Wednesday, June 29, 2016
Minnesota cult leader charged with 59 counts of child sex abuse, British paedophile sentenced to 85 years in US for trafficking child abuse images
Minnesota cult leader charged with 59 counts of child sex abuse
Published June 21, 2016 Fox News Latino
PINE CITY, Minn. (AP) – A judge set bail at $1.5 million Monday for a religious sect leader who's charged with sexually abusing girls at a secluded compound in rural Minnesota.
Victor Barnard, 54, made his first state court appearance since his extradition from Brazil. U.S. marshals delivered him to the Pine County Jail on Saturday.
Pine County prosecutors charged Barnard in April 2014 with 59 counts of criminal sexual conduct for allegedly having sexual relationships with two girls in his "Maidens Group" at his River Road Fellowship compound near Finlayson, about 90 miles north of Minneapolis.
The U.S. Marshals Service put him on its most wanted fugitives list, and authorities finally caught up with him in a Brazilian resort town in February 2015. Brazilian authorities said he had arrived in Brazil in March 2012....
According to the criminal complaint, the two women told investigators they were among about 10 girls and young women who were chosen to live apart from their families in what was called the Shepherd's Camp. One alleged Barnard started abusing her when she was 13, continuing until she was 22. The other said she was abused between ages 12 and 20.
Investigators have said Barnard used religious coercion and intimidation to maintain his control over them. They've also said they believe Barnard abused other girls but were unable to get others to come forward....
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2016/06/21/minnesota-cult-leader-charged-with-5-counts-child-sex-abuse/
British paedophile sentenced to 85 years in US for trafficking child abuse images
Domminich Shaw, a ‘kingpin’ of sexual violence against children, sent dozens of images online and discussed plans to assault and kill a child while on probation
Jon Swaine in New York Wednesday 29 June 2016
A convicted British paedophile has been sentenced to 85 years in an American prison for running an online exchange of child abuse images while he was on probation.
Domminich Shaw used the unprotected wireless internet connections of his neighbours in west London to traffic in dozens of videos and pictures of babies and toddlers being sexually abused. He also discussed a plan to kidnap, rape and murder a child.
Shaw, 35, began trading the material almost immediately after being released from a three-year prison sentence in the UK in 2008 for sexually assaulting four young girls, prosecutors said, raising questions about the supervision of British sex offenders.
Prosecutors said Shaw was “among the worst offenders involved in child pornography trafficking ever encountered by United States law enforcement” and they had requested a 570-year sentence. “No such person should be walking the streets,” they said.
He was sentenced this week by a federal judge in Indiana after pleading guilty to 26 charges including conspiracies to receive, distribute and advertise child abuse images. He was extradited from the UK in December 2014.
“Shaw was in every measurable respect the kingpin and primary promoter of sexual violence and abuse involving tragically young and vulnerable children” in his online circle of paedophiles, according to a court filing by the US government.
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He operated under the online name “Nepi”, an abbreviation of nepiophelia – sexual attraction towards babies and toddlers. He created and administered a website called “Nepi’s Kingdom” where paedophiles could download abuse images....
Shaw’s home in London was raided by the Metropolitan Police in January 2011. Officers found on a laptop, DVDs and memory sticks about 18,000 “carefully sorted” images of abused, dead and mutilated infants, a court filing said....
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/29/british-pedophile-domminich-shaw-sentenced-us
Monday, June 27, 2016
Man worked with his army abusers for decades after horrific apprentice ritual, Man jailed for 10 years for dozens of child abuse offences
Man worked with his army abusers for decades after horrific apprentice ritual
Daryl James tells royal commission he was assaulted in initiation ritual at army school of music on the Mornington peninsula
Royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse
Australian Associated Press
Thursday 23 June 2016
A promising young musician who was abused when he was a 15-year-old army apprentice says he had to work alongside his tormentors until he was medically discharged.
Adelaide man Daryl James told a child abuse royal commission hearing in Sydney on Thursday of “systemic, traditional and commonplace abuse” at the army’s apprentice school at Balcombe in Victoria in the 1970s....
James, who suffers from severe post traumatic stress disorder and has had surgery because of what happened at Balcombe, remembered early in his basic training a sergeant warned his class to protect themselves during “crab night”.
This was a ritual in which graduating senior apprentices victimised the new intake, called “sprogs”....
The abuse continued throughout his first year and he was too scared to report it....
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/jun/23/man-worked-with-army-abusers-decades-after-horrific-apprentice-ritual
Man jailed for 10 years for dozens of child abuse offences
Dean Farrar, 49, from Rochdale contacted thousands of underage girls on social media in attempt to persuade them to perform sexual acts on camera
Frances Perraudin Monday 27 June 2016
A serial child abuser who contacted 11,000 minors across the world on social media in attempt to get them to perform sexual acts has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Dean Farrar, 50, from Rochdale, pleaded guilty to a catalogue of sexual abuse crimes, including inciting a child under the age of 13 to engage in sexual activity, causing a child under the age of 13 to watch sexual activity, and possession and distribution of indecent images of children.
Police said Farrar had used his iPhone to contact about 11,000 children using the video chat apps Skype, Kik, Oovoo and Yik Yak between 2011 and 2014. Of those he contacted, 308 have been identified, 48 of whom were in the UK.
He was charged with 41 offences against 19 girls, including one aged eight. The police were also able to identify a further 157 offenders with whom Farrar had shared imagery. Using false profiles of teenage boys, Farrar would initiate contact with underage girls using video messaging platforms and persuade them to perform sex acts on camera and share indecent images of themselves....
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jun/27/dean-farrar-rochdale-jailed-child-sex-abuse-offences-social-media
Thursday, June 23, 2016
238 arrested in “Operation Heartbreak” sting on child predators in California, 1,400 accused busted nationwide
238 arrested in “Operation Heartbreak” sting on child predators in California, 1,400 accused perverts busted nationwide
BY Alfred Ng NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Hundreds of suspected child predators were busted in a two-month sting across Southern California, police announced Monday.
Among the 238 people arrested in the “Operation Broken Heart III” sweep by the Los Angeles Regional Internet Crimes against Children task force were clergy members, community leaders, entertainers and white-collar professionals, John Reynolds, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigations special agent said at a press conference.
There had been nearly 900 investigations with 250 search warrants out for possible predators during the sweep in April and May. “The incidents of child sexual exploitation has reached staggering proportions,” Reynolds told reporters....
On June 1, Kounzong Saebphang, a Buddhist monk from Laos, was arrested at his monastery in Riverside after investigators received a tip he was sharing child pornography. Police found child porn on the monk’s computer, and believe he also shared it through social media, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said.
Saebphang had been staying in California on a religious worker visa.
Former "Glee" star Mark Salling was charged with child pornography charges in Los Angeles on May 27. The region’s most high-profile arrest was Mark Salling, the former “Glee” star who was charged with receiving and possessing child pornography on May 27....
Nationwide, Operation Broken Heart III has busted up to 1,400 perverts. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/238-arrested-california-sting-child-predators-article-1.2682918
BY Alfred Ng NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Hundreds of suspected child predators were busted in a two-month sting across Southern California, police announced Monday.
Among the 238 people arrested in the “Operation Broken Heart III” sweep by the Los Angeles Regional Internet Crimes against Children task force were clergy members, community leaders, entertainers and white-collar professionals, John Reynolds, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigations special agent said at a press conference.
There had been nearly 900 investigations with 250 search warrants out for possible predators during the sweep in April and May. “The incidents of child sexual exploitation has reached staggering proportions,” Reynolds told reporters....
On June 1, Kounzong Saebphang, a Buddhist monk from Laos, was arrested at his monastery in Riverside after investigators received a tip he was sharing child pornography. Police found child porn on the monk’s computer, and believe he also shared it through social media, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said.
Saebphang had been staying in California on a religious worker visa.
Former "Glee" star Mark Salling was charged with child pornography charges in Los Angeles on May 27. The region’s most high-profile arrest was Mark Salling, the former “Glee” star who was charged with receiving and possessing child pornography on May 27....
Nationwide, Operation Broken Heart III has busted up to 1,400 perverts. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/238-arrested-california-sting-child-predators-article-1.2682918
Wednesday, June 22, 2016
Australian commission: Military cadets raped as initiation, Satanism in Britian - 60 Minutes
Satanism in Britian - 60 minutes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72OznY9ByZo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3kKRzp-awE
Australian commission: Military cadets raped as initiation
By Rebecca Wright, CNN Wed June 22, 2016
Teenage recruits were raped by staff and forced to rape each other as part of initiation practices in the Australian military going back to 1960, a public inquiry heard on Tuesday.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse is hearing evidence from men and women who say they were sexually abused when they were as young as 15, in certain divisions of the Australian defense force.
This commission is focusing on alleged abuse at the naval training center HMAS Leeuwin in Western Australia and the army apprentice school Balcombe in Victoria during the 1960s, '70s and '80s and also among cadets with the Australian defense force since 2000.
Pentagon: Sexual assault cases in the military remain constant
In total, 111 victims came forward to report abuse. More than a dozen of them will give evidence to the inquiry in Sydney, which continues until July 1.
"On multiple occasions, I was snatched from my bed in the middle of the night by older recruits and dragged to a sports oval," said one male witness who wasn't named.
The witness said he was forced to rape other recruits, and was raped himself by older recruits and staff.
"The environment made it useless to resist," he said. "One could stand only so much abuse before realizing that saying 'no' was pointless. After a while compliance and getting it over and done with seemed the best solution."
Many survivors say that when they reported the abuse, they were ignored, punished, or told it was "a rite of passage" in their initiation period....
http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/21/asia/australia-military-abuse/index.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72OznY9ByZo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3kKRzp-awE
Australian commission: Military cadets raped as initiation
By Rebecca Wright, CNN Wed June 22, 2016
Teenage recruits were raped by staff and forced to rape each other as part of initiation practices in the Australian military going back to 1960, a public inquiry heard on Tuesday.
The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse is hearing evidence from men and women who say they were sexually abused when they were as young as 15, in certain divisions of the Australian defense force.
This commission is focusing on alleged abuse at the naval training center HMAS Leeuwin in Western Australia and the army apprentice school Balcombe in Victoria during the 1960s, '70s and '80s and also among cadets with the Australian defense force since 2000.
Pentagon: Sexual assault cases in the military remain constant
In total, 111 victims came forward to report abuse. More than a dozen of them will give evidence to the inquiry in Sydney, which continues until July 1.
"On multiple occasions, I was snatched from my bed in the middle of the night by older recruits and dragged to a sports oval," said one male witness who wasn't named.
The witness said he was forced to rape other recruits, and was raped himself by older recruits and staff.
"The environment made it useless to resist," he said. "One could stand only so much abuse before realizing that saying 'no' was pointless. After a while compliance and getting it over and done with seemed the best solution."
Many survivors say that when they reported the abuse, they were ignored, punished, or told it was "a rite of passage" in their initiation period....
http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/21/asia/australia-military-abuse/index.html
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Michael Jackson Stockpiled Nude Images Of Children And Animal Torture - Police Report, N.Y. Legislature, Gov. Cuomo abandon child sex abuse victims, Dissecting Disbelief: Possible Reasons for the Denial of the Existence of Ritual Abuse in UK
- Michael Jackson Stockpiled Nude Images Of Children And Animal Torture, According To Police Report
- N.Y. Legislature, Gov. Cuomo abandon child sex abuse victims: ‘Our elected officials chose predators over victims’
- Dissecting Disbelief: Possible Reasons for the Denial of the Existence of Ritual Abuse in the United Kingdom
Michael Jackson Stockpiled Nude Images Of Children And Animal Torture, According To Police Report
Authorities seized more than 80 video recordings and computer hard drives, as well as notes, diaries, documents, photographs and audiotapes. 06/21/2016
Stephanie Marcus Senior Entertainment Editor, The Huffington Post
Police discovered Michael Jackson had a large collection of pornography, which included images of children, animal torture and gore, reportedly used in his bid to seduce young boys. The collection was revealed in newly surfaced documents obtained by RadarOnline that detail a raid on Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch estate in 2003, carried out as part of an investigation into child molestation charges against the singer.
According to previously unseen reports from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department, authorities seized more than 80 video recordings and computer hard drives, as well as notes, diaries, documents, photographs and audiotapes.
Former Santa Barbara Senior Assistant District Attorney Ron Zonen, who helped prosecute Jackson’s case, told RadarOnline that many of the materials found were used to “desensitize” children.
The police report describes several of the materials found at Jackson’s estate and notes that many of the books and images “can be used as part of a ‘grooming’ process by which people (those seeking to molest children) are able to lower the inhibitions of their intended victims and facilitate the molestation of said victims.”
One of the books found in Jackson’s possession was titled, Room to Play, which “contained numerous photographs of children.” According to the report, some of the images contained children’s faces superimposed on adult bodies with their private parts exposed.
Authorities also found numerous photos of children located inside a safe in the employee break room of Jackson’s home.
Jackson was charged with seven counts of child molestation and two counts of administering an intoxicating agent for the purpose of a committing a felony in 2003 after a young boy came forward claiming the singer molested him. In 2005, a jury acquitted him of all charges after a 14-week trial....
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/michael-jackson-stockpiled-child-porn-animal-torture-photos-according-to-newly-surfaced-report_us_5769644fe4b0a75709b7d847
N.Y. Legislature, Gov. Cuomo abandon child sex abuse victims: ‘Our elected officials chose predators over victims’ BY Kenneth Lovett DAILY NEWS ALBANY BUREAU CHIEF Saturday, June 18, 2016
ALBANY — In the end, state lawmakers protected the predators.
The state Legislature ended the 2016 legislative session about 5 a.m. Saturday without acting on legislation to help survivors of child sex abuse.
An all-night session to wrap up up the legislative year did not lead to a last-minute miracle that victims and advocates were hoping for.
"The survivors were thrown a tattered raft in this stormy session," said Kathryn Robb, an advocate and sexual abuse survivor.
Gary Greenberg, an upstate investor who was sexually abused as a child in 1966, said survivors won't forget when every seat in the Legislature is up for election.
He said Gov. Cuomo, the Assembly and Senate "turned their backs on thousands and thousands of child sex abuse victims and their families across New York State."
"It was not a priority," Greenberg added. "Our elected officials chose predators over victims."....
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/n-y-legislature-gov-cuomo-abandon-child-sex-abuse-victims-article-1.2678921
Dissecting Disbelief: Possible Reasons for the Denial of the Existence of Ritual Abuse in the United Kingdom
Kate Richardson Researcher in Child Abuse and Exploitation, United Kingdom (2015) www.crimejusticejournal.com
IJCJ&SD 2015 4 (2): 77-93 ISSN 2202–8005
Abstract When allegations of ritual abuse first came to light in the UK, they were met primarily with a ‘discourse of disbelief’ that left little room for the possibility accounts could be based in genuine experience. Despite convictions, recent criminological, sociological and psychological literature appears fixed on debunking ritual abuse’s existence through highly debated concepts such as ‘false memory’. This paper proposes three broad ‘reasons’ for the creation and maintenance of disbelief around ritual abuse, high lighting the importance of key cases in shaping press coverage of the issue during the 1980s and 1990s, and the role survivor advocates have played in distancing ritual abuse from established knowledge within both psychology and child protection. I argue that the tangibility of death and abject horror within survivor accounts, as well as the perceived religious motivations of perpetrators, make ritual abuse both experientially and conceptually alien to most members of late-modern societies. https://www.crimejusticejournal.com/article/viewFile/228/pdf
Petition to Stop Attacks Against Child Abuse and Ritual Abuse Survivors and Neil Brick
https://www.change.org/p/protect-child-abuse-survivors-petition-to-stop-attacks-against-child-abuse-and-ritual-abuse-survivors-and-neil-brick
- N.Y. Legislature, Gov. Cuomo abandon child sex abuse victims: ‘Our elected officials chose predators over victims’
- Dissecting Disbelief: Possible Reasons for the Denial of the Existence of Ritual Abuse in the United Kingdom
Michael Jackson Stockpiled Nude Images Of Children And Animal Torture, According To Police Report
Authorities seized more than 80 video recordings and computer hard drives, as well as notes, diaries, documents, photographs and audiotapes. 06/21/2016
Stephanie Marcus Senior Entertainment Editor, The Huffington Post
Police discovered Michael Jackson had a large collection of pornography, which included images of children, animal torture and gore, reportedly used in his bid to seduce young boys. The collection was revealed in newly surfaced documents obtained by RadarOnline that detail a raid on Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch estate in 2003, carried out as part of an investigation into child molestation charges against the singer.
According to previously unseen reports from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department, authorities seized more than 80 video recordings and computer hard drives, as well as notes, diaries, documents, photographs and audiotapes.
Former Santa Barbara Senior Assistant District Attorney Ron Zonen, who helped prosecute Jackson’s case, told RadarOnline that many of the materials found were used to “desensitize” children.
The police report describes several of the materials found at Jackson’s estate and notes that many of the books and images “can be used as part of a ‘grooming’ process by which people (those seeking to molest children) are able to lower the inhibitions of their intended victims and facilitate the molestation of said victims.”
One of the books found in Jackson’s possession was titled, Room to Play, which “contained numerous photographs of children.” According to the report, some of the images contained children’s faces superimposed on adult bodies with their private parts exposed.
Authorities also found numerous photos of children located inside a safe in the employee break room of Jackson’s home.
Jackson was charged with seven counts of child molestation and two counts of administering an intoxicating agent for the purpose of a committing a felony in 2003 after a young boy came forward claiming the singer molested him. In 2005, a jury acquitted him of all charges after a 14-week trial....
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/michael-jackson-stockpiled-child-porn-animal-torture-photos-according-to-newly-surfaced-report_us_5769644fe4b0a75709b7d847
N.Y. Legislature, Gov. Cuomo abandon child sex abuse victims: ‘Our elected officials chose predators over victims’ BY Kenneth Lovett DAILY NEWS ALBANY BUREAU CHIEF Saturday, June 18, 2016
ALBANY — In the end, state lawmakers protected the predators.
The state Legislature ended the 2016 legislative session about 5 a.m. Saturday without acting on legislation to help survivors of child sex abuse.
An all-night session to wrap up up the legislative year did not lead to a last-minute miracle that victims and advocates were hoping for.
"The survivors were thrown a tattered raft in this stormy session," said Kathryn Robb, an advocate and sexual abuse survivor.
Gary Greenberg, an upstate investor who was sexually abused as a child in 1966, said survivors won't forget when every seat in the Legislature is up for election.
He said Gov. Cuomo, the Assembly and Senate "turned their backs on thousands and thousands of child sex abuse victims and their families across New York State."
"It was not a priority," Greenberg added. "Our elected officials chose predators over victims."....
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/n-y-legislature-gov-cuomo-abandon-child-sex-abuse-victims-article-1.2678921
Dissecting Disbelief: Possible Reasons for the Denial of the Existence of Ritual Abuse in the United Kingdom
Kate Richardson Researcher in Child Abuse and Exploitation, United Kingdom (2015) www.crimejusticejournal.com
IJCJ&SD 2015 4 (2): 77-93 ISSN 2202–8005
Abstract When allegations of ritual abuse first came to light in the UK, they were met primarily with a ‘discourse of disbelief’ that left little room for the possibility accounts could be based in genuine experience. Despite convictions, recent criminological, sociological and psychological literature appears fixed on debunking ritual abuse’s existence through highly debated concepts such as ‘false memory’. This paper proposes three broad ‘reasons’ for the creation and maintenance of disbelief around ritual abuse, high lighting the importance of key cases in shaping press coverage of the issue during the 1980s and 1990s, and the role survivor advocates have played in distancing ritual abuse from established knowledge within both psychology and child protection. I argue that the tangibility of death and abject horror within survivor accounts, as well as the perceived religious motivations of perpetrators, make ritual abuse both experientially and conceptually alien to most members of late-modern societies. https://www.crimejusticejournal.com/article/viewFile/228/pdf
Petition to Stop Attacks Against Child Abuse and Ritual Abuse Survivors and Neil Brick
https://www.change.org/p/protect-child-abuse-survivors-petition-to-stop-attacks-against-child-abuse-and-ritual-abuse-survivors-and-neil-brick
Thursday, June 16, 2016
German prosecutors push for prison time for Colonia Dignidad member
German prosecutors push for prison time for Colonia Dignidad member
German prosecutors have asked a court to enforce a verdict from Chile and send fugitive Hartmut Hopp to jail. Hopp was among the top members of the Colonia Dignidad cult, and allegedly aided the sexual abuse of children.
In the 1980s, Hopp often acted as a spokesman for the cult
German officials urged the court to uphold Hopp's five-year sentence, a spokesman for the prosecutor's office in the western town of Krefeld said on Tuesday.
The 72-year-old doctor fled Chile in 2011, after a court in the South American country found him guilty of 16 counts of aiding child abuse. As a German citizen, Hopp is protected from extradition while in Germany.
During his time in Chile, Hopp was a member of a closed community called Colonia Dignidad, which consisted mostly of German expatriates. He also acted as a deputy and right-hand man to the enclave's founder, Paul Schäfer - a former Nazi and convicted pedophile.
The Chilean authorities have discovered that the community functioned as a cult, where children were abused for decades and residents forbidden to leave the colony. The cult leadership also cooperated with the Pinochet regime, which used Colonia Dignidad's premises as a torture camp and warehouse for weapons and poison gas....
http://www.dw.com/en/german-prosecutors-push-for-prison-time-for-colonia-dignidad-member/a-19312827
German prosecutors have asked a court to enforce a verdict from Chile and send fugitive Hartmut Hopp to jail. Hopp was among the top members of the Colonia Dignidad cult, and allegedly aided the sexual abuse of children.
In the 1980s, Hopp often acted as a spokesman for the cult
German officials urged the court to uphold Hopp's five-year sentence, a spokesman for the prosecutor's office in the western town of Krefeld said on Tuesday.
The 72-year-old doctor fled Chile in 2011, after a court in the South American country found him guilty of 16 counts of aiding child abuse. As a German citizen, Hopp is protected from extradition while in Germany.
During his time in Chile, Hopp was a member of a closed community called Colonia Dignidad, which consisted mostly of German expatriates. He also acted as a deputy and right-hand man to the enclave's founder, Paul Schäfer - a former Nazi and convicted pedophile.
The Chilean authorities have discovered that the community functioned as a cult, where children were abused for decades and residents forbidden to leave the colony. The cult leadership also cooperated with the Pinochet regime, which used Colonia Dignidad's premises as a torture camp and warehouse for weapons and poison gas....
http://www.dw.com/en/german-prosecutors-push-for-prison-time-for-colonia-dignidad-member/a-19312827
Tuesday, June 14, 2016
Petition to Stop Attacks Against Child Abuse and Ritual Abuse Survivors and Neil Brick
Petition to Stop Attacks Against Child Abuse and Ritual Abuse Survivors and Neil Brick
Copied with permission from: https://www.change.org/p/protect-child-abuse-survivors-petition-to-stop-attacks-against-child-abuse-and-ritual-abuse-survivors-and-neil-brick
Please sign this petition to show support for child abuse and ritual abuse survivors. One may use the check box below the signature area to keep your name confidential.
Petition
to Stop Attacks Against Child Abuse/Ritual Abuse Survivors and Neil
Brick. We are asking everyone to sign this petition and let others know
about it. Let's stop the attacks against child abuse survivors and their
helpers.
Recently vicious online attacks have been published by The Satanic Temple's Grey Faction and Douglas Mesner/Lucien Greaves. These have attacked the recent Survivorship Conference in Oakland, CA in May 2016 and Neil Brick, encouraging people to sign a petition to take away his license to practice therapy.
Neil Brick has always concentrated on getting out the truth of ritual abuse and child sexual abuse in general. Neil founded SMART in 1995 and started publishing a newsletter that included news and items of interest, announcements of books and articles, and in-depth discussions of issues. For almost two decades Neil he has organized conferences with the goals of "helping stop future occurrences of ritual abuse, helping survivors of ritual abuse, naming groups that have participated in alleged illegal activities, and uniting those working to stop ritual abuse."
For articles by Neil Brick: http://neilbrick.com
The Article Attacking the Survivorship Conference
The article originally had a video of Neil Brick, taken without his permission and posted on the Internet without his permission. This was at a private conference where video and audio recording is not permitted to protect the anonymity of the attendees, who were child abuse rape and trauma victims. It appears the person who recorded the video of Neil Brick used a fake name and misrepresented their reasons for attending the conference and did not tell the truth about their personal information. The Satanic Temple claims they sent observers to a Ritual Abuse survivors’ conference. Doug Mesner/Lucien Greaves and the Grey Faction have posted this video or links to it without Neil Brick's permission.
The video falsely insults Neil Brick by using the word paranoid to describe his presentation. Neil presents material backed by research during the video. The video discusses the use of hand signals to trigger certain mind states. In the video, Neil was asking people not to use hand signals during the conference. These signals (like hand signals) function as post-hypnotic suggestions, as anyone who is familiar with hypnosis will know. You might also remember Pavlov’s dog, who salivated at the sound of a bell. This is basic conditioning, stimulus-response. Child traffickers teach such signals to the children they traffic and they condition these children to respond immediately in particular ways and are used in many cults to control members. More complex conditioning can be done on human beings. It is well known that PTSD flashbacks can be triggered by certain stimuli (like sounds, smells or colors) in veterans, trauma and accident survivors. These survivors may totally believe they are back in the trauma situation and react as if they are in that situation. This is similar to the programmed triggers discussed in the conference and their programmed reactions.
The Grey Faction’s guest post makes other factually inaccurate statements.
These are discussed and disproved at:
Reply to the Satanic Temple’s Grey Faction online guest post.
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/reply-to-the-satanic-temples-grey-faction-online-guest-post/
The article attacking the Survivorship Conference repeats Doug Mesner/Lucien Greaves' claims about a vendor table at the 2009 Connecticut conference selling hats meant to block out electromagnetic signals. These were sold for health reasons. Doug Mesner has repeated the fact that one display table out of many at the conference had a hat (as well as many other items) used to protect the wearer from electromagnetism. He took this one thing totally out of proportion to attack and insult the Connecticut ritual abuse conferences.
(Doug did not tell conference coordinators he was coming to the 2009 conference to write an article, nor did he state he was a journalist. Since the conference was for child abuse rape survivors, the media was not allowed to attend to protect conference attendees’ anonymity and safety. He canceled his conference check after the conference.)
The article attacking the Survivorship Conference goes on to attack Neil Brick. It discussed how a complaint was filed against Neil Brick’s licensure in Massachusetts. This was filed by an out of state party that did not know Neil Brick professionally or personally. An previous online video discusses how the complaint was filed through one of their Grey Faction members to his licensing board and the board dismissed the complaint without prejudice. Neil Brick was found fit to practice with sound moral character after a full year of review from several sources. We believe these type of complaints may be part of a campaign to silence anti-child abuse advocates and their helpers. The article even makes fun of the name of one of the presenters.
The article attacking the Survivorship Conference stated that Neil Brick had claimed that he’d committed rape and murder while in an altered state of mind. Neil Brick does write about being forced as a small child to kill in a cult. This was against his will and many others have written about being forced to kill as children in cults and gangs. It is incorrect to extrapolate this further as an issue of moral character or adult competency. Children are victims forced to do things. We would not blame a child forced to hit another child by an adult. Nor would we blame or question the child now fully grown who was forced to do this. It is disingenuous to blame or judge an adult for what he was forced to do as a child. Neil Brick now works to help others learn more about these dangerous groups.
After the article was posted, continued bullying, online harassment, name calling and personal attacks occurred in the comment section under the article attacking the Survivorship Conference.
Attacks on Neil Brick including the Grey Faction’s Petition to Revoke the License of Neil Brick
Some of the attacks in this petition against Neil Brick in this petition were similar to those in the article attacking Survivorship and have been addressed above or at:
Reply to the Grey Faction’s Petition to Revoke the License of Neil Brick
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/reply-to-the-grey-factions-petition-to-revoke-the-license-of-neil-brick/
The petition states that The Allied Board of Health Professionals licensure division, having previously received a complaint....did nothing. The fact is that no violations were found and no disciplinary actions were taken. We believe that this new petition is part of the continued attacks against Neil Brick and those that help child and ritual abuse survivors.
The petition states there is a potential danger to health care consumers. But no such danger is proven in the letter or anywhere else. This is another false statement made by the Grey Faction without proof or evidence.
The petition states Neil Brick has a dangerous state-of-mind and unsubstantiated, delusional beliefs. This is pure conjecture and unproven. There is no real evidence presented anywhere of this and Neil’s evaluation during the filing of the previous complaint found there were no problems at all with Neil’s mental state. Neil’s beliefs are clearly substantiated with scientific research at https://ritualabuse.us The use of the pejorative terms in the petition mentioned above are unproven and are used to mischaracterize Neil Brick and his work.
The petition states that this child abuse research is directly relevant to Neil Brick’s Mental Health Care practice. But this is not true at all. Neil Brick’s research is backed by cited research, articles and journal sources at the https://ritualabuse.us website. Neil as a therapist never brings his outside life into his therapy practice, by setting appropriate therapeutic boundaries like any therapist or professional would.
The letter mentions violation of ethical standards and code of ethics, yet there is no evidence that Neil Brick has ever violated any ethical code or standard in his practice. The letter goes on to state that Neil Brick’s public lectures printed articles, etc. in no way represent appropriate counseling literature. But they aren’t meant as counseling literature. The letter states that Neil Brick’s public lectures printed articles and so on are not based on proper, scientific, or a rational assessment of available, empirical data, Of course this is pure conjecture and opinion also. The scientific research at the website https://ritualabuse.us proves this to be incorrect.
The petition to revoke Neil Brick's license states "While we are not privy to records that indicate methods of treatment employed in Neil Brick’s practice." We believe this is one of the most important parts of the letter. There is no evidence there are any problems with any methods of treatment Neil uses. An investigation by the board after a similar complaint those connected to the Grey Faction filed did not find any problems either. The letter continues to attack Neil claiming Neil "lacks a solid rational foundation" discussing the evaluation of scientific evidence. This is conjecture again and unproven. Neil repeatedly cites a wide variety of scientific sources at his website backing his conclusions. The letter discusses the Extreme Abuse Survey. This survey was only meant to be a preliminary study and is this is mentioned in their research. However the data found in the study is important due to the large number of responses and definitely not "worthless" as the petition mentions.
The petition mentions personal public statements made. Neil always clearly states the conferences and presentations are not meant as therapy or treatment. Previously there were a few clinician conferences where clinicians discussed important research and theories about severe abuse and trauma.
The petition mentions Neil Brick promotes implausible ideas, yet Neil’s ideas are backed by research and journal articles. If the Grey Faction decides to ignore or disbelieve this research, this does not mean Neil’s research is implausible. As previously stated, Neil does not and would never promote his research in his role as a licensed mental health care professional as this would be a clear violation of professional boundaries.
In our opinion, this is simply part of a continued pattern of on and offline attacks against Neil Brick and others who are trying to get the research out about child and ritual abuse and trauma. Do not believe the name calling and the inflammatory language used by Douglas Mesner/Lucien Greaves and the Grey Faction. Look at the facts, like the ones in this article and the urls at the end of the article. Those using name calling and the inflammatory language may want to sway your opinion without facts. Don't let this happen.
We ask that child abuse survivors and their advocates to continue publishing their research and not be silenced by these on and offline attacks. Continue to speak out about child abuse crimes and work to stop these crimes.
We ask you to sign this petition and let others know about it. Let's stop the attacks and bullying of child abuse survivors.
Here are additional articles with information about the online attacks of child and ritual abuse survivors by Doug Mesner/Lucien Greaves and the Grey Faction
Reply to the Grey Faction’s Petition to Revoke the License of Neil Brick
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/reply-to-the-grey-factions-petition-to-revoke-the-license-of-neil-brick/
Reply to the Satanic Temple’s Grey Faction online guest post
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/reply-to-the-satanic-temples-grey-faction-online-guest-post/
Rebuttal to the Grey Faction Lucien Greaves presentation about SMART and additional Grey Faction information about Neil Brick
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/rebuttal-to-the-grey-faction-lucien-greaves-presentation-about-smart-and-additional-grey-faction-information-about-neil-brick/
Douglas Misicko alias Douglas Mesner update 7 - Radio Interview Rebuttal
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner-update-7-radio-interview-rebuttal/
Douglas Mesner and the Lucien Greaves Satanic Temple Connection
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-mesner-and-the-lucien-greaves-satanic-temple-connection/
Information for this petition came in part from http://ritualabuse.us
Recently vicious online attacks have been published by The Satanic Temple's Grey Faction and Douglas Mesner/Lucien Greaves. These have attacked the recent Survivorship Conference in Oakland, CA in May 2016 and Neil Brick, encouraging people to sign a petition to take away his license to practice therapy.
Neil Brick has always concentrated on getting out the truth of ritual abuse and child sexual abuse in general. Neil founded SMART in 1995 and started publishing a newsletter that included news and items of interest, announcements of books and articles, and in-depth discussions of issues. For almost two decades Neil he has organized conferences with the goals of "helping stop future occurrences of ritual abuse, helping survivors of ritual abuse, naming groups that have participated in alleged illegal activities, and uniting those working to stop ritual abuse."
For articles by Neil Brick: http://neilbrick.com
The Article Attacking the Survivorship Conference
The article originally had a video of Neil Brick, taken without his permission and posted on the Internet without his permission. This was at a private conference where video and audio recording is not permitted to protect the anonymity of the attendees, who were child abuse rape and trauma victims. It appears the person who recorded the video of Neil Brick used a fake name and misrepresented their reasons for attending the conference and did not tell the truth about their personal information. The Satanic Temple claims they sent observers to a Ritual Abuse survivors’ conference. Doug Mesner/Lucien Greaves and the Grey Faction have posted this video or links to it without Neil Brick's permission.
The video falsely insults Neil Brick by using the word paranoid to describe his presentation. Neil presents material backed by research during the video. The video discusses the use of hand signals to trigger certain mind states. In the video, Neil was asking people not to use hand signals during the conference. These signals (like hand signals) function as post-hypnotic suggestions, as anyone who is familiar with hypnosis will know. You might also remember Pavlov’s dog, who salivated at the sound of a bell. This is basic conditioning, stimulus-response. Child traffickers teach such signals to the children they traffic and they condition these children to respond immediately in particular ways and are used in many cults to control members. More complex conditioning can be done on human beings. It is well known that PTSD flashbacks can be triggered by certain stimuli (like sounds, smells or colors) in veterans, trauma and accident survivors. These survivors may totally believe they are back in the trauma situation and react as if they are in that situation. This is similar to the programmed triggers discussed in the conference and their programmed reactions.
The Grey Faction’s guest post makes other factually inaccurate statements.
These are discussed and disproved at:
Reply to the Satanic Temple’s Grey Faction online guest post.
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/reply-to-the-satanic-temples-grey-faction-online-guest-post/
The article attacking the Survivorship Conference repeats Doug Mesner/Lucien Greaves' claims about a vendor table at the 2009 Connecticut conference selling hats meant to block out electromagnetic signals. These were sold for health reasons. Doug Mesner has repeated the fact that one display table out of many at the conference had a hat (as well as many other items) used to protect the wearer from electromagnetism. He took this one thing totally out of proportion to attack and insult the Connecticut ritual abuse conferences.
(Doug did not tell conference coordinators he was coming to the 2009 conference to write an article, nor did he state he was a journalist. Since the conference was for child abuse rape survivors, the media was not allowed to attend to protect conference attendees’ anonymity and safety. He canceled his conference check after the conference.)
The article attacking the Survivorship Conference goes on to attack Neil Brick. It discussed how a complaint was filed against Neil Brick’s licensure in Massachusetts. This was filed by an out of state party that did not know Neil Brick professionally or personally. An previous online video discusses how the complaint was filed through one of their Grey Faction members to his licensing board and the board dismissed the complaint without prejudice. Neil Brick was found fit to practice with sound moral character after a full year of review from several sources. We believe these type of complaints may be part of a campaign to silence anti-child abuse advocates and their helpers. The article even makes fun of the name of one of the presenters.
The article attacking the Survivorship Conference stated that Neil Brick had claimed that he’d committed rape and murder while in an altered state of mind. Neil Brick does write about being forced as a small child to kill in a cult. This was against his will and many others have written about being forced to kill as children in cults and gangs. It is incorrect to extrapolate this further as an issue of moral character or adult competency. Children are victims forced to do things. We would not blame a child forced to hit another child by an adult. Nor would we blame or question the child now fully grown who was forced to do this. It is disingenuous to blame or judge an adult for what he was forced to do as a child. Neil Brick now works to help others learn more about these dangerous groups.
After the article was posted, continued bullying, online harassment, name calling and personal attacks occurred in the comment section under the article attacking the Survivorship Conference.
Attacks on Neil Brick including the Grey Faction’s Petition to Revoke the License of Neil Brick
Some of the attacks in this petition against Neil Brick in this petition were similar to those in the article attacking Survivorship and have been addressed above or at:
Reply to the Grey Faction’s Petition to Revoke the License of Neil Brick
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/reply-to-the-grey-factions-petition-to-revoke-the-license-of-neil-brick/
The petition states that The Allied Board of Health Professionals licensure division, having previously received a complaint....did nothing. The fact is that no violations were found and no disciplinary actions were taken. We believe that this new petition is part of the continued attacks against Neil Brick and those that help child and ritual abuse survivors.
The petition states there is a potential danger to health care consumers. But no such danger is proven in the letter or anywhere else. This is another false statement made by the Grey Faction without proof or evidence.
The petition states Neil Brick has a dangerous state-of-mind and unsubstantiated, delusional beliefs. This is pure conjecture and unproven. There is no real evidence presented anywhere of this and Neil’s evaluation during the filing of the previous complaint found there were no problems at all with Neil’s mental state. Neil’s beliefs are clearly substantiated with scientific research at https://ritualabuse.us The use of the pejorative terms in the petition mentioned above are unproven and are used to mischaracterize Neil Brick and his work.
The petition states that this child abuse research is directly relevant to Neil Brick’s Mental Health Care practice. But this is not true at all. Neil Brick’s research is backed by cited research, articles and journal sources at the https://ritualabuse.us website. Neil as a therapist never brings his outside life into his therapy practice, by setting appropriate therapeutic boundaries like any therapist or professional would.
The letter mentions violation of ethical standards and code of ethics, yet there is no evidence that Neil Brick has ever violated any ethical code or standard in his practice. The letter goes on to state that Neil Brick’s public lectures printed articles, etc. in no way represent appropriate counseling literature. But they aren’t meant as counseling literature. The letter states that Neil Brick’s public lectures printed articles and so on are not based on proper, scientific, or a rational assessment of available, empirical data, Of course this is pure conjecture and opinion also. The scientific research at the website https://ritualabuse.us proves this to be incorrect.
The petition to revoke Neil Brick's license states "While we are not privy to records that indicate methods of treatment employed in Neil Brick’s practice." We believe this is one of the most important parts of the letter. There is no evidence there are any problems with any methods of treatment Neil uses. An investigation by the board after a similar complaint those connected to the Grey Faction filed did not find any problems either. The letter continues to attack Neil claiming Neil "lacks a solid rational foundation" discussing the evaluation of scientific evidence. This is conjecture again and unproven. Neil repeatedly cites a wide variety of scientific sources at his website backing his conclusions. The letter discusses the Extreme Abuse Survey. This survey was only meant to be a preliminary study and is this is mentioned in their research. However the data found in the study is important due to the large number of responses and definitely not "worthless" as the petition mentions.
The petition mentions personal public statements made. Neil always clearly states the conferences and presentations are not meant as therapy or treatment. Previously there were a few clinician conferences where clinicians discussed important research and theories about severe abuse and trauma.
The petition mentions Neil Brick promotes implausible ideas, yet Neil’s ideas are backed by research and journal articles. If the Grey Faction decides to ignore or disbelieve this research, this does not mean Neil’s research is implausible. As previously stated, Neil does not and would never promote his research in his role as a licensed mental health care professional as this would be a clear violation of professional boundaries.
In our opinion, this is simply part of a continued pattern of on and offline attacks against Neil Brick and others who are trying to get the research out about child and ritual abuse and trauma. Do not believe the name calling and the inflammatory language used by Douglas Mesner/Lucien Greaves and the Grey Faction. Look at the facts, like the ones in this article and the urls at the end of the article. Those using name calling and the inflammatory language may want to sway your opinion without facts. Don't let this happen.
We ask that child abuse survivors and their advocates to continue publishing their research and not be silenced by these on and offline attacks. Continue to speak out about child abuse crimes and work to stop these crimes.
We ask you to sign this petition and let others know about it. Let's stop the attacks and bullying of child abuse survivors.
Here are additional articles with information about the online attacks of child and ritual abuse survivors by Doug Mesner/Lucien Greaves and the Grey Faction
Reply to the Grey Faction’s Petition to Revoke the License of Neil Brick
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/reply-to-the-grey-factions-petition-to-revoke-the-license-of-neil-brick/
Reply to the Satanic Temple’s Grey Faction online guest post
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/reply-to-the-satanic-temples-grey-faction-online-guest-post/
Rebuttal to the Grey Faction Lucien Greaves presentation about SMART and additional Grey Faction information about Neil Brick
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/rebuttal-to-the-grey-faction-lucien-greaves-presentation-about-smart-and-additional-grey-faction-information-about-neil-brick/
Douglas Misicko alias Douglas Mesner update 7 - Radio Interview Rebuttal
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner-update-7-radio-interview-rebuttal/
Douglas Mesner and the Lucien Greaves Satanic Temple Connection
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-mesner-and-the-lucien-greaves-satanic-temple-connection/
Information for this petition came in part from http://ritualabuse.us
Wednesday, June 8, 2016
Reply to the Satanic Temple’s Grey Faction online guest post.
Reply to the Satanic Temple’s Grey Faction online guest post.
Doug Mesner/Lucien Greaves (both aliases) is the co-founder of the Satanic Temple and one of the presenters for the Grey Faction. This article discusses the continuing attacks and online harassment of Neil Brick and S.M.A.R.T. by these groups and others.
This article represents the views of the S.M.A.R.T. Newsletter and their website.
Copied with permission from https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/reply-to-the-satanic-temples-grey-faction-online-guest-post/
Recently another article attacking S.M.A.R.T., Neil Brick and the child abuse/ritual abuse field appeared on the Internet, called “The Satanic Temple sent observers to a Ritual Abuse survivors’ conference.” The article states it is a guest post and a collaboration produced by The Satanic Temple’s Grey Faction. S.M.A.R.T. has replied to the Grey Faction’s misinformation previously in this article:
Rebuttal to the Grey Faction Lucien Greaves presentation about SMART and additional Grey Faction information about Neil Brick https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/rebuttal-to-the-grey-faction-lucien-greaves-presentation-about-smart-and-additional-grey-faction-information-about-neil-brick/
The Grey Faction’s views of the ritual abuse field and recovered memory are inaccurate.
Accurate scientific information is at:
Proof the Ritual Abuse Exists https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/
Ritual Abuse References
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/studies/satanic-ritual-abuse-evidence-with-information-on-the-mcmartin-preschool-case/
Research https://ritualabuse.us/research/
Recovered Memories https://ritualabuse.us/research/memory-fms/recovered-memory-corroboration-rates/
Please don't forget to read the conclusion at the end of the article.
Update: Continued bullying, online harassment, name calling and personal attacks are occurring in the comment section under the Satanic Temple’s Grey Faction online guest post. New aliases believed to belong to Doug Mesner/Lucien Greaves (also aliases) continue these comments. These comments continue to attack Neil Brick for not allowing hands to go to the face which could be hand signals at the conference.
One poster (defending survivors) in the comment section wrote:
"Thank you for allowing my clarification of hand signals to be posted on the website. These signals function as post-hypnotic suggestions, as anyone who is familiar with hypnosis will know. You might also remember Pavlov's dog, who salivated at the sound of a bell. This is basic conditioning, stimulus-response. Child traffickers teach such signals to the children they traffic and they condition these children to respond immediately in particular ways."
Hand signals are also discussed below.
Yet commenters below the article continue to make fun off and insult Neil Brick for this conference guideline.
The guest post has a video of Neil Brick, recorded without permission at a private conference where video and audio recording is not permitted to protect the anonymity of the attendees, who were rape and trauma victims. It appears the person who recorded the video of Neil Brick misrepresented their reasons for attending the conference and did not tell the truth about their personal information. The video falsely insults Neil Brick by using the word paranoid to describe his presentation. Neil presents material backed by research during the video. The video discusses the use of hand signals to trigger certain mind states.
It is well known in the scientific field that triggers or certain stimuli can trigger mind states and/or thought patterns. In the modern era, Pavlov did extensive research on classical conditioning, where a conditioned stimuli produces a conditioned response. His dogs would salivate when they heard a bell without the presence of food. More complex conditioning can be done on human beings.
It is well known that PTSD flashbacks can be triggered by certain stimuli (like sounds, smells or colors) in veterans, trauma and accident survivors. These survivors may totally believe they are back in the trauma situation and react as if they are in that situation. This is similar to the programmed triggers discussed in the conference and their programmed reactions.
An article written by Neil Brick describes this phenomenon:
How Cues and Programming Work in Mind Control and Propaganda https://ritualabuse.us/mindcontrol/how-cues-and-programming-work-in-mind-control-and-propaganda/
“Programming is similar to this in several ways. A survivor may be tortured repeatedly until an new alter is created. This alter will be given a cue to let them know when to come out, this could be a smell, word, number, sound, color and so on. This cue is either paired with the alter’s creation and is given to the alter to listen for or to look for.”
The Grey Faction’s guest post makes other factually inaccurate statements.
The article calls these bizarre, irrational and paranoid claims. But are they?
1) “Your spouse or your lover is not to be trusted” as they may be used by the cult to control the victim. The reality is that many famous cults use this technique frequently. Some people are used to report back to the cult on their spouse. Others are used to remind people of what will happen if they leave the cult.
2) “using trauma-based mind-control to completely subjugate their victims, begin programming victims at the earliest possible age.” This is very possible. It is well known that very early childhood trauma can destabilize a victim and make them susceptible to attachment, anxiety, mood and trauma disorders.
3) In “the conference there was a….prohibition against touching one’s face.” Touching one’s face can be a triggered just like Pavlov’s dogs hearing a bell or a war veteran hearing a firecracker and having a flashback.
The guest post states: “Researchers have found that the average individual touches her/his face 3.6 times per hour.” It describes that this is a natural, human behavior.
This does not mean touching one’s face cannot be used a conditioned stimuli, just like a firecracker could trigger a flashback in a veteran or a bell could trigger Pavlov’s dogs. Anything can be a conditioned stimuli, including hand signals.
4) The guest post discusses that Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) may be intentionally induced as a means of mind-control. There is scientific evidence this is true. Journal articles and scientific research discussing this phenomenon are at https://ritualabuse.us
5) Cults may look for former members in different social and clinical settings. This has been verified by many trauma survivors. The article states “This served as a way to discredit medical professionals outside of” certain ritual abuse survivor groups. This is not true and no statements were made to this effect at the conference.
6) The guest post stated “Ritual Abuse was presented throughout the conference as the first place to start when investigating any personal ailment, rather than a last option after all avenues of modern medicine are exhausted.” This is totally false. Professionals recommend ruling out medical causes before looking at mental health causes. It is true that trauma may cause certain health symptoms. This is discussed and well researched in the very large study: Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/acestudy/
“Childhood experiences, both positive and negative, have a tremendous impact on future violence victimization and perpetration, and lifelong health and opportunity.”
7) The guest post states “Therapy is not a quest for truth, and the reality of what may or may not have happened is irrelevant.” The guest post states this is an absurd claim. A doctor may be more concerned about fixing a broken leg than finding out the cause of why it was broken and proving whether this cause is true or not. Another doctor may be more concerned about stopping an infection than finding out the cause. Therapy is the same. Symptom relief is often the most important goal of therapy. In other words, if a client suffers from depression, the goal is to decrease their depression symptoms. This may or may not entail discussing the symptoms’ causes and it is unlikely there would be an investigation of the reasons why the person is depressed.
8) The guest post states therapy should help “provid(e) mental health consumers with the cognitive tools to distinguish fantasy from reality.” The important question here is what is fantasy, and what is reality. Child abuse skeptics do not believe these ritual abuse crimes exist, and this belief is inaccurate. It would be inappropriate to promote this false skeptical belief.
9) The guest post states: “Whenever someone tried to ask about efforts to catch the cults and bring them to justice, the presenters turned it around by claiming that the cults are too secretive and far reaching to expose and that their primary focus as therapists and ritual abuse survivor advocates is to heal the victim rather than go after the abusers.” How would one go after the abusers if these crimes happened 30 or more years ago? The other problem is getting adequate support to bring perpetrators to justice. It sometimes took decades to bring the Catholic Church, certain Satanic groups and even Bill Cosby to justice, even though there were many victims and some came forward to authorities and were ignored. Of course, bringing the perpetrators to justice would be the best idea, but inaccurate skeptical articles like the guest post make this more difficult.
10) The guest post states; “[one is advised not to] try to understand why these cults do the horrible things they do.” Actually this was discussed at times during the conference. But more importantly, stopping these crimes and helping the victims of these crimes comes first.
The article repeats Doug Mesner’s (alias Lucien Greaves) claims about a vendor table at the 2009 Connecticut conference selling hats meant to block out electromagnetic signals. These were sold for health reasons. Doug did not tell conference coordinators he was coming to the 2009 conference to write an article, nor did he state he was a journalist. Since the conference was for rape survivors, the media was not allowed to attend to protect conference attendees’ anonymity and safety.
S.M.A.R.T. replied to this in our “Douglas Misicko alias Douglas Mesner update 6” article. https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner-update-6-examiner-com-article/
Doug Mesner (alias Lucien Greaves) repeated the fact that one display table out of many at the conference had a hat (as well as many other items) used to protect the wearer from electromagnetism. He took this one thing totally out of proportion to attack the conference. He used this to attack and insult our conference and our work, ignoring the strong research base backing the reality of ritual abuse and the many presentations at our conference verifying the reality of ritual abuse. In the original article, he used the terms “lunacy” and “delusional assertions” to further insult the work of S.M.A.R.T. Mr. Mesner continues taking facts out of context and using these to disparage Neil Brick and S.M.A.R.T.
The guest post states: “Combating child sexual abuse and human trafficking are unquestionably noble causes.” Yet it appears that the Grey Faction and Doug Mesner spend much more time attacking child abuse survivors and their stories, than combating them.
Ellen Lacter wrote an interesting article a few years ago called “Common Forms of Misinformation and Tactics of Disinformation about Psychotherapy for Trauma Originating in Ritual Abuse and Mind Control” December 18, 2012.
This page on my website seeks to expose a number of common forms of misinformation and tactics of disinformation about psychotherapy for trauma originating in ritual abuse and mind control. Disinformation is distinguished from misinformation in that it is intentionally fraudulent. Misinformation and disinformation about ritual abuse and mind control trauma and psychotherapy to treat such trauma appear in both paper and electronic media, but are particularly abundant on the Internet on websites of individuals and organizations, bookseller reviews, blogs, newsletters, online encyclopedias, social networking sites, and e-group listservs…..Disclaimer: This page neither cites, quotes, names, nor alludes to any specific paper or electronic articles or statements by individual. Any similarity between examples of misinformation or disinformation used herein and actual articles or other statements is purely coincidental. http://endritualabuse.org/activism/misinfo/
The guest post then goes on to attack Neil Brick. It discussed how a complaint was filed against Neil Brick’s licensure in Massachusetts. This was filed by an out of state party that did not know Neil Brick professionally or personally. An previous online video discusses how the complaint was filed through one of their Grey Faction members and to his licensing board and they dismissed the complaint without prejudice.
The complaint was dismissed and Neil Brick was found fit to practice with sound moral character after a full year of review from several sources. SMART believes these type of complaints may be part of a harassment campaign to silence anti-child abuse advocates and helpers.
The guest post states: Neil Brick “had claimed that he’d committed rape and murder while in an altered state of mind.” Neil Brick does write about being forced as a small child to kill in a cult. This was against his will and many others have written about being forced to kill as children in cults and gangs. It is incorrect to extrapolate this further as an issue of moral character or adult competency. Children are victims forced to do things. We would not blame a child forced to hit another child by an adult. Nor would we blame or question the child now fully grown who was forced to do this.
The guest post discusses Neil Brick’s statement about cult members trying to look normal to find former cult members to possibly victimize. Most criminals and people who want to hurt others want to look normal. A thief would not have a sign stating “thief” on them. Likewise, one wanting to hurt a cult member or survivor would not want to indicate they are doing this. It makes sense to look for other indicators to check a person out. This is similar to a person who is a victim of violence as a child checking out a partner thoroughly to make sure they do not become a victim of domestic violence as an adult.
In conclusion, the guest post by the Satanic Temple’s Grey Faction criticizes the strong research and theories of ritual abuse survivors and those with years of research, experience and education in the trauma field. (The members of the Grey Faction have unknown credentials and may not have the experience to accurately determine trauma theory and research.) The guest post by the Satanic Temple’s Grey Faction presents inaccurate arguments, which are refuted in this article. The Grey Faction claims they are combating pseudoscience with rational inquiry, but this “rational inquiry” is actually predetermined opinion, bolstered by name calling, ad hominem attacks and insults. There is no real “rational inquiry” because there is no evidence that all of the facts were looked at neutrally to derive a conclusion. It appears the only facts considered were the ones that back their arguments. In its articles, the Grey Faction hides behind the name of science and rationality, when in reality it appears it is an advocacy organization used to discredit ritual abuse survivors realities’ and their resources.
Doug Mesner/Lucien Greaves (both aliases) is the co-founder of the Satanic Temple and one of the presenters for the Grey Faction. This article discusses the continuing attacks and online harassment of Neil Brick and S.M.A.R.T. by these groups and others.
This article represents the views of the S.M.A.R.T. Newsletter and their website.
Copied with permission from https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/reply-to-the-satanic-temples-grey-faction-online-guest-post/
Recently another article attacking S.M.A.R.T., Neil Brick and the child abuse/ritual abuse field appeared on the Internet, called “The Satanic Temple sent observers to a Ritual Abuse survivors’ conference.” The article states it is a guest post and a collaboration produced by The Satanic Temple’s Grey Faction. S.M.A.R.T. has replied to the Grey Faction’s misinformation previously in this article:
Rebuttal to the Grey Faction Lucien Greaves presentation about SMART and additional Grey Faction information about Neil Brick https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/rebuttal-to-the-grey-faction-lucien-greaves-presentation-about-smart-and-additional-grey-faction-information-about-neil-brick/
The Grey Faction’s views of the ritual abuse field and recovered memory are inaccurate.
Accurate scientific information is at:
Proof the Ritual Abuse Exists https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/
Ritual Abuse References
https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/studies/satanic-ritual-abuse-evidence-with-information-on-the-mcmartin-preschool-case/
Research https://ritualabuse.us/research/
Recovered Memories https://ritualabuse.us/research/memory-fms/recovered-memory-corroboration-rates/
Please don't forget to read the conclusion at the end of the article.
Update: Continued bullying, online harassment, name calling and personal attacks are occurring in the comment section under the Satanic Temple’s Grey Faction online guest post. New aliases believed to belong to Doug Mesner/Lucien Greaves (also aliases) continue these comments. These comments continue to attack Neil Brick for not allowing hands to go to the face which could be hand signals at the conference.
One poster (defending survivors) in the comment section wrote:
"Thank you for allowing my clarification of hand signals to be posted on the website. These signals function as post-hypnotic suggestions, as anyone who is familiar with hypnosis will know. You might also remember Pavlov's dog, who salivated at the sound of a bell. This is basic conditioning, stimulus-response. Child traffickers teach such signals to the children they traffic and they condition these children to respond immediately in particular ways."
Hand signals are also discussed below.
Yet commenters below the article continue to make fun off and insult Neil Brick for this conference guideline.
The guest post has a video of Neil Brick, recorded without permission at a private conference where video and audio recording is not permitted to protect the anonymity of the attendees, who were rape and trauma victims. It appears the person who recorded the video of Neil Brick misrepresented their reasons for attending the conference and did not tell the truth about their personal information. The video falsely insults Neil Brick by using the word paranoid to describe his presentation. Neil presents material backed by research during the video. The video discusses the use of hand signals to trigger certain mind states.
It is well known in the scientific field that triggers or certain stimuli can trigger mind states and/or thought patterns. In the modern era, Pavlov did extensive research on classical conditioning, where a conditioned stimuli produces a conditioned response. His dogs would salivate when they heard a bell without the presence of food. More complex conditioning can be done on human beings.
It is well known that PTSD flashbacks can be triggered by certain stimuli (like sounds, smells or colors) in veterans, trauma and accident survivors. These survivors may totally believe they are back in the trauma situation and react as if they are in that situation. This is similar to the programmed triggers discussed in the conference and their programmed reactions.
An article written by Neil Brick describes this phenomenon:
How Cues and Programming Work in Mind Control and Propaganda https://ritualabuse.us/mindcontrol/how-cues-and-programming-work-in-mind-control-and-propaganda/
“Programming is similar to this in several ways. A survivor may be tortured repeatedly until an new alter is created. This alter will be given a cue to let them know when to come out, this could be a smell, word, number, sound, color and so on. This cue is either paired with the alter’s creation and is given to the alter to listen for or to look for.”
The Grey Faction’s guest post makes other factually inaccurate statements.
The article calls these bizarre, irrational and paranoid claims. But are they?
1) “Your spouse or your lover is not to be trusted” as they may be used by the cult to control the victim. The reality is that many famous cults use this technique frequently. Some people are used to report back to the cult on their spouse. Others are used to remind people of what will happen if they leave the cult.
2) “using trauma-based mind-control to completely subjugate their victims, begin programming victims at the earliest possible age.” This is very possible. It is well known that very early childhood trauma can destabilize a victim and make them susceptible to attachment, anxiety, mood and trauma disorders.
3) In “the conference there was a….prohibition against touching one’s face.” Touching one’s face can be a triggered just like Pavlov’s dogs hearing a bell or a war veteran hearing a firecracker and having a flashback.
The guest post states: “Researchers have found that the average individual touches her/his face 3.6 times per hour.” It describes that this is a natural, human behavior.
This does not mean touching one’s face cannot be used a conditioned stimuli, just like a firecracker could trigger a flashback in a veteran or a bell could trigger Pavlov’s dogs. Anything can be a conditioned stimuli, including hand signals.
4) The guest post discusses that Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) may be intentionally induced as a means of mind-control. There is scientific evidence this is true. Journal articles and scientific research discussing this phenomenon are at https://ritualabuse.us
5) Cults may look for former members in different social and clinical settings. This has been verified by many trauma survivors. The article states “This served as a way to discredit medical professionals outside of” certain ritual abuse survivor groups. This is not true and no statements were made to this effect at the conference.
6) The guest post stated “Ritual Abuse was presented throughout the conference as the first place to start when investigating any personal ailment, rather than a last option after all avenues of modern medicine are exhausted.” This is totally false. Professionals recommend ruling out medical causes before looking at mental health causes. It is true that trauma may cause certain health symptoms. This is discussed and well researched in the very large study: Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/acestudy/
“Childhood experiences, both positive and negative, have a tremendous impact on future violence victimization and perpetration, and lifelong health and opportunity.”
7) The guest post states “Therapy is not a quest for truth, and the reality of what may or may not have happened is irrelevant.” The guest post states this is an absurd claim. A doctor may be more concerned about fixing a broken leg than finding out the cause of why it was broken and proving whether this cause is true or not. Another doctor may be more concerned about stopping an infection than finding out the cause. Therapy is the same. Symptom relief is often the most important goal of therapy. In other words, if a client suffers from depression, the goal is to decrease their depression symptoms. This may or may not entail discussing the symptoms’ causes and it is unlikely there would be an investigation of the reasons why the person is depressed.
8) The guest post states therapy should help “provid(e) mental health consumers with the cognitive tools to distinguish fantasy from reality.” The important question here is what is fantasy, and what is reality. Child abuse skeptics do not believe these ritual abuse crimes exist, and this belief is inaccurate. It would be inappropriate to promote this false skeptical belief.
9) The guest post states: “Whenever someone tried to ask about efforts to catch the cults and bring them to justice, the presenters turned it around by claiming that the cults are too secretive and far reaching to expose and that their primary focus as therapists and ritual abuse survivor advocates is to heal the victim rather than go after the abusers.” How would one go after the abusers if these crimes happened 30 or more years ago? The other problem is getting adequate support to bring perpetrators to justice. It sometimes took decades to bring the Catholic Church, certain Satanic groups and even Bill Cosby to justice, even though there were many victims and some came forward to authorities and were ignored. Of course, bringing the perpetrators to justice would be the best idea, but inaccurate skeptical articles like the guest post make this more difficult.
10) The guest post states; “[one is advised not to] try to understand why these cults do the horrible things they do.” Actually this was discussed at times during the conference. But more importantly, stopping these crimes and helping the victims of these crimes comes first.
The article repeats Doug Mesner’s (alias Lucien Greaves) claims about a vendor table at the 2009 Connecticut conference selling hats meant to block out electromagnetic signals. These were sold for health reasons. Doug did not tell conference coordinators he was coming to the 2009 conference to write an article, nor did he state he was a journalist. Since the conference was for rape survivors, the media was not allowed to attend to protect conference attendees’ anonymity and safety.
S.M.A.R.T. replied to this in our “Douglas Misicko alias Douglas Mesner update 6” article. https://ritualabuse.us/ritualabuse/douglas-misicko-alias-douglas-mesner-update-6-examiner-com-article/
Doug Mesner (alias Lucien Greaves) repeated the fact that one display table out of many at the conference had a hat (as well as many other items) used to protect the wearer from electromagnetism. He took this one thing totally out of proportion to attack the conference. He used this to attack and insult our conference and our work, ignoring the strong research base backing the reality of ritual abuse and the many presentations at our conference verifying the reality of ritual abuse. In the original article, he used the terms “lunacy” and “delusional assertions” to further insult the work of S.M.A.R.T. Mr. Mesner continues taking facts out of context and using these to disparage Neil Brick and S.M.A.R.T.
The guest post states: “Combating child sexual abuse and human trafficking are unquestionably noble causes.” Yet it appears that the Grey Faction and Doug Mesner spend much more time attacking child abuse survivors and their stories, than combating them.
Ellen Lacter wrote an interesting article a few years ago called “Common Forms of Misinformation and Tactics of Disinformation about Psychotherapy for Trauma Originating in Ritual Abuse and Mind Control” December 18, 2012.
This page on my website seeks to expose a number of common forms of misinformation and tactics of disinformation about psychotherapy for trauma originating in ritual abuse and mind control. Disinformation is distinguished from misinformation in that it is intentionally fraudulent. Misinformation and disinformation about ritual abuse and mind control trauma and psychotherapy to treat such trauma appear in both paper and electronic media, but are particularly abundant on the Internet on websites of individuals and organizations, bookseller reviews, blogs, newsletters, online encyclopedias, social networking sites, and e-group listservs…..Disclaimer: This page neither cites, quotes, names, nor alludes to any specific paper or electronic articles or statements by individual. Any similarity between examples of misinformation or disinformation used herein and actual articles or other statements is purely coincidental. http://endritualabuse.org/activism/misinfo/
The guest post then goes on to attack Neil Brick. It discussed how a complaint was filed against Neil Brick’s licensure in Massachusetts. This was filed by an out of state party that did not know Neil Brick professionally or personally. An previous online video discusses how the complaint was filed through one of their Grey Faction members and to his licensing board and they dismissed the complaint without prejudice.
The complaint was dismissed and Neil Brick was found fit to practice with sound moral character after a full year of review from several sources. SMART believes these type of complaints may be part of a harassment campaign to silence anti-child abuse advocates and helpers.
The guest post states: Neil Brick “had claimed that he’d committed rape and murder while in an altered state of mind.” Neil Brick does write about being forced as a small child to kill in a cult. This was against his will and many others have written about being forced to kill as children in cults and gangs. It is incorrect to extrapolate this further as an issue of moral character or adult competency. Children are victims forced to do things. We would not blame a child forced to hit another child by an adult. Nor would we blame or question the child now fully grown who was forced to do this.
The guest post discusses Neil Brick’s statement about cult members trying to look normal to find former cult members to possibly victimize. Most criminals and people who want to hurt others want to look normal. A thief would not have a sign stating “thief” on them. Likewise, one wanting to hurt a cult member or survivor would not want to indicate they are doing this. It makes sense to look for other indicators to check a person out. This is similar to a person who is a victim of violence as a child checking out a partner thoroughly to make sure they do not become a victim of domestic violence as an adult.
In conclusion, the guest post by the Satanic Temple’s Grey Faction criticizes the strong research and theories of ritual abuse survivors and those with years of research, experience and education in the trauma field. (The members of the Grey Faction have unknown credentials and may not have the experience to accurately determine trauma theory and research.) The guest post by the Satanic Temple’s Grey Faction presents inaccurate arguments, which are refuted in this article. The Grey Faction claims they are combating pseudoscience with rational inquiry, but this “rational inquiry” is actually predetermined opinion, bolstered by name calling, ad hominem attacks and insults. There is no real “rational inquiry” because there is no evidence that all of the facts were looked at neutrally to derive a conclusion. It appears the only facts considered were the ones that back their arguments. In its articles, the Grey Faction hides behind the name of science and rationality, when in reality it appears it is an advocacy organization used to discredit ritual abuse survivors realities’ and their resources.
Monday, June 6, 2016
N.Y. pol says Brooklyn bishop offered $5G bribe for her to drop child-abuse reform, 22 life sentences for British pedophile who pleaded guilty to 71 child abuse offenses in Asia
EXCLUSIVE: N.Y. pol says Brooklyn bishop offered $5G bribe for her to drop child-abuse reform; diocese calls her allegation ‘patently false’
BY Kenneth Lovett Michael O’keeffe Stephen Rex Brown NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Monday, June 6, 2016
The head of the Catholic Church in Brooklyn offered a $5,000 bribe to an Albany politician in exchange for dropping her support for the reform of a state law preventing victims of child sexual abuse from seeking justice, the pol claimed Monday.
Assemblywoman Margaret Markey, who has for a decade advocated for an overhaul of the state’s statute of limitations on claims of child sexual abuse, said she turned down the unholy hush money from Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio in 2010.
“I’m not a billionaire, but I don’t need $5,000 to buy me off,” Markey told the Daily News.
The offer came across as a payoff, not a campaign donation, she added.
Pol proposes constitutionally questionable child-sex abuse law
The Brooklyn Diocese called the allegation “patently false.”....
After declining the offer, DiMarzio targeted her with robocalls as she ran for reelection against Republican challenger Anthony Nunziato, saying she did not have Catholic values, Markey said.
“I do have Catholic values — but my Catholic values don’t include raping children,” said Markey, who easily won reelection in 2010....
The offer isn’t the first time DiMarzio allegedly played hardball with politicians over Markey’s bill, which would make it easier for victims to sue and also grant a one-year window for those whose statute of limitations had expired to bring a civil lawsuit.
In 2009, DiMarzio reportedly threatened lawmakers who supported Markey’s Child Victims Act, telling them he would close parishes in their districts — and say they were to blame.
The diocese denied that threat was ever made.
The state’s Catholic Conference spent $2.1 million between 2007 and 2015 lobbying against efforts to reform the law, as well as other measures. Others, like yeshivas and private schools, have also opposed Markey’s bill.
The church supports other bills that would extend the statute of limitations, but that does not include the one-year lookback, Erstad said.....
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/n-y-pol-claims-bishop-bribed-give-child-abuse-law-article-1.2663673
22 life sentences for British pedophile who pleaded guilty to 71 child abuse offenses in Asia
June 6, 2016, by CNN Wire Service
A London court handed 22 life sentences to a man Monday after he pleaded guilty to 71 child abuse offenses while in Southeast Asia.
Richard Huckle, 30, was arrested at Gatwick Airport near London in 2014 as he returned home from Malaysia, where he committed most of his crimes, Britain’s National Crime Agency said.
He confessed to abusing almost 200 children on a blog he published on the dark web, an area of the Internet not easily accessible to the general user.
According to Court News UK, Huckle posed as a Christian English teacher to groom and abuse children, including one as young as six months, in a poor Malaysian community over nine years.
He also committed child abuse in Cambodia, the National Crime Agency said. British law allows nationals to be prosecuted in their home country for offenses committed abroad.
The court heard the amateur photographer took pictures and videos of himself raping children that he groomed from schools and orphanages, and shared the images with other pedophiles on the dark web, according to Court News UK.
In his blog, Huckle awarded himself “Pedopoints” on a type of scorecard, claiming to have abused 191 children, according to Court News.
Huckle then tried to monetize his behavior, accepting bitcoin, the online currency, to continue the abuse and publish it online, Court News said.
He forced victims to pose with signs to advertise his business and wrote a 60-page guide entitled “Pedophiles & Poverty: Child Lover Guide” that the judge called a “truly evil document,” Court News said.
Huckle was caught when Australian police tipped off authorities in an investigation into a pedophile website that officials said had 9,000 members before it was shut down.
The NCA said officials had recovered more than 20,000 indecent images of children from Huckle’s computers and cameras, including more than 1,000 of which showed him raping and abusing children in his care....
http://fox6now.com/2016/06/06/22-life-sentences-for-british-pedophile-who-pleaded-guilty-to-71-child-abuse-offenses-in-asia/
Child, Clergy and Ritual Abuse Research https://ritualabuse.us
BY Kenneth Lovett Michael O’keeffe Stephen Rex Brown NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Monday, June 6, 2016
The head of the Catholic Church in Brooklyn offered a $5,000 bribe to an Albany politician in exchange for dropping her support for the reform of a state law preventing victims of child sexual abuse from seeking justice, the pol claimed Monday.
Assemblywoman Margaret Markey, who has for a decade advocated for an overhaul of the state’s statute of limitations on claims of child sexual abuse, said she turned down the unholy hush money from Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio in 2010.
“I’m not a billionaire, but I don’t need $5,000 to buy me off,” Markey told the Daily News.
The offer came across as a payoff, not a campaign donation, she added.
Pol proposes constitutionally questionable child-sex abuse law
The Brooklyn Diocese called the allegation “patently false.”....
After declining the offer, DiMarzio targeted her with robocalls as she ran for reelection against Republican challenger Anthony Nunziato, saying she did not have Catholic values, Markey said.
“I do have Catholic values — but my Catholic values don’t include raping children,” said Markey, who easily won reelection in 2010....
The offer isn’t the first time DiMarzio allegedly played hardball with politicians over Markey’s bill, which would make it easier for victims to sue and also grant a one-year window for those whose statute of limitations had expired to bring a civil lawsuit.
In 2009, DiMarzio reportedly threatened lawmakers who supported Markey’s Child Victims Act, telling them he would close parishes in their districts — and say they were to blame.
The diocese denied that threat was ever made.
The state’s Catholic Conference spent $2.1 million between 2007 and 2015 lobbying against efforts to reform the law, as well as other measures. Others, like yeshivas and private schools, have also opposed Markey’s bill.
The church supports other bills that would extend the statute of limitations, but that does not include the one-year lookback, Erstad said.....
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/n-y-pol-claims-bishop-bribed-give-child-abuse-law-article-1.2663673
22 life sentences for British pedophile who pleaded guilty to 71 child abuse offenses in Asia
June 6, 2016, by CNN Wire Service
A London court handed 22 life sentences to a man Monday after he pleaded guilty to 71 child abuse offenses while in Southeast Asia.
Richard Huckle, 30, was arrested at Gatwick Airport near London in 2014 as he returned home from Malaysia, where he committed most of his crimes, Britain’s National Crime Agency said.
He confessed to abusing almost 200 children on a blog he published on the dark web, an area of the Internet not easily accessible to the general user.
According to Court News UK, Huckle posed as a Christian English teacher to groom and abuse children, including one as young as six months, in a poor Malaysian community over nine years.
He also committed child abuse in Cambodia, the National Crime Agency said. British law allows nationals to be prosecuted in their home country for offenses committed abroad.
The court heard the amateur photographer took pictures and videos of himself raping children that he groomed from schools and orphanages, and shared the images with other pedophiles on the dark web, according to Court News UK.
In his blog, Huckle awarded himself “Pedopoints” on a type of scorecard, claiming to have abused 191 children, according to Court News.
Huckle then tried to monetize his behavior, accepting bitcoin, the online currency, to continue the abuse and publish it online, Court News said.
He forced victims to pose with signs to advertise his business and wrote a 60-page guide entitled “Pedophiles & Poverty: Child Lover Guide” that the judge called a “truly evil document,” Court News said.
Huckle was caught when Australian police tipped off authorities in an investigation into a pedophile website that officials said had 9,000 members before it was shut down.
The NCA said officials had recovered more than 20,000 indecent images of children from Huckle’s computers and cameras, including more than 1,000 of which showed him raping and abusing children in his care....
http://fox6now.com/2016/06/06/22-life-sentences-for-british-pedophile-who-pleaded-guilty-to-71-child-abuse-offenses-in-asia/
Child, Clergy and Ritual Abuse Research https://ritualabuse.us
Sunday, June 5, 2016
It's easy to implant false childhood memories, right? Wrong, says a new review
It's easy to implant false childhood memories, right? Wrong, says a new review
During the 1990s, groundbreaking work by psychologists demonstrated that human memory is flexible and vulnerable and that it’s very easy for people to experience “false memories” that feel real, but which are actually a fiction. One major implication of this was in the evaluation of adults’ accounts of how they’d been abused in childhood. In a recent journal editorial, for instance, one of the pioneers of false memory research argued that the same techniques used by therapists to recover repressed memories of abuse have been shown in the lab to “produce false memories in substantial numbers of research participants”.
But there are some experts who believe the false memory researchers have gone too far. Chris Brewin and Bernice Andrews are two British psychologists with these concerns. In their new systematic review in Applied Cognitive Psychology they have taken a hard look at all the evidence, and they argue that we need to rethink the idea that false memories are so easily induced....
Consider one key experimental technique known as “imagination inflation”, which aims to provoke false memories in participants simply by asking them to write about fictitious events as if they had really happened.
As a first step participants are surveyed about a range of things that might happen in a typical childhood, and then they are asked to use their imagination to write about one of these events that they believe didn’t actually happen in their own childhood. After this writing task, participants are asked again to rate how likely it is that they actually experienced this event in their own childhood.
Overall, after completing the imaginative writing task, most people tend to shift their beliefs, to think that it’s more plausible that they may actually have experienced the event they wrote about. But in 13 of 14 the published datasets that Brewin and Andrews reviewed where this technique was used, belief only changed by one point or less on an eight-point scale (from strongly believing it didn’t happen on one end of the scale, to strongly believing it did on the other). As these shifts in belief often weren’t enough to tip participants over the scale’s half-way point, this supposed induction of "false memories" involved the sowing of doubt but not the creation of a new memory – most participants still considered that the events they’d written about hadn’t happen to them, it’s just that they were less confident in that belief....
The most powerful technique used to induce false memories is memory implantation. This approach involves parents and authority figures conniving over multiple sessions to persuade a participant that an event really happened in their childhood, going as far in some cases as doctoring photographs to produce incontrovertible proof. These studies often produce new recollections of some kind – up to 78 per cent of participants report new, false memories when doctored photographs are used – but Brewin and Andrews show that when an even more stringent definition of a false memory is used – that it must involve mental images – then this rate of new recollection drops to 25 per cent, and regarding memories that the participant is actually confident in, to only 15 per cent.
Overwhelmingly, most participants in these studies disbelieve the childhood event ever happened, and they doubt any apparently new memories that arise, despite the pressure to think otherwise. Tellingly, when studies have collected ratings of the strength of any new memories from both the participants and the researchers, the researchers’ ratings are routinely higher. After hearing their parents’ stories, the participants typically become better able to narrate a plausible and even elaborate account that persuades the researcher a memory has been created. But often the participants themselves aren't buying it, and they can draw the distinction between memory-like content and a true memory.
It’s clear that false memory paradigms can shift how we evaluate past events, and can for a minority of participants provoke memory-like experiences. But the rates are very low and the effects variable, and the one that produces the strongest effect – memory implantation – is also the most invasive, and least likely to match the experiences of people in normal life or within a therapy session. Brewin and Andrews suggest their review “indicates that the majority of participants are resistant to the suggestions they are given” and that the rhetoric that false beliefs are easy to instil should be re-examined.
http://digest.bps.org.uk/2016/05/its-easy-to-implant-false-childhood.html
Creating Memories for False Autobiographical Events in Childhood: A Systematic Review
Brewin, C., & Andrews, B. (2016). Creating Memories for False Autobiographical Events in Childhood: A Systematic Review Applied Cognitive Psychology DOI: 10.1002/acp.3220
Summary
Using a framework that distinguishes autobiographical belief, recollective experience, and confidence in memory, we review three major paradigms used to suggest false childhood events to adults: imagination inflation, false feedback and memory implantation. Imagination inflation and false feedback studies increase the belief that a suggested event occurred by a small amount such that events are still thought unlikely to have happened. In memory implantation studies, some recollective experience for the suggested events is induced on average in 47% of participants, but only in 15% are these experiences likely to be rated as full memories.
We conclude that susceptibility to false memories of childhood events appears more limited than has been suggested. The data emphasise the complex judgements involved in distinguishing real from imaginary recollections and caution against accepting investigator-based ratings as necessarily corresponding to participants' self-reports.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/acp.3220/abstract;jsessionid=5B1FB120F62930B9BB57453F86A0F172.f01t03
During the 1990s, groundbreaking work by psychologists demonstrated that human memory is flexible and vulnerable and that it’s very easy for people to experience “false memories” that feel real, but which are actually a fiction. One major implication of this was in the evaluation of adults’ accounts of how they’d been abused in childhood. In a recent journal editorial, for instance, one of the pioneers of false memory research argued that the same techniques used by therapists to recover repressed memories of abuse have been shown in the lab to “produce false memories in substantial numbers of research participants”.
But there are some experts who believe the false memory researchers have gone too far. Chris Brewin and Bernice Andrews are two British psychologists with these concerns. In their new systematic review in Applied Cognitive Psychology they have taken a hard look at all the evidence, and they argue that we need to rethink the idea that false memories are so easily induced....
Consider one key experimental technique known as “imagination inflation”, which aims to provoke false memories in participants simply by asking them to write about fictitious events as if they had really happened.
As a first step participants are surveyed about a range of things that might happen in a typical childhood, and then they are asked to use their imagination to write about one of these events that they believe didn’t actually happen in their own childhood. After this writing task, participants are asked again to rate how likely it is that they actually experienced this event in their own childhood.
Overall, after completing the imaginative writing task, most people tend to shift their beliefs, to think that it’s more plausible that they may actually have experienced the event they wrote about. But in 13 of 14 the published datasets that Brewin and Andrews reviewed where this technique was used, belief only changed by one point or less on an eight-point scale (from strongly believing it didn’t happen on one end of the scale, to strongly believing it did on the other). As these shifts in belief often weren’t enough to tip participants over the scale’s half-way point, this supposed induction of "false memories" involved the sowing of doubt but not the creation of a new memory – most participants still considered that the events they’d written about hadn’t happen to them, it’s just that they were less confident in that belief....
The most powerful technique used to induce false memories is memory implantation. This approach involves parents and authority figures conniving over multiple sessions to persuade a participant that an event really happened in their childhood, going as far in some cases as doctoring photographs to produce incontrovertible proof. These studies often produce new recollections of some kind – up to 78 per cent of participants report new, false memories when doctored photographs are used – but Brewin and Andrews show that when an even more stringent definition of a false memory is used – that it must involve mental images – then this rate of new recollection drops to 25 per cent, and regarding memories that the participant is actually confident in, to only 15 per cent.
Overwhelmingly, most participants in these studies disbelieve the childhood event ever happened, and they doubt any apparently new memories that arise, despite the pressure to think otherwise. Tellingly, when studies have collected ratings of the strength of any new memories from both the participants and the researchers, the researchers’ ratings are routinely higher. After hearing their parents’ stories, the participants typically become better able to narrate a plausible and even elaborate account that persuades the researcher a memory has been created. But often the participants themselves aren't buying it, and they can draw the distinction between memory-like content and a true memory.
It’s clear that false memory paradigms can shift how we evaluate past events, and can for a minority of participants provoke memory-like experiences. But the rates are very low and the effects variable, and the one that produces the strongest effect – memory implantation – is also the most invasive, and least likely to match the experiences of people in normal life or within a therapy session. Brewin and Andrews suggest their review “indicates that the majority of participants are resistant to the suggestions they are given” and that the rhetoric that false beliefs are easy to instil should be re-examined.
http://digest.bps.org.uk/2016/05/its-easy-to-implant-false-childhood.html
Creating Memories for False Autobiographical Events in Childhood: A Systematic Review
Brewin, C., & Andrews, B. (2016). Creating Memories for False Autobiographical Events in Childhood: A Systematic Review Applied Cognitive Psychology DOI: 10.1002/acp.3220
Summary
Using a framework that distinguishes autobiographical belief, recollective experience, and confidence in memory, we review three major paradigms used to suggest false childhood events to adults: imagination inflation, false feedback and memory implantation. Imagination inflation and false feedback studies increase the belief that a suggested event occurred by a small amount such that events are still thought unlikely to have happened. In memory implantation studies, some recollective experience for the suggested events is induced on average in 47% of participants, but only in 15% are these experiences likely to be rated as full memories.
We conclude that susceptibility to false memories of childhood events appears more limited than has been suggested. The data emphasise the complex judgements involved in distinguishing real from imaginary recollections and caution against accepting investigator-based ratings as necessarily corresponding to participants' self-reports.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/acp.3220/abstract;jsessionid=5B1FB120F62930B9BB57453F86A0F172.f01t03
Saturday, June 4, 2016
'Holy Hell': How One Man Documented 22 Years Inside a Sadistic Cult
'Holy Hell': How One Man Documented 22 Years Inside a Sadistic Cult
Former cult member's documentary details over two decades of mind games and torture inside an L.A. cult
By Jason Newman May 27, 2016
He was grooming me. I didn't see it then, but it's so obvious now. I wanted a mentor; a teacher. When I got around him more, that's when I was like, 'Oh my God, he's an asshole.'" For 22 years, Will Allen immersed himself 24/7 in Buddhafield, a Los Angeles cult with hundreds of members and a narcissistic, sociopathic leader named Michel Rostand. The group would live, work and meditate together, banishing all ties to their family in the hope of finding greater enlightenment. Their spiritual guru would, in turn, psychologically torture and brainwash his disciples on a daily basis....
His insider document of two decades of life inside the cult, entitled Holy Hell, combines home movies and official footage from these years alongside new interviews with former members detailing the sadistic, predatory nature that lay behind their leader's ostensibly gentle, omnipotent façade. Buddhafield's service-oriented, off-the-grid approach to attaining peace and harmony — "It was our little utopia in the middle of this big giant city," says one former member in the film — disguised its leader's iniquities, ranging from total mind control and forced abortions to alleged widespread sexual abuse and rape. The carrot dangled to all adherents was "The Knowing," a ritual in which Rostand would "transfer his energy" to the participant so they would truly know God.
The resulting doc, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival last January, acts as both an extreme cautionary tale and a personal exorcism. In 2012, five years after leaving the cult, Allen, like many former Buddhafield members, was still suffering from PTSD and trying to move on....
It's easy to see how Buddhafield members got initially sucked in by Rostand's charisma; even the ones who now hate him describe him at first glance as "ethereal," "magical," "otherworldly" and "beautiful." "I was floating walking home," admits Vera Chieffo, who left the cult in 2009 after 27 years. "But he was also friggin' weird." The man known mainly as "The Teacher" would parade around the compound in speedos and Ray-Bans, demanding his disciples to be in peak physical and mental health through rigorous exercise, meditation and abstinence from sex, alcohol, drugs, caffeine and red meat.
But while he was outwardly preaching asceticism, Rostand would prey on young men like Allen, "promoting" the filmmaker to be his personal driver and masseuse before allegedly sexually abusing him and other members on multiple occasions. "Some of them are still figuring it out that it was rape because it didn't seem like that," Phillipe Coquet, who spent 24 years with Buddhafield, says. (Rostand has not been charged or arrested in connection with the abuses.) Members would often receive mixed messages, with their leader often noting, for example, the joys of sex before immediately rebuking it as "simple" and unhealthy....
http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/holy-hell-how-one-man-documented-22-years-inside-a-sadistic-cult-20160527
Former cult member's documentary details over two decades of mind games and torture inside an L.A. cult
By Jason Newman May 27, 2016
He was grooming me. I didn't see it then, but it's so obvious now. I wanted a mentor; a teacher. When I got around him more, that's when I was like, 'Oh my God, he's an asshole.'" For 22 years, Will Allen immersed himself 24/7 in Buddhafield, a Los Angeles cult with hundreds of members and a narcissistic, sociopathic leader named Michel Rostand. The group would live, work and meditate together, banishing all ties to their family in the hope of finding greater enlightenment. Their spiritual guru would, in turn, psychologically torture and brainwash his disciples on a daily basis....
His insider document of two decades of life inside the cult, entitled Holy Hell, combines home movies and official footage from these years alongside new interviews with former members detailing the sadistic, predatory nature that lay behind their leader's ostensibly gentle, omnipotent façade. Buddhafield's service-oriented, off-the-grid approach to attaining peace and harmony — "It was our little utopia in the middle of this big giant city," says one former member in the film — disguised its leader's iniquities, ranging from total mind control and forced abortions to alleged widespread sexual abuse and rape. The carrot dangled to all adherents was "The Knowing," a ritual in which Rostand would "transfer his energy" to the participant so they would truly know God.
The resulting doc, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival last January, acts as both an extreme cautionary tale and a personal exorcism. In 2012, five years after leaving the cult, Allen, like many former Buddhafield members, was still suffering from PTSD and trying to move on....
It's easy to see how Buddhafield members got initially sucked in by Rostand's charisma; even the ones who now hate him describe him at first glance as "ethereal," "magical," "otherworldly" and "beautiful." "I was floating walking home," admits Vera Chieffo, who left the cult in 2009 after 27 years. "But he was also friggin' weird." The man known mainly as "The Teacher" would parade around the compound in speedos and Ray-Bans, demanding his disciples to be in peak physical and mental health through rigorous exercise, meditation and abstinence from sex, alcohol, drugs, caffeine and red meat.
But while he was outwardly preaching asceticism, Rostand would prey on young men like Allen, "promoting" the filmmaker to be his personal driver and masseuse before allegedly sexually abusing him and other members on multiple occasions. "Some of them are still figuring it out that it was rape because it didn't seem like that," Phillipe Coquet, who spent 24 years with Buddhafield, says. (Rostand has not been charged or arrested in connection with the abuses.) Members would often receive mixed messages, with their leader often noting, for example, the joys of sex before immediately rebuking it as "simple" and unhealthy....
http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/holy-hell-how-one-man-documented-22-years-inside-a-sadistic-cult-20160527
Thursday, June 2, 2016
British paedophile 'planned to marry victim and abuse foster children' Richard Huckle, who has admitted 71 sexual offences against children
Richard Huckle faces life sentences for Malaysia child abuse
1 June 2016 UK
A British man is facing multiple life sentences for numerous sex crimes against Malaysian children which he boasted about on the "dark web".
Richard Huckle, 30, from Ashford in Kent, admitted the offences against victims aged between six months and 12 years, from 2006 to 2014.
It is believed Huckle abused up to 200 children.
His sentencing hearing began at the Old Bailey on Wednesday, and is expected to conclude on Friday.
The 91 charges related to 23 children from mainly poor communities in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur.
He admitted 71 of the charges, and the prosecutor asked that the other counts "lie on file".
Huckle, a freelance photographer, was arrested at Gatwick Airport by National Crime Agency officials in December 2014.
Paedophile manual
Details of the abuse can only now be reported because investigators had previously sought a court order to ensure the victims were safe from other online sexual predators.
Huckle, who presented himself as a practising Christian, first visited Malaysia on a teaching gap year when he was 18 or 19. He then went on to groom children while doing voluntary work.
Investigators uncovered numerous indecent pictures and videos Huckle took of himself abusing girls and boys. More than 20,000 indecent images were found on his computer....
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-36429385
British paedophile 'planned to marry victim and abuse foster children'
Richard Huckle, who has admitted 71 sexual offences against children, wanted to ‘mould’ a young girl to ignore his continued abuse, Old Bailey told Richard Huckle targeted impoverished families in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur
Caroline Davies Thursday 2 June 2016
A British paedophile who faces multiple life sentences for abusing Malaysian babies and young children dreamed of marrying one of his victims and becoming a foster carer so he could abuse “a cycle of children” coming through his home, a court has been told.
Richard Huckle, 30, boasted on an online paedophile forum that he hoped to “mould” the young girl into turning a blind eye to his abuse for fear of losing her “middle class” lifestyle.
Huckle, a freelance photographer from Ashford, Kent, has pleaded guilty to 71 charges of sexual offences against 23 identified children aged between six months and 13 years from an impoverished Christian community in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur. Huckle had posed as a Christian philanthropist and teacher to gain access to children.
At his sentencing hearing at the Old Bailey, Brian O’Neill QC, prosecuting, said after his arrest Huckle told a psychiatrist he wanted to “put all this madness behind me” and, when released from prison, wanted to seek a South Indian woman.
But O’Neill invited the judge to read an online posting by Huckle 18 months before his arrest, found on an online forum on the darknet, since taken down....
Huckle targeted poor Christian communities over nine years, beginning the abuse on a gap year to south-east Asia when he was 19.
He had posted videos and pictures of him raping children, which were shared online on the darknet, and was in the process of publishing a paedophile guide on how to abuse children from impoverished areas without being detected.
He boasted online that “impoverished kids are definitely much easier to seduce than middle class western kids”.
O’Neill told judge Peter Rook the extent of Huckle’s abuse was likely to be greater as investigators had been unable to access six password protected heavily encrypted files on his computer....
However, prosecutors had been able to access more than 20,000 indecent images of children, as well as a “Paedopoints” ledger which Huckle had created to award himself points for acts of depravity on children. A total of 191 children were mentioned on his “scorecard”....
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jun/02/richard-huckle-parents-threw-him-out-court-told
1 June 2016 UK
A British man is facing multiple life sentences for numerous sex crimes against Malaysian children which he boasted about on the "dark web".
Richard Huckle, 30, from Ashford in Kent, admitted the offences against victims aged between six months and 12 years, from 2006 to 2014.
It is believed Huckle abused up to 200 children.
His sentencing hearing began at the Old Bailey on Wednesday, and is expected to conclude on Friday.
The 91 charges related to 23 children from mainly poor communities in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur.
He admitted 71 of the charges, and the prosecutor asked that the other counts "lie on file".
Huckle, a freelance photographer, was arrested at Gatwick Airport by National Crime Agency officials in December 2014.
Paedophile manual
Details of the abuse can only now be reported because investigators had previously sought a court order to ensure the victims were safe from other online sexual predators.
Huckle, who presented himself as a practising Christian, first visited Malaysia on a teaching gap year when he was 18 or 19. He then went on to groom children while doing voluntary work.
Investigators uncovered numerous indecent pictures and videos Huckle took of himself abusing girls and boys. More than 20,000 indecent images were found on his computer....
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-36429385
British paedophile 'planned to marry victim and abuse foster children'
Richard Huckle, who has admitted 71 sexual offences against children, wanted to ‘mould’ a young girl to ignore his continued abuse, Old Bailey told Richard Huckle targeted impoverished families in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur
Caroline Davies Thursday 2 June 2016
A British paedophile who faces multiple life sentences for abusing Malaysian babies and young children dreamed of marrying one of his victims and becoming a foster carer so he could abuse “a cycle of children” coming through his home, a court has been told.
Richard Huckle, 30, boasted on an online paedophile forum that he hoped to “mould” the young girl into turning a blind eye to his abuse for fear of losing her “middle class” lifestyle.
Huckle, a freelance photographer from Ashford, Kent, has pleaded guilty to 71 charges of sexual offences against 23 identified children aged between six months and 13 years from an impoverished Christian community in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur. Huckle had posed as a Christian philanthropist and teacher to gain access to children.
At his sentencing hearing at the Old Bailey, Brian O’Neill QC, prosecuting, said after his arrest Huckle told a psychiatrist he wanted to “put all this madness behind me” and, when released from prison, wanted to seek a South Indian woman.
But O’Neill invited the judge to read an online posting by Huckle 18 months before his arrest, found on an online forum on the darknet, since taken down....
Huckle targeted poor Christian communities over nine years, beginning the abuse on a gap year to south-east Asia when he was 19.
He had posted videos and pictures of him raping children, which were shared online on the darknet, and was in the process of publishing a paedophile guide on how to abuse children from impoverished areas without being detected.
He boasted online that “impoverished kids are definitely much easier to seduce than middle class western kids”.
O’Neill told judge Peter Rook the extent of Huckle’s abuse was likely to be greater as investigators had been unable to access six password protected heavily encrypted files on his computer....
However, prosecutors had been able to access more than 20,000 indecent images of children, as well as a “Paedopoints” ledger which Huckle had created to award himself points for acts of depravity on children. A total of 191 children were mentioned on his “scorecard”....
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jun/02/richard-huckle-parents-threw-him-out-court-told
Wednesday, June 1, 2016
Mormon Church accused of turning blind eye to child abuse in foster care program, Ex-prosecutor slams critics of Child Victims Act, urges New York to stop protecting abusers
- Mormon Church accused of turning blind eye to child abuse in foster care program
- Another Navajo Member Sues LDS Church over Childhood Sexual Abuse
- Author, ex-prosecutor slams critics of Child Victims Act, urges New York to stop protecting abusers
Mormon Church accused of turning blind eye to child abuse in foster care program
The Mormon Church has been hit with another lawsuit saying that it did nothing to protect children in a church-run foster program from sexual abuse.
Two Navajo siblings sued The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Navajo Nation court earlier this year. A second lawsuit made public Tuesday outlines similar allegations.
A Navajo woman identified as B.N. says she was sexually molested and raped multiple times while in foster care and by health care providers in Utah, from 1965 to 1972. She was among thousands of American Indians who participated in the church's Indian Student Placement Program.
Attorneys representing the three plaintiffs say church leaders did not report the abuse to law enforcement and failed to protect the children who, as adults, suffer from emotional and physical distress....
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/06/01/mormon-church-accused-turning-blind-eye-to-child-abuse-in-foster-care-program.html
Another Navajo Member Sues LDS Church over Childhood Sexual Abuse By Andrea Smardon June 1, 2016
A Navajo woman is suing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, saying she was sexually assaulted while participating in the church’s Lamanite Indian Student Placement Program. This is now the third claim of sexual abuse that has been brought against the Mormon Church by members of the Navajo Nation since March.
The plaintiff identified as B.N. says she was sexually molested and raped between 1965 and 1972 while in church-run foster care in Utah. She decided to file suit after hearing of two Navajo siblings who sued the church earlier this year with similar allegations.
“I just said, you know what, I’ve shut my mouth long enough, and it was just time,” B.N. says. The complaint filed in Navajo Nation District Court outlines sexual abuse by a foster father, a foster brother, and a medical examiner in a church facility. B.N., a member of the LDS Church, says she has been afraid to come forward. That’s what she hopes to change with the lawsuit. “Being able to speak up and have people trust their leaders, that they’re able to come forth with atrocious situations without fear and without being black-balled in any way.”
Criag Vernon is an attorney representing the three plaintiffs. He says church leaders did not report the abuse to law enforcement and failed to protect children in their care....
http://kuer.org/post/another-navajo-member-sues-lds-church-over-childhood-sexual-abuse
Author, ex-prosecutor slams critics of Child Victims Act, urges New York to stop protecting abusers
BY Linda Fairstein SPECIAL TO THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Wednesday, June 1, 2016
There is no class of people more vulnerable to sexual predators than children. In the overwhelming number of cases, the perpetrators are people who have betrayed the trust of children in their care — relatives, foster families, educators, coaches, clergy and health care professionals — who are far more likely to commit the traumatizing acts than strangers our children are brought up to fear.
The greatest damage has been done to child victims whose voices have long been silenced — first, by their abusers, and then by the senseless laws that have placed arbitrary limits on the time they have to seek justice. We cannot save many who have come before this, but we can change the outlook, the possibility of justice — both in criminal and civil court — for the thousands more who have suffered at the hands of predators and those whom we know will come next. The time to pass the Child Victims Act is now.
There is no reasonable opposition to this argument. What is it opponents fear? Some have raised the concern of false reporting, but the statistics are abundantly clear that this problem represents a small fractional proportion — less than 2% of all claims. For example, California saw about five false claims out of 850 against the Catholic Church. False reporting occurs in every category of crime and it is certainly an issue in cases which fall within the statute of limitations. It is part of the job of every prosecutor to identify those complaints and get them out of the system. They are rare, and they should never be a barrier to the overwhelming number of valid complaints that deserve to be investigated....
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/ex-prosecutor-urges-n-y-approve-child-victims-act-article-1.2657762
Child Abuse Research https://ritualabuse.us
- Another Navajo Member Sues LDS Church over Childhood Sexual Abuse
- Author, ex-prosecutor slams critics of Child Victims Act, urges New York to stop protecting abusers
Mormon Church accused of turning blind eye to child abuse in foster care program
The Mormon Church has been hit with another lawsuit saying that it did nothing to protect children in a church-run foster program from sexual abuse.
Two Navajo siblings sued The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Navajo Nation court earlier this year. A second lawsuit made public Tuesday outlines similar allegations.
A Navajo woman identified as B.N. says she was sexually molested and raped multiple times while in foster care and by health care providers in Utah, from 1965 to 1972. She was among thousands of American Indians who participated in the church's Indian Student Placement Program.
Attorneys representing the three plaintiffs say church leaders did not report the abuse to law enforcement and failed to protect the children who, as adults, suffer from emotional and physical distress....
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/06/01/mormon-church-accused-turning-blind-eye-to-child-abuse-in-foster-care-program.html
Another Navajo Member Sues LDS Church over Childhood Sexual Abuse By Andrea Smardon June 1, 2016
A Navajo woman is suing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, saying she was sexually assaulted while participating in the church’s Lamanite Indian Student Placement Program. This is now the third claim of sexual abuse that has been brought against the Mormon Church by members of the Navajo Nation since March.
The plaintiff identified as B.N. says she was sexually molested and raped between 1965 and 1972 while in church-run foster care in Utah. She decided to file suit after hearing of two Navajo siblings who sued the church earlier this year with similar allegations.
“I just said, you know what, I’ve shut my mouth long enough, and it was just time,” B.N. says. The complaint filed in Navajo Nation District Court outlines sexual abuse by a foster father, a foster brother, and a medical examiner in a church facility. B.N., a member of the LDS Church, says she has been afraid to come forward. That’s what she hopes to change with the lawsuit. “Being able to speak up and have people trust their leaders, that they’re able to come forth with atrocious situations without fear and without being black-balled in any way.”
Criag Vernon is an attorney representing the three plaintiffs. He says church leaders did not report the abuse to law enforcement and failed to protect children in their care....
http://kuer.org/post/another-navajo-member-sues-lds-church-over-childhood-sexual-abuse
Author, ex-prosecutor slams critics of Child Victims Act, urges New York to stop protecting abusers
BY Linda Fairstein SPECIAL TO THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Wednesday, June 1, 2016
There is no class of people more vulnerable to sexual predators than children. In the overwhelming number of cases, the perpetrators are people who have betrayed the trust of children in their care — relatives, foster families, educators, coaches, clergy and health care professionals — who are far more likely to commit the traumatizing acts than strangers our children are brought up to fear.
The greatest damage has been done to child victims whose voices have long been silenced — first, by their abusers, and then by the senseless laws that have placed arbitrary limits on the time they have to seek justice. We cannot save many who have come before this, but we can change the outlook, the possibility of justice — both in criminal and civil court — for the thousands more who have suffered at the hands of predators and those whom we know will come next. The time to pass the Child Victims Act is now.
There is no reasonable opposition to this argument. What is it opponents fear? Some have raised the concern of false reporting, but the statistics are abundantly clear that this problem represents a small fractional proportion — less than 2% of all claims. For example, California saw about five false claims out of 850 against the Catholic Church. False reporting occurs in every category of crime and it is certainly an issue in cases which fall within the statute of limitations. It is part of the job of every prosecutor to identify those complaints and get them out of the system. They are rare, and they should never be a barrier to the overwhelming number of valid complaints that deserve to be investigated....
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/ex-prosecutor-urges-n-y-approve-child-victims-act-article-1.2657762
Child Abuse Research https://ritualabuse.us
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