'Call Me Lucky': A Documentary Of Friendship, Childhood Abuse And Survival - Barry Crimmins and Bobcat Goldthwait
Elizabeth Loftus and the Hoffman Report
July 22nd, 2015
The Hoffman Report, an independent investigation into the American Psychological Association’s involvement with government-sponsored torture programs, was released earlier this month. As James Risen reported in the New York Times, the 542-page report concluded that the APA’s ethics office “prioritized the protection of psychologists — even those who might have engaged in unethical behavior — above the protection of the public.” The focus of the report is the involvement of the APA in sanctioning interrogation techniques that included torture. But the Report also contains an important footnote about the lax attitude towards ethics in the APA office long before the post-9/11 era:
The Ethics Office was not insulated from outside influence and the nature of the process allowed for manipulation at times. Koocher told Sidley that Raymond Fowler manipulated the adjudication process when there was a complaint filed against Elizabeth Loftus, a high-profile psychologist who did work on false memories. When Fowler found out there was an ethics complaint pending against Loftus, he reached out to her and told her she should resign her membership before a case could be formally opened against her. He later denied that he had done so and appointed one of his deputies to “investigate” how Loftus had found out about the complaint.
INDEPENDENT REVIEW RELATING TO APA ETHICS GUIDELINES, NATIONAL SECURITY INTERROGATIONS, AND TORTURE, July 2, 2015 (p. 485)
This footnote provides the only explanation that has ever made sense for why Professor Loftus resigned from the APA by fax, shortly after two ethics complaints had been filed against her. The complaints concerned Loftus misrepresenting the facts about two successful recovered-memory lawsuits. Her resignation made the complaints moot under rules that have since been changed to close that loophole....
Loftus testimony in Turner v. Honker, July 10, 1996 (p. 109)
Q: Is it your testimony that prior to your resignation you had no idea from any source that complaints had been filed?
A: I had absolutely no idea
Testimony in Seignious v. Fair, January 22, 1998 (p. 151)
Q: At the time that you resigned, Dr. Loftus, were there two ethics complaints pending against you?
A. There was no ethics investigation going on, but there were rumors two people had filed complaints.
Q. How did you learn about these rumors?
A. I read about it in a newspaper column in February or March of whenever it was, 1996.
Q. And was that the very first time that you learned that there were rumors that people had filed ethics complaints against you?
A. Yes.
Testimony in Liano v. Diocese of Phoenix, December 21, 2006 (p. 68)
Q: And I’m trying to understand. With regard to the [complaints], did you resign from that organization, the American Psychological Association, while those complaints were pending?
A. I don’t know. I resigned in January of ’96, but I didn’t know anything about any complaints.
http://blogs.brown.edu/recoveredmemory/2015/07/22/loftus-hoffman-report/
Jehovah's Witnesses failed to report 1,000 alleged perpetrators, child sex abuse royal commission hears By Nicole Chettle July 27, 2015
More than 1,000 members of the Jehovah's Witnesses have been identified by the church as perpetrators of child sexual abuse since 1950 but not one was reported to police, an inquiry has heard.
The Sydney hearing was told the church adopted a scriptural response to abuse, which it abhorred, and had files relating to 1,006 alleged perpetrators, dating back to 1950.
The process required witnesses to prove abuse took place, and no allegations were ever reported to police.
A 47-year-old woman, known to the inquiry as BCB, said she was sexually assaulted as a teenager by her family friend and church elder, Bill Neill, at Narrogin, south-east of Perth in the 1980s.
The commission heard Neill is now deceased.
BCB described feeling ashamed to give evidence because she still identifies as a Jehovah's Witness despite suffering a nervous breakdown and depression as a result of the abuse.
"I would like the Jehovah's Witnesses to take allegations of child abuse more seriously and report them to the police," she said.
"I also think that those victims that are brave enough to report to elders should be properly supported and protected.
"I found the experience of reporting my abuse to a room full of men, including the man who had abused me, very distressing."....
Elder admits destroying notes from meeting
A Jehovah's Witness elder, Max Horley, said he destroyed notes from a meeting about the assault of BCB....
Church practice not to report sexual abuse
Justice McLellan then asked him if he was aware of his obligation to tell the authorities if a serious allegation of sexual assault was reported to him.
"If we have any hesitation we contact the branch for advice on how we should proceed legally and scripturally," Mr Horley said.
"We don't report it to the police. I think we encourage them to do that. But we give them the assistance to do that."....
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-27/jehovahs-witnesses-child-sexual-abuse-royal-commission/6649340
Bill Cosby: 35 Women Accuse the Actor of Assault on New York Magazine Cover
Jul 27, 2015 By LESLEY MESSER via Good Morning America
Dozens of women have publicly accused Bill Cosby of assault since late last year.
In its new issue, New York magazine photographed 35 of them for a stunning cover story.
"The minute you see something from a bird's eye view, you start to understand the scope," explained the magazine's director of photography, Jody Quon. "Once we organized it and put the women in chronological order based on the year of their alleged assaults, you started to see the only thing they had in common was Bill Cosby, and that’s when we thought, 'This could be a really powerful photo essay.'"....
Through his attorneys, Cosby, 78, has denied the allegations of sexual assault and rape and has never been charged with a crime. Martin Singer, one of Bill Cosby’s attorneys, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News regarding the magazine cover.
Many of the women in the New York magazine portfolio, including model Beverly Johnson, have said over the past few months that they were drugged by the comedian in decades past. Others, including model Janice Dickinson, also alleged rape....
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/bill-cosby-35-women-accuse-actor-assault-york/story?id=32710622
‘I’m No Longer Afraid’: 35 Women Tell Their Stories About Being Assaulted by Bill Cosby, and the Culture That Wouldn’t Listen By Noreen Malone and Portfolio By Amanda Demme July 26, 2015
More has changed in the past few years for women who allege rape than in all the decades since the women’s movement began. Consider the evidence of October 2014, when an audience member at a Hannibal Buress show in Philadelphia uploaded a clip of the comedian talking about Bill Cosby: “He gets on TV, ‘Pull your pants up, black people … I can talk down to you because I had a successful sitcom.’ Yeah, but you rape women, Bill Cosby, so turn the crazy down a couple notches … I guess I want to just at least make it weird for you to watch Cosby Show reruns. Dude’s image, for the most part, it’s fucking public Teflon image. I’ve done this bit onstage and people think I’m making it up … That shit is upsetting.” The bit went viral swiftly, with irreversible, calamitous consequences for Cosby’s reputation.
Perhaps the most shocking thing wasn’t that Buress had called Cosby a rapist; it was that the world had actually heard him. A decade earlier, 14 women had accused Cosby of rape. In 2005, a former basketball star named Andrea Constand, who met Cosby when she was working in the athletic department at Temple University, where he served on the board of trustees, alleged to authorities that he had drugged her to a state of semi-consciousness and then groped and digitally penetrated her. After her allegations were made public, a California lawyer named Tamara Green appeared on the Today show and said that, 30 years earlier, Cosby had drugged and assaulted her as well. Eventually, 12 Jane Does signed up to tell their own stories of being assaulted by Cosby in support of Constand’s case. Several of them eventually made their names public. But they were met, mostly, with skepticism, threats, and attacks on their character....
As Cosby allegedly told some of his victims: No one would believe you. So why speak up? But among younger women, and particularly online, there is a strong sense now that speaking up is the only thing to do, that a woman claiming her own victimhood is more powerful than any other weapon in the fight against rape....
http://nymag.com/thecut/2015/07/bill-cosbys-accusers-speak-out.html
'Call Me Lucky': A Documentary Of Friendship, Childhood Abuse And Survival
July 27, 2015 Barry Crimmins mentored Bobcat Goldthwait when they were up-and-coming comics in the '80s. A film directed by Goldthwait details their relationship — and the sexual abuse Crimmins suffered as a child....
GROSS: This is FRESH AIR, and if you're just joining us, I have two guests. Bobcat Goldthwait is a comic and a director and has made a new documentary about his good friend Barry Crimmins, who was also a comic who founded two important comedy clubs in Boston. And this documentary is about his contribution to the comedy scene, but it also is about his childhood when he was abused as a child and then later as an adult tried to out child pornographers and did a pretty successful job at getting some of them put behind bars....
http://www.npr.org/2015/07/27/426734424/call-me-lucky-a-documentary-of-friendship-childhood-abuse-and-survival
- Jehovah's Witnesses failed to report 1,000 alleged perpetrators, child sex abuse royal commission hears
- Bill Cosby: 35 Women Accuse the Actor of Assault on New York Magazine Cover
- ‘‘I’m No Longer Afraid’: 35 Women Tell Their Stories About Being Assaulted by Bill Cosby, and the Culture That Wouldn’t Listen
- 'Call Me Lucky': A Documentary Of Friendship, Childhood Abuse And Survival - Barry Crimmins and Bobcat Goldthwait
Elizabeth Loftus and the Hoffman Report
July 22nd, 2015
The Hoffman Report, an independent investigation into the American Psychological Association’s involvement with government-sponsored torture programs, was released earlier this month. As James Risen reported in the New York Times, the 542-page report concluded that the APA’s ethics office “prioritized the protection of psychologists — even those who might have engaged in unethical behavior — above the protection of the public.” The focus of the report is the involvement of the APA in sanctioning interrogation techniques that included torture. But the Report also contains an important footnote about the lax attitude towards ethics in the APA office long before the post-9/11 era:
The Ethics Office was not insulated from outside influence and the nature of the process allowed for manipulation at times. Koocher told Sidley that Raymond Fowler manipulated the adjudication process when there was a complaint filed against Elizabeth Loftus, a high-profile psychologist who did work on false memories. When Fowler found out there was an ethics complaint pending against Loftus, he reached out to her and told her she should resign her membership before a case could be formally opened against her. He later denied that he had done so and appointed one of his deputies to “investigate” how Loftus had found out about the complaint.
INDEPENDENT REVIEW RELATING TO APA ETHICS GUIDELINES, NATIONAL SECURITY INTERROGATIONS, AND TORTURE, July 2, 2015 (p. 485)
This footnote provides the only explanation that has ever made sense for why Professor Loftus resigned from the APA by fax, shortly after two ethics complaints had been filed against her. The complaints concerned Loftus misrepresenting the facts about two successful recovered-memory lawsuits. Her resignation made the complaints moot under rules that have since been changed to close that loophole....
Loftus testimony in Turner v. Honker, July 10, 1996 (p. 109)
Q: Is it your testimony that prior to your resignation you had no idea from any source that complaints had been filed?
A: I had absolutely no idea
Testimony in Seignious v. Fair, January 22, 1998 (p. 151)
Q: At the time that you resigned, Dr. Loftus, were there two ethics complaints pending against you?
A. There was no ethics investigation going on, but there were rumors two people had filed complaints.
Q. How did you learn about these rumors?
A. I read about it in a newspaper column in February or March of whenever it was, 1996.
Q. And was that the very first time that you learned that there were rumors that people had filed ethics complaints against you?
A. Yes.
Testimony in Liano v. Diocese of Phoenix, December 21, 2006 (p. 68)
Q: And I’m trying to understand. With regard to the [complaints], did you resign from that organization, the American Psychological Association, while those complaints were pending?
A. I don’t know. I resigned in January of ’96, but I didn’t know anything about any complaints.
http://blogs.brown.edu/recoveredmemory/2015/07/22/loftus-hoffman-report/
Jehovah's Witnesses failed to report 1,000 alleged perpetrators, child sex abuse royal commission hears By Nicole Chettle July 27, 2015
More than 1,000 members of the Jehovah's Witnesses have been identified by the church as perpetrators of child sexual abuse since 1950 but not one was reported to police, an inquiry has heard.
The Sydney hearing was told the church adopted a scriptural response to abuse, which it abhorred, and had files relating to 1,006 alleged perpetrators, dating back to 1950.
The process required witnesses to prove abuse took place, and no allegations were ever reported to police.
A 47-year-old woman, known to the inquiry as BCB, said she was sexually assaulted as a teenager by her family friend and church elder, Bill Neill, at Narrogin, south-east of Perth in the 1980s.
The commission heard Neill is now deceased.
BCB described feeling ashamed to give evidence because she still identifies as a Jehovah's Witness despite suffering a nervous breakdown and depression as a result of the abuse.
"I would like the Jehovah's Witnesses to take allegations of child abuse more seriously and report them to the police," she said.
"I also think that those victims that are brave enough to report to elders should be properly supported and protected.
"I found the experience of reporting my abuse to a room full of men, including the man who had abused me, very distressing."....
Elder admits destroying notes from meeting
A Jehovah's Witness elder, Max Horley, said he destroyed notes from a meeting about the assault of BCB....
Church practice not to report sexual abuse
Justice McLellan then asked him if he was aware of his obligation to tell the authorities if a serious allegation of sexual assault was reported to him.
"If we have any hesitation we contact the branch for advice on how we should proceed legally and scripturally," Mr Horley said.
"We don't report it to the police. I think we encourage them to do that. But we give them the assistance to do that."....
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-27/jehovahs-witnesses-child-sexual-abuse-royal-commission/6649340
Bill Cosby: 35 Women Accuse the Actor of Assault on New York Magazine Cover
Jul 27, 2015 By LESLEY MESSER via Good Morning America
Dozens of women have publicly accused Bill Cosby of assault since late last year.
In its new issue, New York magazine photographed 35 of them for a stunning cover story.
"The minute you see something from a bird's eye view, you start to understand the scope," explained the magazine's director of photography, Jody Quon. "Once we organized it and put the women in chronological order based on the year of their alleged assaults, you started to see the only thing they had in common was Bill Cosby, and that’s when we thought, 'This could be a really powerful photo essay.'"....
Through his attorneys, Cosby, 78, has denied the allegations of sexual assault and rape and has never been charged with a crime. Martin Singer, one of Bill Cosby’s attorneys, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News regarding the magazine cover.
Many of the women in the New York magazine portfolio, including model Beverly Johnson, have said over the past few months that they were drugged by the comedian in decades past. Others, including model Janice Dickinson, also alleged rape....
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/bill-cosby-35-women-accuse-actor-assault-york/story?id=32710622
‘I’m No Longer Afraid’: 35 Women Tell Their Stories About Being Assaulted by Bill Cosby, and the Culture That Wouldn’t Listen By Noreen Malone and Portfolio By Amanda Demme July 26, 2015
More has changed in the past few years for women who allege rape than in all the decades since the women’s movement began. Consider the evidence of October 2014, when an audience member at a Hannibal Buress show in Philadelphia uploaded a clip of the comedian talking about Bill Cosby: “He gets on TV, ‘Pull your pants up, black people … I can talk down to you because I had a successful sitcom.’ Yeah, but you rape women, Bill Cosby, so turn the crazy down a couple notches … I guess I want to just at least make it weird for you to watch Cosby Show reruns. Dude’s image, for the most part, it’s fucking public Teflon image. I’ve done this bit onstage and people think I’m making it up … That shit is upsetting.” The bit went viral swiftly, with irreversible, calamitous consequences for Cosby’s reputation.
Perhaps the most shocking thing wasn’t that Buress had called Cosby a rapist; it was that the world had actually heard him. A decade earlier, 14 women had accused Cosby of rape. In 2005, a former basketball star named Andrea Constand, who met Cosby when she was working in the athletic department at Temple University, where he served on the board of trustees, alleged to authorities that he had drugged her to a state of semi-consciousness and then groped and digitally penetrated her. After her allegations were made public, a California lawyer named Tamara Green appeared on the Today show and said that, 30 years earlier, Cosby had drugged and assaulted her as well. Eventually, 12 Jane Does signed up to tell their own stories of being assaulted by Cosby in support of Constand’s case. Several of them eventually made their names public. But they were met, mostly, with skepticism, threats, and attacks on their character....
As Cosby allegedly told some of his victims: No one would believe you. So why speak up? But among younger women, and particularly online, there is a strong sense now that speaking up is the only thing to do, that a woman claiming her own victimhood is more powerful than any other weapon in the fight against rape....
http://nymag.com/thecut/2015/07/bill-cosbys-accusers-speak-out.html
'Call Me Lucky': A Documentary Of Friendship, Childhood Abuse And Survival
July 27, 2015 Barry Crimmins mentored Bobcat Goldthwait when they were up-and-coming comics in the '80s. A film directed by Goldthwait details their relationship — and the sexual abuse Crimmins suffered as a child....
GROSS: This is FRESH AIR, and if you're just joining us, I have two guests. Bobcat Goldthwait is a comic and a director and has made a new documentary about his good friend Barry Crimmins, who was also a comic who founded two important comedy clubs in Boston. And this documentary is about his contribution to the comedy scene, but it also is about his childhood when he was abused as a child and then later as an adult tried to out child pornographers and did a pretty successful job at getting some of them put behind bars....
http://www.npr.org/2015/07/27/426734424/call-me-lucky-a-documentary-of-friendship-childhood-abuse-and-survival
Thursday, July 23, 2015
Why the New Case Against Bill Cosby Is Different
Why the New Case Against Bill Cosby Is Different
Eliza Gray July 23, 2015
He may be forced to testify about the molestation of a 15-year-old girl
After facing years of sexual abuse accusations from dozens of women, comedian Bill Cosby may be forced to give a deposition under oath next month in a case that will put him under unprecedented scrutiny, in which he is alleged to have molested a 15-year-old girl.
Cosby’s lawyer tried to get the case dismissed on procedural grounds, but on Wednesday the California Supreme Court declined to hear the petition, paving the way for the case to go forward, if Cosby’s lawyers aren’t able to stop it.
Gloria Allred, the attorney representing the alleged molestation victim, who is now in her 50s, told TIME her team plans to ask Cosby not just about the specifics of the case but also about the similar claims made by dozens of other women, who have detailed encounters in which Cosby plied them with drugs or alcohol and then assaulted them. She hopes to depose Cosby in August and will seek permission to videotape the proceeding.
“We have wide latitude in the deposition to ask any question of Mr. Cosby that is relevant or will lead to discovery,” Allred told TIME. “I believe it is relevant to inquire about accusations of other accusers, in order to establish pattern and practice, as well as a motive.”
Cosby’s representatives did not respond to requests for comment.
The details of the case
Judy Huth was 15 when she and a 16-year-old friend met Cosby in 1974 at a Los Angeles park where he was filming a movie, according to a December 2014 court filing. The girls both told Cosby how old they were, the filing says.
Cosby invited Huth and her friend to his tennis club the following Saturday. They met him there and the trio played billiards. Cosby also gave them alcohol, playing a game with Huth that involved her drinking a beer every time he won a game of billiards. Afterwards, he took the girls to the Playboy Mansion, where Huth said he invited her to sit beside him in a bedroom suite and molested her, according to the filing....
http://time.com/3970055/bill-cosby-judy-huth-deposition/
Eliza Gray July 23, 2015
He may be forced to testify about the molestation of a 15-year-old girl
After facing years of sexual abuse accusations from dozens of women, comedian Bill Cosby may be forced to give a deposition under oath next month in a case that will put him under unprecedented scrutiny, in which he is alleged to have molested a 15-year-old girl.
Cosby’s lawyer tried to get the case dismissed on procedural grounds, but on Wednesday the California Supreme Court declined to hear the petition, paving the way for the case to go forward, if Cosby’s lawyers aren’t able to stop it.
Gloria Allred, the attorney representing the alleged molestation victim, who is now in her 50s, told TIME her team plans to ask Cosby not just about the specifics of the case but also about the similar claims made by dozens of other women, who have detailed encounters in which Cosby plied them with drugs or alcohol and then assaulted them. She hopes to depose Cosby in August and will seek permission to videotape the proceeding.
“We have wide latitude in the deposition to ask any question of Mr. Cosby that is relevant or will lead to discovery,” Allred told TIME. “I believe it is relevant to inquire about accusations of other accusers, in order to establish pattern and practice, as well as a motive.”
Cosby’s representatives did not respond to requests for comment.
The details of the case
Judy Huth was 15 when she and a 16-year-old friend met Cosby in 1974 at a Los Angeles park where he was filming a movie, according to a December 2014 court filing. The girls both told Cosby how old they were, the filing says.
Cosby invited Huth and her friend to his tennis club the following Saturday. They met him there and the trio played billiards. Cosby also gave them alcohol, playing a game with Huth that involved her drinking a beer every time he won a game of billiards. Afterwards, he took the girls to the Playboy Mansion, where Huth said he invited her to sit beside him in a bedroom suite and molested her, according to the filing....
http://time.com/3970055/bill-cosby-judy-huth-deposition/
Wednesday, July 22, 2015
Bill Cosby seeks court sanctions, Child sex abuse inquiry: Leo Brittan Westminster, Jehovah's Witnesses, UN Official who failed to act on child sex abuse allegations resigns
- Bill Cosby seeks court sanctions against accuser over deposition leak
- Child sex abuse inquiry: Leon Brittan among leading Westminster figures named in documents
- Is religion doing enough to root out abuse?
- UN official who failed to act on child sex abuse allegations resigns
Bill Cosby seeks court sanctions against accuser over deposition leak
Reuters By Steve Gorman July 21, 2015
Comedian Bill Cosby filed legal papers on Tuesday calling for court sanctions against a woman accusing him of sexual assault, saying she breached their confidentiality agreement in the leak of his full deposition from a 10-year-old civil case to the New York Times.
Cosby, 78, made the filing in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia in opposition to recent motions by Andrea Constand, a former Temple University employee who has alleged the comedian tricked her into taking drugs before he sexually assaulted her.
The lawsuit she brought against Cosby was settled for an undisclosed sum in 2006, and all documents from the litigation were sealed until a federal judge on July 6 released limited redacted excerpts from Cosby's 2005 deposition testimony in the case.
Those excerpts included Cosby's admission under oath that he had obtained Quaaludes, the brand name for a sedative widely abused as a recreational drug in the 1970s, with the intent of giving the pills to young women in order to have sex with them.
On July 8, Constand filed papers in court seeking to unseal the entire deposition and her settlement agreement with Cosby, as well as to free her from any confidentiality restrictions.
The New York Times has since obtained its own record of Cosby's deposition and posted additional excerpts on its website, revealing testimony in which the entertainer described how he had pursued women and how he obtained Quaaludes.
Cosby's own court filing on Tuesday stressed that the deposition excerpts so far unsealed by the judge contain no testimony that he engaged in any non-consensual sex or gave anyone Quaaludes without their knowledge or consent....
http://news.yahoo.com/bill-cosby-seeks-court-sanctions-against-accuser-over-015512488.html
Child sex abuse inquiry: Leon Brittan among leading Westminster figures named in documents
22 July 2015 By Jack Blanchard
THE former Tory Home Secretary's name is on government file along with other powerful Westminster officials from the 1970s and 80s including Sir Peter Morrison.
LEADING Westminster figures from the 1970s and 80s including the late Leon Brittan have been named in Government child abuse documents, it was reported last night.
Sky News said that after months of requests Whitehall has finally revealed that papers do exist relating to Margaret Thatcher's former parliamentary secretary the late Sir Peter Morrison, former Home Secretary Sir Leon, former diplomat the late Sir Peter Hayman and former minister the late Sir William van Straubenzee.
It came after the Government released the details in January of a file prepared for Mrs Thatcher's office on the ‘unnatural sexual’ behaviour of one of the men Sir Peter Hayman.
The new batch of file names reveal there were further Government papers relating to the former MI6 man and career diplomat.
The content of the papers have not been revealed, however.
Sky News said the documents have been shared with the police and will be passed to the Child Abuse Inquiry led by Justice Lowell Goddard....
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/child-sex-abuse-inquiry-leon-6119976
Is religion doing enough to root out abuse?
Caroline Wyatt Religious affairs correspondent 22 July 2015
Karen Morgan said the church offered no help when she reported the abuse
From when Karen Morgan was 12, until she was well into her teens, she was sexually abused by her uncle - a ministerial servant with the Jehovah's Witnesses....
But what is striking about the Jehovah's Witnesses is their explicit policy of dealing with abuse in-house.
Because of their practice of following the Bible literally, they insist there must be two witnesses to a crime, often not the case in child abuse cases.
However, in Karen's case a second witness did come forward: Wendy, a family friend and fellow member of the Barry congregation in south Wales. She had been raped by the same man.
When she reported the crime to elders, Wendy was made to describe it in minute detail to a group of older men.
Later, she had to give her account again in the same room as Sewell....
Afterwards, the elders told her that as it was only her account against that of Sewell, nothing more could be done.
This bringing together of the accused and the accuser in a "judicial committee" is a common feature of Jehovah's Witnesses' justice.
Karen, still a teenager at the time, was put through the process.
Reluctance to co-operate
The elders also ruled that their separate accusations didn't constitute the required two witnesses.
Despite a pattern of predatory sexual behaviour, it took more than two decades to bring Wendy and Karen's abuser to justice.
He is now serving a 14-year prison sentence.
His punishment from the Jehovah's Witnesses? There wasn't one.
Even when the case came to court, the organisation was reluctant to co-operate....
In a programme for Radio 4's The Report, we have identified this lack of co-operation in several other similar cases.
Confidential documents from the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Britain - the official name for the Jehovah's Witnesses - that we have seen are explicit about the best way to deal with such matters being within the congregation....
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-33609927
UN official who failed to act on child sex abuse allegations resigns
July 22, 2015 Associated Press
UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. rights official who admitted not following up for months on allegations of child sexual abuse by French soldiers in Central African Republic has resigned.
The U.N. confirmed Wednesday that Flavia Pansieri has left the post of deputy high commissioner for human rights "for health reasons." No more details were given.
The allegations by several children as young as 9 of trading oral sex and sodomy for food with French soldiers tasked with protecting civilians in the violence-torn country didn't become public until late April, almost a year after U.N. staffers first heard the children's stories. Pansieri's comments and other leaked documents led the U.N. secretary-general this summer to order an investigation into how the U.N. handled the case.
In a confidential statement for a separate internal investigation, obtained by The Associated Press, Pansieri said she had been distracted from the case by other issues, including budget cuts for several months. "I regret to say that in the context of those very hectic days, I failed to follow up on the CAR situation," Pansieri said in the statement dated March 26.
She said she and her boss, high commissioner Zeid Raad al-Hussein, had assumed French authorities were handling the allegations, even as France pressed the U.N. for months for more information....
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/07/22/un-official-who-failed-to-act-on-child-sex-abuse-allegations-resigns/
- Child sex abuse inquiry: Leon Brittan among leading Westminster figures named in documents
- Is religion doing enough to root out abuse?
- UN official who failed to act on child sex abuse allegations resigns
Bill Cosby seeks court sanctions against accuser over deposition leak
Reuters By Steve Gorman July 21, 2015
Comedian Bill Cosby filed legal papers on Tuesday calling for court sanctions against a woman accusing him of sexual assault, saying she breached their confidentiality agreement in the leak of his full deposition from a 10-year-old civil case to the New York Times.
Cosby, 78, made the filing in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia in opposition to recent motions by Andrea Constand, a former Temple University employee who has alleged the comedian tricked her into taking drugs before he sexually assaulted her.
The lawsuit she brought against Cosby was settled for an undisclosed sum in 2006, and all documents from the litigation were sealed until a federal judge on July 6 released limited redacted excerpts from Cosby's 2005 deposition testimony in the case.
Those excerpts included Cosby's admission under oath that he had obtained Quaaludes, the brand name for a sedative widely abused as a recreational drug in the 1970s, with the intent of giving the pills to young women in order to have sex with them.
On July 8, Constand filed papers in court seeking to unseal the entire deposition and her settlement agreement with Cosby, as well as to free her from any confidentiality restrictions.
The New York Times has since obtained its own record of Cosby's deposition and posted additional excerpts on its website, revealing testimony in which the entertainer described how he had pursued women and how he obtained Quaaludes.
Cosby's own court filing on Tuesday stressed that the deposition excerpts so far unsealed by the judge contain no testimony that he engaged in any non-consensual sex or gave anyone Quaaludes without their knowledge or consent....
http://news.yahoo.com/bill-cosby-seeks-court-sanctions-against-accuser-over-015512488.html
Child sex abuse inquiry: Leon Brittan among leading Westminster figures named in documents
22 July 2015 By Jack Blanchard
THE former Tory Home Secretary's name is on government file along with other powerful Westminster officials from the 1970s and 80s including Sir Peter Morrison.
LEADING Westminster figures from the 1970s and 80s including the late Leon Brittan have been named in Government child abuse documents, it was reported last night.
Sky News said that after months of requests Whitehall has finally revealed that papers do exist relating to Margaret Thatcher's former parliamentary secretary the late Sir Peter Morrison, former Home Secretary Sir Leon, former diplomat the late Sir Peter Hayman and former minister the late Sir William van Straubenzee.
It came after the Government released the details in January of a file prepared for Mrs Thatcher's office on the ‘unnatural sexual’ behaviour of one of the men Sir Peter Hayman.
The new batch of file names reveal there were further Government papers relating to the former MI6 man and career diplomat.
The content of the papers have not been revealed, however.
Sky News said the documents have been shared with the police and will be passed to the Child Abuse Inquiry led by Justice Lowell Goddard....
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/child-sex-abuse-inquiry-leon-6119976
Is religion doing enough to root out abuse?
Caroline Wyatt Religious affairs correspondent 22 July 2015
Karen Morgan said the church offered no help when she reported the abuse
From when Karen Morgan was 12, until she was well into her teens, she was sexually abused by her uncle - a ministerial servant with the Jehovah's Witnesses....
But what is striking about the Jehovah's Witnesses is their explicit policy of dealing with abuse in-house.
Because of their practice of following the Bible literally, they insist there must be two witnesses to a crime, often not the case in child abuse cases.
However, in Karen's case a second witness did come forward: Wendy, a family friend and fellow member of the Barry congregation in south Wales. She had been raped by the same man.
When she reported the crime to elders, Wendy was made to describe it in minute detail to a group of older men.
Later, she had to give her account again in the same room as Sewell....
Afterwards, the elders told her that as it was only her account against that of Sewell, nothing more could be done.
This bringing together of the accused and the accuser in a "judicial committee" is a common feature of Jehovah's Witnesses' justice.
Karen, still a teenager at the time, was put through the process.
Reluctance to co-operate
The elders also ruled that their separate accusations didn't constitute the required two witnesses.
Despite a pattern of predatory sexual behaviour, it took more than two decades to bring Wendy and Karen's abuser to justice.
He is now serving a 14-year prison sentence.
His punishment from the Jehovah's Witnesses? There wasn't one.
Even when the case came to court, the organisation was reluctant to co-operate....
In a programme for Radio 4's The Report, we have identified this lack of co-operation in several other similar cases.
Confidential documents from the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of Britain - the official name for the Jehovah's Witnesses - that we have seen are explicit about the best way to deal with such matters being within the congregation....
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-33609927
UN official who failed to act on child sex abuse allegations resigns
July 22, 2015 Associated Press
UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. rights official who admitted not following up for months on allegations of child sexual abuse by French soldiers in Central African Republic has resigned.
The U.N. confirmed Wednesday that Flavia Pansieri has left the post of deputy high commissioner for human rights "for health reasons." No more details were given.
The allegations by several children as young as 9 of trading oral sex and sodomy for food with French soldiers tasked with protecting civilians in the violence-torn country didn't become public until late April, almost a year after U.N. staffers first heard the children's stories. Pansieri's comments and other leaked documents led the U.N. secretary-general this summer to order an investigation into how the U.N. handled the case.
In a confidential statement for a separate internal investigation, obtained by The Associated Press, Pansieri said she had been distracted from the case by other issues, including budget cuts for several months. "I regret to say that in the context of those very hectic days, I failed to follow up on the CAR situation," Pansieri said in the statement dated March 26.
She said she and her boss, high commissioner Zeid Raad al-Hussein, had assumed French authorities were handling the allegations, even as France pressed the U.N. for months for more information....
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/07/22/un-official-who-failed-to-act-on-child-sex-abuse-allegations-resigns/
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
Will Bill Cosby ever face prosecution over allegations of sexual misdeeds?, Scale of child abuse images online is 'shocking', says NSPCC
Will Bill Cosby ever face prosecution over allegations of sexual misdeeds?
By Paul Farhi July 20, 2015
There is little question that Bill Cosby’s revered reputation is in tatters. But will he ever be called to account for conduct that has led to multiple lawsuits and accusations of sexual misconduct from more than 40 women?
The one assault allegation against Cosby to progress through the legal system — a 2005 civil suit brought by a Temple University employee named Andrea Constand — was settled without any admission by Cosby. But Constand’s complaint set in motion events that could raise new legal troubles for Cosby and that have the potential to be powerful pieces of evidence against him in potential civil or criminal cases, plaintiffs attorneys and others say. The most problematic are Cosby’s own account contained in court records and his deposition in the Constand case.
The records, which have been unsealed or disclosed in the past two weeks, contain Cosby’s admission that he gave drugs to women he sought to have sex with, including Constand and some of the long line of women who have accused him of drugging and assaulting women since the late 1960s (Cosby has denied any criminal intent)....
Cosby, however, may still face criminal charges. The Los Angeles Police Department is investigating a sexual-battery complaint filed by Chloe Goins,a model who says Cosby spiked her drink during a party at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles in 2008 and then removed her clothes and masturbated in her presence after she passed out, according to Goins’s attorney, Spencer Kuvin.
The statute of limitations on the allegation won’t run out until next April, Kuvin said. He said the LAPD has questioned Goins twice since she came forward in December. If officials decline to pursue a criminal case, he said, he is prepared to file a civil suit on Goins’s behalf.
The LAPD has confirmed an ongoing investigation of Cosby’s behavior but has not identified the alleged victim. Gloria Allred, an attorney who represents 17 Cosby accusers, said one of her clients, Judy Huth, also has spoken to detectives....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/will-bill-cosby-ever-face-prosecution-over-allegations-of-sexual-misconduct/2015/07/20/c01fa5d6-2f24-11e5-8353-1215475949f4_story.html
Scale of child abuse images online is 'shocking', says NSPCC
Charity claims there are two convictions each day for indecent images and calls for urgent action two years after government promised crackdown
More than a quarter of those convicted of viewing abuse images were also found guilty of other sexual crimes. Press Association Tuesday 21 July 2015
Two people are being convicted of child abuse image crimes every day on average, two years after a government pledge to crack down on the offence, the NSPCC says.
The charity said its analysis of news reports showed there had been at least 1,000 court cases involving indecent images of children since David Cameron’s July 2013 speech in which he threatened to impose tough new laws on internet companies if they failed to blacklist key search terms.
The NSPCC said a snapshot of 100 cases revealed that 4.5m child abuse images were discovered among them, with one in three of the 101 convicted criminals involved having held a position of trust or a role that allowed them access to children....
Six out of 10 were jailed. Those convicted included a father and son, and a teenager who confessed to viewing such pictures from the age of 12. More than a quarter were also convicted of other sexual crimes, including grooming, voyeurism, and indecent assault, and one in six already had criminal records for similar offences....
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jul/22/scale-of-child-abuse-images-online-is-shocking-says-nspcc
By Paul Farhi July 20, 2015
There is little question that Bill Cosby’s revered reputation is in tatters. But will he ever be called to account for conduct that has led to multiple lawsuits and accusations of sexual misconduct from more than 40 women?
The one assault allegation against Cosby to progress through the legal system — a 2005 civil suit brought by a Temple University employee named Andrea Constand — was settled without any admission by Cosby. But Constand’s complaint set in motion events that could raise new legal troubles for Cosby and that have the potential to be powerful pieces of evidence against him in potential civil or criminal cases, plaintiffs attorneys and others say. The most problematic are Cosby’s own account contained in court records and his deposition in the Constand case.
The records, which have been unsealed or disclosed in the past two weeks, contain Cosby’s admission that he gave drugs to women he sought to have sex with, including Constand and some of the long line of women who have accused him of drugging and assaulting women since the late 1960s (Cosby has denied any criminal intent)....
Cosby, however, may still face criminal charges. The Los Angeles Police Department is investigating a sexual-battery complaint filed by Chloe Goins,a model who says Cosby spiked her drink during a party at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles in 2008 and then removed her clothes and masturbated in her presence after she passed out, according to Goins’s attorney, Spencer Kuvin.
The statute of limitations on the allegation won’t run out until next April, Kuvin said. He said the LAPD has questioned Goins twice since she came forward in December. If officials decline to pursue a criminal case, he said, he is prepared to file a civil suit on Goins’s behalf.
The LAPD has confirmed an ongoing investigation of Cosby’s behavior but has not identified the alleged victim. Gloria Allred, an attorney who represents 17 Cosby accusers, said one of her clients, Judy Huth, also has spoken to detectives....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/will-bill-cosby-ever-face-prosecution-over-allegations-of-sexual-misconduct/2015/07/20/c01fa5d6-2f24-11e5-8353-1215475949f4_story.html
Scale of child abuse images online is 'shocking', says NSPCC
Charity claims there are two convictions each day for indecent images and calls for urgent action two years after government promised crackdown
More than a quarter of those convicted of viewing abuse images were also found guilty of other sexual crimes. Press Association Tuesday 21 July 2015
Two people are being convicted of child abuse image crimes every day on average, two years after a government pledge to crack down on the offence, the NSPCC says.
The charity said its analysis of news reports showed there had been at least 1,000 court cases involving indecent images of children since David Cameron’s July 2013 speech in which he threatened to impose tough new laws on internet companies if they failed to blacklist key search terms.
The NSPCC said a snapshot of 100 cases revealed that 4.5m child abuse images were discovered among them, with one in three of the 101 convicted criminals involved having held a position of trust or a role that allowed them access to children....
Six out of 10 were jailed. Those convicted included a father and son, and a teenager who confessed to viewing such pictures from the age of 12. More than a quarter were also convicted of other sexual crimes, including grooming, voyeurism, and indecent assault, and one in six already had criminal records for similar offences....
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jul/22/scale-of-child-abuse-images-online-is-shocking-says-nspcc
Thursday, July 16, 2015
TLC cancels ‘19 Kids and Counting’ amid Josh Duggar abuse scandal, Josh Duggar may face civil lawsuit from molestation victim: report
TLC cancels ‘19 Kids and Counting’ amid Josh Duggar abuse scandal
BY Philip Caulfield NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Thursday, July 16, 2015
TLC has pulled the plug on the Duggar family's TV show.
The basic cable network cancelled "19 Kids and Counting" amid the fallout of eldest son Josh Duggar's molestation scandal, but said it will continue to work with the Christian clan for a documentary about child sex abuse.
"After thoughtful consideration, TLC and the Duggar family have decided to not move forward with 19 Kids and Counting. The show will no longer appear on the air," the network said in a statement.
"TLC will work closely with [two abuse advocacy groups] and with the Duggar family on a one-hour documentary that will include Jill and Jessa and other survivors and families that have been affected by abuse," the network said....
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/tlc-cancels-19-kids-counting-duggar-abuse-scandal-article-1.2294251
The Duggars’ TLC reality show ’19 Kids and Counting’ is officially canceled
By Abby Ohlheiser July 16, 2015
Nearly two months after a molestation scandal prompted TLC to pull reruns of the popular reality program “19 Kids and Counting” from the air and online, the network announced that it has officially canceled the program.
“After thoughtful consideration, TLC and the Duggar family have decided to not move forward with 19 Kids and Counting,” the network said. “The show will no longer appear on the air.”
The announcement ends weeks of speculation about the fate of the show after the Duggars’ oldest son, Josh, apologized in May for molesting multiple young girls, including some of his sisters, more than a decade ago, when he was a teenager. Duggar, 27, also resigned from his job at the Family Research Council’s lobbying arm in D.C....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/07/16/the-duggars-tlc-reality-show-19-kids-and-counting-is-officially-canceled/
'19 Kids and Counting' star Josh Duggar may face civil lawsuit from molestation victim: report
BY Ethan Sacks NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Wednesday, July 1, 2015
“19 Kids and Counting” star Josh Duggar is facing a harsh new reality: one of his molestation victims is reportedly close to filing a civil lawsuit against him.
The prospective suit, first reported by In Touch Weekly, could lead to Duggar and his parents, Jim Bob, and Michelle, to give embarrassing information about the molestation scandal that has rocked the religious reality television clan.
“All the church elders who knew about this will have to be named,” a source told the gossip magazine.
News of a potential lawsuit comes a month after the eldest son of the Duggar clan was forced to admit he molested five girls — four of them his own sisters — as a teenager. The plaintiff is the fifth victim, who is not related to her abuser.....
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/josh-duggar-face-lawsuit-molestation-victim-report-article-1.2277789
Tuesday, July 14, 2015
Smithsonian To Post Sign At Exhibition Featuring Bill Cosby-Owned Art, Alexis Jay on child sex abuse: ‘Politicians wanted to keep a lid on it’, Rotherham victims
Smithsonian To Post Sign At Exhibition Featuring Bill Cosby-Owned Art
July 14, 2015 Krishnadev Calamur
The Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art in Washington will post a sign Wednesday telling visitors an exhibition that includes art owned by Bill Cosby and his wife, Camille, is "fundamentally about the artworks and the artists who created them, not Mr. Cosby," representatives for the Smithsonian Institution say.
The sign, which will be posted at 10 a.m., comes amid allegations of sexual misconduct directed against Cosby by more than two dozen women. Some of them say he drugged and raped them. Cosby has not been charged in any of the alleged assaults.
Last week it emerged that the comedian testified in 2005 he obtained the sedative Quaalude with the intent of giving the drug to women with whom he wanted to have sex, and he acknowledged giving it to at least one woman. The Los Angeles Police Department says it is conducting at least one current criminal investigation into allegations of sexual assault against Cosby....
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/07/14/423001343/smithsonian-to-post-sign-at-exhibition-featuring-bill-cosby-owned-art
Alexis Jay on child sex abuse: ‘Politicians wanted to keep a lid on it’
Her devastating Rotherham report blew open the national debate on child sex abuse. Now the ‘retired’ social worker is investigating historic claims on an unprecedented scale, taking on Westminster, the BBC and NHS
Helen Pidd Monday 13 July 2015
Alexis Jay officially retired two years ago – not that you’d notice. In 2013 she stepped down from her role as Scotland’s chief social work adviser, shortly after being awarded an OBE. But rather than tending to her garden she ended up digging up horrific claims of child sexual exploitation in Rotherham. That job done, the scalps of many officials taken, she moved on to sort out Northern Ireland’s safeguarding children boards.
But last week the 66-year-old began her biggest task yet, when she joined the panel of what has been described as Britain’s most complicated and wide-reaching statutory inquiry ever. The independent inquiry into child sex abuse (IICSA) is expected to take five years investigating claims of abuse in faith and religious organisations, the criminal justice system, local authorities and national institutions such as the BBC, NHS and Ministry of Defence....
“By victims we are not talking about children who were at risk of sexual exploitation, who were friendly with victims or who moved in the same circle,” she told the journalists. “The 1,400 victims are those who had actually experienced sexual exploitation.” Determined that no one could bat away her findings, she had produced a 153-page report that spelled out in plain language the appalling abuse suffered by children aged 10-16 in the South Yorkshire town (Rotherham) between 1997 and 2013....
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jul/13/alexis-jay-politicians-rotherham-report-child-sex-abuse-social-worker-claims-westminster-bbc-nhs
July 14, 2015 Krishnadev Calamur
The Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art in Washington will post a sign Wednesday telling visitors an exhibition that includes art owned by Bill Cosby and his wife, Camille, is "fundamentally about the artworks and the artists who created them, not Mr. Cosby," representatives for the Smithsonian Institution say.
The sign, which will be posted at 10 a.m., comes amid allegations of sexual misconduct directed against Cosby by more than two dozen women. Some of them say he drugged and raped them. Cosby has not been charged in any of the alleged assaults.
Last week it emerged that the comedian testified in 2005 he obtained the sedative Quaalude with the intent of giving the drug to women with whom he wanted to have sex, and he acknowledged giving it to at least one woman. The Los Angeles Police Department says it is conducting at least one current criminal investigation into allegations of sexual assault against Cosby....
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/07/14/423001343/smithsonian-to-post-sign-at-exhibition-featuring-bill-cosby-owned-art
Alexis Jay on child sex abuse: ‘Politicians wanted to keep a lid on it’
Her devastating Rotherham report blew open the national debate on child sex abuse. Now the ‘retired’ social worker is investigating historic claims on an unprecedented scale, taking on Westminster, the BBC and NHS
Helen Pidd Monday 13 July 2015
Alexis Jay officially retired two years ago – not that you’d notice. In 2013 she stepped down from her role as Scotland’s chief social work adviser, shortly after being awarded an OBE. But rather than tending to her garden she ended up digging up horrific claims of child sexual exploitation in Rotherham. That job done, the scalps of many officials taken, she moved on to sort out Northern Ireland’s safeguarding children boards.
But last week the 66-year-old began her biggest task yet, when she joined the panel of what has been described as Britain’s most complicated and wide-reaching statutory inquiry ever. The independent inquiry into child sex abuse (IICSA) is expected to take five years investigating claims of abuse in faith and religious organisations, the criminal justice system, local authorities and national institutions such as the BBC, NHS and Ministry of Defence....
“By victims we are not talking about children who were at risk of sexual exploitation, who were friendly with victims or who moved in the same circle,” she told the journalists. “The 1,400 victims are those who had actually experienced sexual exploitation.” Determined that no one could bat away her findings, she had produced a 153-page report that spelled out in plain language the appalling abuse suffered by children aged 10-16 in the South Yorkshire town (Rotherham) between 1997 and 2013....
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jul/13/alexis-jay-politicians-rotherham-report-child-sex-abuse-social-worker-claims-westminster-bbc-nhs
Monday, July 13, 2015
US torture doctors could face charges after report alleges post-9/11 'collusion'
Leading group of psychologists faces a reckoning following repeated denials that its members were complicit in Bush administration-era torture
Spencer Ackerman Saturday 11 July 2015
The largest association of psychologists in the United States is on the brink of a crisis, the Guardian has learned, after an independent review revealed that medical professionals lied and covered up their extensive involvement in post-9/11 torture. The revelation, puncturing years of denials, has already led to at least one leadership firing and creates the potential for loss of licenses and even prosecutions.
For more than a decade, the American Psychological Association (APA) has maintained that a strict code of ethics prohibits its more than 130,000 members to aid in the torture of detainees while simultaneously permitting involvement in military and intelligence interrogations. The group has rejected media reporting on psychologists’ complicity in torture; suppressed internal dissent from anti-torture doctors; cleared members of wrongdoing; and portrayed itself as a consistent ally against abuse.
Now, a voluminous independent review conducted by a former assistant US attorney, David Hoffman, undermines the APA’s denials in full – and vindicates the dissenters.
Sources with knowledge of the report and its consequences, who requested anonymity to discuss the findings before public release, expected a wave of firings and resignations across the leadership of an organization that Hoffman finds used its extensive institutional links to the CIA and US military to facilitate abusive interrogations....
http://www.theguardian.com/law/2015/jul/10/us-torture-doctors-psychologists-apa-prosecution
PSYCHOLOGISTS FOR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
PsySR Responds to Hoffman Report about APA Collusion
http://www.psysr.org/about/statements/PsySR_Statement-Hoffman_Report.pdf
A national hero': psychologist who warned of torture collusion gets her due
Jean Maria Arrigo was largely ignored and the subject of a smear campaign for sounding alarms about psychologists’ post-9/11 torture complicity but has emerged from the damning report as the story’s hero – and martyr
Spencer Ackerman in New York
Monday 13 July 2015
Jean Maria Arrigo’s inbox is filling up with apologies.
For a decade, colleagues of the 71-year-old psychologist ignored, derided and in some cases attacked Arrigo for sounding alarms that the American Psychological Association was implicated in US torture. But now that a devastating report has exposed deep APA complicity with brutal CIA and US military interrogations – and a smear campaign against Arrigo herself – her colleagues are expressing contrition.
Arrigo estimates she has received perhaps a dozen such emails since David Hoffman, a former federal prosecutor, confirmed what she has crusaded against for a decade: the APA’s institutional involvement with torture led to a concerted effort to quash dissent, lie to the public, and silence people like her. In a story full of villains, Arrigo emerges from Hoffman’s report as a hero – and a martyr....
http://www.theguardian.com/law/2015/jul/13/psychologist-torture-doctors-collusion-jean-maria-arrigo
Leading group of psychologists faces a reckoning following repeated denials that its members were complicit in Bush administration-era torture
Spencer Ackerman Saturday 11 July 2015
The largest association of psychologists in the United States is on the brink of a crisis, the Guardian has learned, after an independent review revealed that medical professionals lied and covered up their extensive involvement in post-9/11 torture. The revelation, puncturing years of denials, has already led to at least one leadership firing and creates the potential for loss of licenses and even prosecutions.
For more than a decade, the American Psychological Association (APA) has maintained that a strict code of ethics prohibits its more than 130,000 members to aid in the torture of detainees while simultaneously permitting involvement in military and intelligence interrogations. The group has rejected media reporting on psychologists’ complicity in torture; suppressed internal dissent from anti-torture doctors; cleared members of wrongdoing; and portrayed itself as a consistent ally against abuse.
Now, a voluminous independent review conducted by a former assistant US attorney, David Hoffman, undermines the APA’s denials in full – and vindicates the dissenters.
Sources with knowledge of the report and its consequences, who requested anonymity to discuss the findings before public release, expected a wave of firings and resignations across the leadership of an organization that Hoffman finds used its extensive institutional links to the CIA and US military to facilitate abusive interrogations....
http://www.theguardian.com/law/2015/jul/10/us-torture-doctors-psychologists-apa-prosecution
PSYCHOLOGISTS FOR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
PsySR Responds to Hoffman Report about APA Collusion
http://www.psysr.org/about/statements/PsySR_Statement-Hoffman_Report.pdf
A national hero': psychologist who warned of torture collusion gets her due
Jean Maria Arrigo was largely ignored and the subject of a smear campaign for sounding alarms about psychologists’ post-9/11 torture complicity but has emerged from the damning report as the story’s hero – and martyr
Spencer Ackerman in New York
Monday 13 July 2015
Jean Maria Arrigo’s inbox is filling up with apologies.
For a decade, colleagues of the 71-year-old psychologist ignored, derided and in some cases attacked Arrigo for sounding alarms that the American Psychological Association was implicated in US torture. But now that a devastating report has exposed deep APA complicity with brutal CIA and US military interrogations – and a smear campaign against Arrigo herself – her colleagues are expressing contrition.
Arrigo estimates she has received perhaps a dozen such emails since David Hoffman, a former federal prosecutor, confirmed what she has crusaded against for a decade: the APA’s institutional involvement with torture led to a concerted effort to quash dissent, lie to the public, and silence people like her. In a story full of villains, Arrigo emerges from Hoffman’s report as a hero – and a martyr....
http://www.theguardian.com/law/2015/jul/13/psychologist-torture-doctors-collusion-jean-maria-arrigo
Two of Bill Cosby's accusers join push to have entire deposition unsealed, Vatican delays trial of pope's ex-diplomat accused of child porn, pedophilia, Only Half of Abused Children Evaluated for Occult Fracture
Two of Bill Cosby's accusers join push to have entire deposition unsealed
Beth Ferrier and Rebecca Lynn Neal, ‘Jane Does’ in the 2005 case, join motion as Neal also spoke out against National Enquirer for pulling an interview with her
Nicky Woolf
Monday 13 July 2015
Two more of Bill Cosby’s accusers have joined a motion to have the whole of a deposition unsealed from a 2005 case in which the former comedian testified to having given a woman the sedative quaaludes before having sex with her.
Bill Cosby's defenders split after revelation comedian drugged women
One of them has also attacked the National Enquirer for allegedly suppressing a 2005 interview with her in exchange for an exclusive from Cosby about his daughter’s drug use.
Beth Ferrier and Rebecca Lynn Neal were unidentified witnesses – known as “Jane Does” – in a 2005 case in which Cosby was sued by Andrea Constand, the first of more than two dozen women to come forward with allegations of sexual abuse against the comedian.
Last week a judge granted a motion by the Associated Press to unseal part of Cosby’s deposition. Constand has now been joined by Ferrier and Neal in a motion to have the rest of the deposition, which has so far been barred from public view, unsealed.
In a statement Gloria Allred, the lawyer representing both Ferrier and Neal, said she was concerned the partial testimony, “if believed”, would cause reputational damage to her clients.
....“The National Enquirer, more than any other publication, was unflinching in our aggressive coverage of allegations against Mr Cosby beginning in 2000 when everyone else avoided the story,” a spokesman told the Wrap. “We continue to remain aggressive in our reporting today and stand by the integrity of our coverage of this story which we have taken the lead on for more than a decade.”
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/13/bill-cosby-deposition-quaaludes-motion-unseal
Only Half of Abused Children Evaluated for Occult Fracture
Jenni Laidman July 13, 2015
Despite some 20 years of recommendations to perform a skeletal survey on infants and toddlers with injuries associated with abuse, hospital personnel failed to conduct such surveys in roughly half of suspected abuse cases, according to results from a study published online July 13 in Pediatrics.
Joanne N. Wood, MD, MSHP, from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and colleagues examined data from 4486 children younger than 2 years with a diagnosis of abuse or injuries often associated with abuse at 366 hospitals from 2009 to 2013.
The study indicated that 48% of children with an abuse diagnosis and 51% of infants with traumatic
brain injury were evaluated with a skeletal survey for occult fracture. Only 53% of infants with femur fractures were examined for further fractures, the researchers found.
Previous studies suggest that skeletal surveys would have revealed occult fractures in approximately 25% to 30% of the children in the study, which means about 1 in every 7 or 8 children might have had an undiagnosed occult fracture, the authors report....
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/847835
Vatican delays trial of pope's ex-diplomat accused of child porn, pedophilia
By Faith Karimi, Delia Gallagher and Hada Messia, CNN
Sat July 11, 2015
CNN)A former papal ambassador accused of sexually abusing minors has been hospitalized in an intensive care unit -- pushing back his trial once set to start Saturday in Vatican City.
Jozef Wesolowski, 66, was under house arrest in Vatican City when he fell ill Friday night and was rushed to a public hospital.
A judge held a short hearing and adjourned Wesolowski's trial to a yet undetermined date, the Vatican Press Office said. It did not provide any details on his condition.
Wesolowski, 66, is the highest-ranking Catholic official arrested for alleged sexual abuse of minors.
In addition to sexual abuse allegations, he is accused of possession of child pornography during his time as papal nuncio -- or ambassador -- to the Dominican Republic. The maximum punishment for these crimes could be 9 years in prison, although sentencing is entirely at the discretion of the judges.
The Vatican, which operates as a city-state, has its own judicial system. This is the first trial on charges of sex abuse to be heard by the Vatican tribunal, which is composed of 3 lay Italian judges....
Before arriving in the Dominican Republic seven years ago, Wesolowski was nuncio to Bolivia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.
He began his career as a priest in Poland in 1972, and became a bishop in 2000....
http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/11/europe/vatican-sex-abuse-trial/
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
Walt Disney World removes Bill Cosby bust from Hollywood Studios, Cosby accuser asks judge to void confidentiality deal
Walt Disney World removes Bill Cosby bust from Hollywood Studios
Nick Vadala, Philly.com
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
Walt Disney World has reportedly removed a statue depicting Bill Cosby from its Hollywood Studios theme park in Orlando, Fla. after closing time on Tuesday.
The bronze bust’s removal comes just one day after the unsealing of court documents from a 2005 deposition wherein the embattled Cosby admitted to obtaining Quaaludes to give to a woman “he wanted to have sex with.”....
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/trending/Walt-Disney-World-removes-Bill-Cosby-bust-from-Hollywood-Studios.html
Cosby accuser asks judge to void confidentiality deal
Jeremy Roebuck, Inquirer Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
Andrea Constand, the former Temple University employee who lodged sexual-assault allegations against Bill Cosby in a 2005 lawsuit, now says she wants to publicly tell her story.
In court filings Wednesday, Constand asked a federal judge in Philadelphia to void a confidentiality agreement in her settlement deal with the actor-comedian, saying he and his representatives had repeatedly violated its terms and had left her little recourse but to respond.
She also asked for the release of a full transcript of a deposition Cosby gave in the case.
Excerpts of that deposition - unsealed this week - have reignited more recent controversy tied to allegations from more than two dozen other women who have also accused Cosby, 77, of sexual misconduct....
Cosby's lawyer, Patrick O'Connor, has argued in recent court filings that those portions of the transcript do not provide a full picture of Cosby's testimony....
Before settling her suit in 2006, Constand had lined up as potential witnesses 13 women willing to testify that Cosby had drugged and assaulted them.
The confidentiality agreement in Constand's case bars her and Cosby from discussing the women's allegations publicly....
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20150709_Cosby_accuser_asks_judge_to_void_confidentiality_deal__let_her_speak_publicly_about_2004_assault_allegations.html
child abuse and ritual abuse research https://ritualabuse.us
Nick Vadala, Philly.com
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
Walt Disney World has reportedly removed a statue depicting Bill Cosby from its Hollywood Studios theme park in Orlando, Fla. after closing time on Tuesday.
The bronze bust’s removal comes just one day after the unsealing of court documents from a 2005 deposition wherein the embattled Cosby admitted to obtaining Quaaludes to give to a woman “he wanted to have sex with.”....
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/trending/Walt-Disney-World-removes-Bill-Cosby-bust-from-Hollywood-Studios.html
Cosby accuser asks judge to void confidentiality deal
Jeremy Roebuck, Inquirer Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
Andrea Constand, the former Temple University employee who lodged sexual-assault allegations against Bill Cosby in a 2005 lawsuit, now says she wants to publicly tell her story.
In court filings Wednesday, Constand asked a federal judge in Philadelphia to void a confidentiality agreement in her settlement deal with the actor-comedian, saying he and his representatives had repeatedly violated its terms and had left her little recourse but to respond.
She also asked for the release of a full transcript of a deposition Cosby gave in the case.
Excerpts of that deposition - unsealed this week - have reignited more recent controversy tied to allegations from more than two dozen other women who have also accused Cosby, 77, of sexual misconduct....
Cosby's lawyer, Patrick O'Connor, has argued in recent court filings that those portions of the transcript do not provide a full picture of Cosby's testimony....
Before settling her suit in 2006, Constand had lined up as potential witnesses 13 women willing to testify that Cosby had drugged and assaulted them.
The confidentiality agreement in Constand's case bars her and Cosby from discussing the women's allegations publicly....
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20150709_Cosby_accuser_asks_judge_to_void_confidentiality_deal__let_her_speak_publicly_about_2004_assault_allegations.html
child abuse and ritual abuse research https://ritualabuse.us
Monday, July 6, 2015
APNewsBreak: Cosby said he got drugs to give women for sex
APNewsBreak: Cosby said he got drugs to give women for sex
By MARYCLAIRE DALE Jul. 6, 2015
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Bill Cosby testified in 2005 that he got Quaaludes with the intent of giving them to young women he wanted to have sex with, and he admitted giving the sedative to at least one woman and "other people," according to documents obtained Monday by The Associated Press.
The AP had gone to court to compel the release of the documents; Cosby's lawyers had objected on the grounds that it would embarrass their client.
The 77-year-old comedian was testifying under oath in a lawsuit filed by a former Temple University employee. He testified he gave her three half-pills of Benadryl.
Cosby settled that sexual-abuse lawsuit for undisclosed terms in 2006. His lawyers in the Philadelphia case did not immediately return phone calls Monday.
Cosby has been accused by more than two dozen women of sexual misconduct, including allegations by many that he drugged and raped them in incidents dating back more than four decades. Cosby, 77, has never been criminally charged, and most of the accusations are barred by statutes of limitations....
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/6d90b1f473f147ed9f0048f9e9ac2287/apnewsbreak-cosby-said-he-got-drugs-give-women-sex
By MARYCLAIRE DALE Jul. 6, 2015
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Bill Cosby testified in 2005 that he got Quaaludes with the intent of giving them to young women he wanted to have sex with, and he admitted giving the sedative to at least one woman and "other people," according to documents obtained Monday by The Associated Press.
The AP had gone to court to compel the release of the documents; Cosby's lawyers had objected on the grounds that it would embarrass their client.
The 77-year-old comedian was testifying under oath in a lawsuit filed by a former Temple University employee. He testified he gave her three half-pills of Benadryl.
Cosby settled that sexual-abuse lawsuit for undisclosed terms in 2006. His lawyers in the Philadelphia case did not immediately return phone calls Monday.
Cosby has been accused by more than two dozen women of sexual misconduct, including allegations by many that he drugged and raped them in incidents dating back more than four decades. Cosby, 77, has never been criminally charged, and most of the accusations are barred by statutes of limitations....
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/6d90b1f473f147ed9f0048f9e9ac2287/apnewsbreak-cosby-said-he-got-drugs-give-women-sex
Allegations of Child Sexual Abuse in the CAR Not Given Priority by the United Nations, Argentine Judges Allowed to Resign After Child Abuse Ruling
Allegations of Child Sexual Abuse in the CAR Not Given Priority by the United Nations
07/06/2015 Bea Edwards Executive & International Director, Government Accountability Project
On April 29 Sandra Laville at The Guardian broke the story of child sex abuse by French peacekeeping troops in the Central African Republic (CAR) at a camp for the displaced the previous year. An appalling report had surfaced when Prince Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein, the High Commissioner for Human Rights (HCHR), decided -- eight months after the fact -- to suspend Anders Kompass, a high-level human rights official and reluctant whistleblower, for reporting the crimes to the French police....
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bea-edwards/allegations-of-child-sexu_b_7735940.html
Argentine Judges Allowed to Resign After Child Abuse Ruling
By JONATHAN GILBERT JULY 4, 2015
BUENOS AIRES — Two Argentine judges whose controversial decision to reduce the sentence of a convicted child abuser provoked widespread anger here have had their resignations accepted, Argentina’s state news agency reported on Saturday.
The judges, Horacio Piombo, 72, and BenjamÃn Sal Llargués, reduced the sentence because they claimed that the 6-year-old victim, a boy, had already displayed homosexual tendencies. They were allowed to step down by Daniel Scioli, the governor of Buenos Aires Province, according to Télam, the news agency.
The revelation of the judges’ ruling infuriated Argentines, especially gay and human rights groups. The federal government’s cabinet chief said it was “one of the greatest barbarities seen in our country.” The decision by Judges Piombo and Sal Llargués to halve the abuser’s sentence was taken last year in the province’s criminal appeals court, but it only came to light recently.
The sentence of Mario Tolosa, the vice president of a sports club who several years ago had raped the boy, a junior soccer player, was cut from six years to a little more than three. Local news reports said Mr. Tolosa had already been released from prison.
The judges based their ruling on what they said was the boy’s sexual disposition, suggesting that he had homosexual leanings....
The judges had previously faced controversy when they halved the sentence of another convicted child abuser, a pastor, in 2011, paving the way for his immediate release from prison.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/05/world/americas/argentine-judges-allowed-to-resign-after-child-abuse-ruling.html
07/06/2015 Bea Edwards Executive & International Director, Government Accountability Project
On April 29 Sandra Laville at The Guardian broke the story of child sex abuse by French peacekeeping troops in the Central African Republic (CAR) at a camp for the displaced the previous year. An appalling report had surfaced when Prince Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein, the High Commissioner for Human Rights (HCHR), decided -- eight months after the fact -- to suspend Anders Kompass, a high-level human rights official and reluctant whistleblower, for reporting the crimes to the French police....
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bea-edwards/allegations-of-child-sexu_b_7735940.html
Argentine Judges Allowed to Resign After Child Abuse Ruling
By JONATHAN GILBERT JULY 4, 2015
BUENOS AIRES — Two Argentine judges whose controversial decision to reduce the sentence of a convicted child abuser provoked widespread anger here have had their resignations accepted, Argentina’s state news agency reported on Saturday.
The judges, Horacio Piombo, 72, and BenjamÃn Sal Llargués, reduced the sentence because they claimed that the 6-year-old victim, a boy, had already displayed homosexual tendencies. They were allowed to step down by Daniel Scioli, the governor of Buenos Aires Province, according to Télam, the news agency.
The revelation of the judges’ ruling infuriated Argentines, especially gay and human rights groups. The federal government’s cabinet chief said it was “one of the greatest barbarities seen in our country.” The decision by Judges Piombo and Sal Llargués to halve the abuser’s sentence was taken last year in the province’s criminal appeals court, but it only came to light recently.
The sentence of Mario Tolosa, the vice president of a sports club who several years ago had raped the boy, a junior soccer player, was cut from six years to a little more than three. Local news reports said Mr. Tolosa had already been released from prison.
The judges based their ruling on what they said was the boy’s sexual disposition, suggesting that he had homosexual leanings....
The judges had previously faced controversy when they halved the sentence of another convicted child abuser, a pastor, in 2011, paving the way for his immediate release from prison.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/05/world/americas/argentine-judges-allowed-to-resign-after-child-abuse-ruling.html
Wednesday, July 1, 2015
Police bungle half of online child abuse cases, Two French soldiers suspended over child abuse allegations in Burkina Faso
Police bungle HALF of online child abuse cases: Examination of serious allegations was ‘superficial’ and basic police work not carried out, damning reports find
Experts say that 38 per cent of investigations involving vulnerable children are riddled with ‘inconsistencies’
While half of police probes into child abuse on the internet branded 'inadequate' in series of reports
In some cases, basic police work such as taking photographs of the scene were not undertaken
By Arthur Martin for the Daily Mail 1 July 2015
More than half of police investigations into child abuse on the internet are branded ‘inadequate’ by a damning series of reports published today.
Experts also say that 38 per cent of probes into all cases involving vulnerable children are riddled with ‘weaknesses and inconsistencies’.
In many cases investigations into child abuse or neglect were poor and plagued by delay, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary concluded.
Researchers found that the examination of serious allegations by officers were ‘superficial’ and crucial leads were not pursued.
In some cases, basic police work such as taking photographs of the scene, analysing mobile phones, or referring a child for medical attention were not undertaken.
During interviews with children, officers used ‘oppressive questioning’ techniques and in some cases were hostile towards the victims they were meant to be helping.
The findings are from three HMIC reports which warn that the police must reassess their approach to child protection or risk failing a new generation....
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3146630/Police-bungle-HALF-online-child-abuse-cases-Examination-allegations-superficial-basic-police-work-not-carried-damning-reports-find.html
Two French soldiers suspended over child abuse allegations in Burkina Faso
By Andrew V. Pestano July 1, 2015
PARIS, July 1 (UPI) -- Two French soldiers have been suspended and an investigation has been launched due to allegations of child sexual abuse in Burkina Faso.
The soldiers are suspected of "committing acts of a sexual nature," according to a statement by France's Ministry of Defense, adding that an investigation has been launched by the Chief of Staff of the French Army, Gen. Jean-Pierre Bosser....
About 3,000 French soldiers are stationed in Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad, Mauritania and Niger as part of an anti-terrorism operation.
In another similar incident, a leaked United Nations report in April alleged 16 French peacekeepers abused children in the Central African Republic by exchanging goods, such as food, for sex between December 2013 and June 2014....
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2015/07/01/Two-French-soldiers-suspended-over-child-abuse-allegations-in-Burkina-Faso/3721435747266/
Experts say that 38 per cent of investigations involving vulnerable children are riddled with ‘inconsistencies’
While half of police probes into child abuse on the internet branded 'inadequate' in series of reports
In some cases, basic police work such as taking photographs of the scene were not undertaken
By Arthur Martin for the Daily Mail 1 July 2015
More than half of police investigations into child abuse on the internet are branded ‘inadequate’ by a damning series of reports published today.
Experts also say that 38 per cent of probes into all cases involving vulnerable children are riddled with ‘weaknesses and inconsistencies’.
In many cases investigations into child abuse or neglect were poor and plagued by delay, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary concluded.
Researchers found that the examination of serious allegations by officers were ‘superficial’ and crucial leads were not pursued.
In some cases, basic police work such as taking photographs of the scene, analysing mobile phones, or referring a child for medical attention were not undertaken.
During interviews with children, officers used ‘oppressive questioning’ techniques and in some cases were hostile towards the victims they were meant to be helping.
The findings are from three HMIC reports which warn that the police must reassess their approach to child protection or risk failing a new generation....
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3146630/Police-bungle-HALF-online-child-abuse-cases-Examination-allegations-superficial-basic-police-work-not-carried-damning-reports-find.html
Two French soldiers suspended over child abuse allegations in Burkina Faso
By Andrew V. Pestano July 1, 2015
PARIS, July 1 (UPI) -- Two French soldiers have been suspended and an investigation has been launched due to allegations of child sexual abuse in Burkina Faso.
The soldiers are suspected of "committing acts of a sexual nature," according to a statement by France's Ministry of Defense, adding that an investigation has been launched by the Chief of Staff of the French Army, Gen. Jean-Pierre Bosser....
About 3,000 French soldiers are stationed in Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad, Mauritania and Niger as part of an anti-terrorism operation.
In another similar incident, a leaked United Nations report in April alleged 16 French peacekeepers abused children in the Central African Republic by exchanging goods, such as food, for sex between December 2013 and June 2014....
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2015/07/01/Two-French-soldiers-suspended-over-child-abuse-allegations-in-Burkina-Faso/3721435747266/
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