Will Bill Cosby ever face prosecution over allegations of sexual misdeeds?
By Paul Farhi July 20, 2015
There is little question that Bill Cosby’s revered reputation is in tatters. But will he ever be called to account for conduct that has led to multiple lawsuits and accusations of sexual misconduct from more than 40 women?
The one assault allegation against Cosby to progress through the legal system — a 2005 civil suit brought by a Temple University employee named Andrea Constand — was settled without any admission by Cosby. But Constand’s complaint set in motion events that could raise new legal troubles for Cosby and that have the potential to be powerful pieces of evidence against him in potential civil or criminal cases, plaintiffs attorneys and others say. The most problematic are Cosby’s own account contained in court records and his deposition in the Constand case.
The records, which have been unsealed or disclosed in the past two weeks, contain Cosby’s admission that he gave drugs to women he sought to have sex with, including Constand and some of the long line of women who have accused him of drugging and assaulting women since the late 1960s (Cosby has denied any criminal intent)....
Cosby, however, may still face criminal charges. The Los Angeles Police Department is investigating a sexual-battery complaint filed by Chloe Goins,a model who says Cosby spiked her drink during a party at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles in 2008 and then removed her clothes and masturbated in her presence after she passed out, according to Goins’s attorney, Spencer Kuvin.
The statute of limitations on the allegation won’t run out until next April, Kuvin said. He said the LAPD has questioned Goins twice since she came forward in December. If officials decline to pursue a criminal case, he said, he is prepared to file a civil suit on Goins’s behalf.
The LAPD has confirmed an ongoing investigation of Cosby’s behavior but has not identified the alleged victim. Gloria Allred, an attorney who represents 17 Cosby accusers, said one of her clients, Judy Huth, also has spoken to detectives....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/will-bill-cosby-ever-face-prosecution-over-allegations-of-sexual-misconduct/2015/07/20/c01fa5d6-2f24-11e5-8353-1215475949f4_story.html
Scale of child abuse images online is 'shocking', says NSPCC
Charity claims there are two convictions each day for indecent images and calls for urgent action two years after government promised crackdown
More than a quarter of those convicted of viewing abuse images were also found guilty of other sexual crimes. Press Association Tuesday 21 July 2015
Two people are being convicted of child abuse image crimes every day on average, two years after a government pledge to crack down on the offence, the NSPCC says.
The charity said its analysis of news reports showed there had been at least 1,000 court cases involving indecent images of children since David Cameron’s July 2013 speech in which he threatened to impose tough new laws on internet companies if they failed to blacklist key search terms.
The NSPCC said a snapshot of 100 cases revealed that 4.5m child abuse images were discovered among them, with one in three of the 101 convicted criminals involved having held a position of trust or a role that allowed them access to children....
Six out of 10 were jailed. Those convicted included a father and son, and a teenager who confessed to viewing such pictures from the age of 12. More than a quarter were also convicted of other sexual crimes, including grooming, voyeurism, and indecent assault, and one in six already had criminal records for similar offences....
http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/jul/22/scale-of-child-abuse-images-online-is-shocking-says-nspcc
Showing posts with label sexual crimes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sexual crimes. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
Sunday, November 16, 2014
Dundee charity reveals terrible toll of ritual sexual abuse, Notorious cult leader and sex attacker Little Pebble to be released on bail
Dundee charity reveals terrible toll of ritual sexual abuse
By Dave Lord, 16 November 2014
A Scottish charity has warned that local children as young as five are suffering systematic and brutal sexual abuse.
Izzy’s Promise fear that many cases, some of which are carried out as part of gruesome rituals, are going unreported due to a pervasive culture of fear.
The charity, which is based in Dundee, said it receives numerous calls relating to grotesque sexual crimes.
Project co-ordinator, Joseph Lumbasi, told The Courier many young victims are too terrified to speak out at the time of their horrific ordeals, instead reporting abuse only when they reach adulthood.
Mr Lumbasi also claimed that some of the calls received by the charity relate to violent ceremonies and ritual abuse.
He said that traditional religious festival periods, including Easter and Christmas, see the highest frequency of such cases....
http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/local/dundee/dundee-charity-reveals-terrible-toll-of-ritual-sexual-abuse-1.686103
Notorious cult leader and sex attacker Little Pebble to be released on bail November 12, 2014
NSW cult leader and convicted sex attacker William "Little Pebble" Kamm is set to walk free from Long Bay jail in Sydney’s south-east after being granted parole.
The German-born 64-year-old, who was convicted in 2005 of carrying out a number of assaults on two 15-year-old girls, was given early release with 11 months still to run on his maximum 10-year sentence....
The attacks were carried out while he ran a pseudo-Catholic cult known as the Order of St Charbel, based in a compound in Nowra, NSW.
Kamm claimed the Virgin Mary had appeared in a vision and told him one of the girls was meant to be one of his brides.
He claimed he had been divinely ordained as a "new Abraham" and would become the patriarch of a new blessed race....
The Order of St Charbel is not regarded by the Catholic Church as part of its hierarchy, and Kamm himself was excommunicated in 2003 after he was illicitly ordained a bishop.
http://www.9news.com.au/national/2014/11/12/05/06/cult-leader-little-pebble-to-be-released-on-parole
By Dave Lord, 16 November 2014
A Scottish charity has warned that local children as young as five are suffering systematic and brutal sexual abuse.
Izzy’s Promise fear that many cases, some of which are carried out as part of gruesome rituals, are going unreported due to a pervasive culture of fear.
The charity, which is based in Dundee, said it receives numerous calls relating to grotesque sexual crimes.
Project co-ordinator, Joseph Lumbasi, told The Courier many young victims are too terrified to speak out at the time of their horrific ordeals, instead reporting abuse only when they reach adulthood.
Mr Lumbasi also claimed that some of the calls received by the charity relate to violent ceremonies and ritual abuse.
He said that traditional religious festival periods, including Easter and Christmas, see the highest frequency of such cases....
http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/local/dundee/dundee-charity-reveals-terrible-toll-of-ritual-sexual-abuse-1.686103
Notorious cult leader and sex attacker Little Pebble to be released on bail November 12, 2014
NSW cult leader and convicted sex attacker William "Little Pebble" Kamm is set to walk free from Long Bay jail in Sydney’s south-east after being granted parole.
The German-born 64-year-old, who was convicted in 2005 of carrying out a number of assaults on two 15-year-old girls, was given early release with 11 months still to run on his maximum 10-year sentence....
The attacks were carried out while he ran a pseudo-Catholic cult known as the Order of St Charbel, based in a compound in Nowra, NSW.
Kamm claimed the Virgin Mary had appeared in a vision and told him one of the girls was meant to be one of his brides.
He claimed he had been divinely ordained as a "new Abraham" and would become the patriarch of a new blessed race....
The Order of St Charbel is not regarded by the Catholic Church as part of its hierarchy, and Kamm himself was excommunicated in 2003 after he was illicitly ordained a bishop.
http://www.9news.com.au/national/2014/11/12/05/06/cult-leader-little-pebble-to-be-released-on-parole
Monday, June 16, 2014
Celebrities Join the Fight to Stop Rape as a Weapon of War, Despite tougher laws, India can’t shake rape culture
Celebrities Join the Fight to Stop Rape as a Weapon of War
By Janine di Giovanni 6/16/14
....“War zone rape thrives on silence,” Jolie said in her opening remarks, and Hague agrees: Sexual crimes should not be shameful. “It’s about waking people up,” he told Newsweek. “Despite all the communications within the modern age, these crimes have taken place on a vast scale without the world noticing. And that now is changing.”
....Five years after the Sri Lankan government defeated the Tamil Tigers, human rights groups report continued abductions, torture, rapes and other sexual violence against both men and women of the Tamil minority.
“For all intents and purposes, the war has not finished,” insists Frances Harrison, author of Still Counting the Dead, a brutal account of the Sri Lankan conflict. “Especially for young men and women who had association with the rebels, they are still being abducted, hunted down. It’s a mopping up operation five years on.”
Harrison says the Sri Lankan government—which is not considered a pariah state, despite its persistent human rights violations—“are using very sophisticated intelligence methods like facial-recognition software, as well as hooded informers who nod when they identify somebody.” ....
http://www.newsweek.com/celebrities-join-fight-stop-rape-weapon-war-255054
Despite tougher laws, India can’t shake rape culture
Mandakini Gahlot USA Today Jun 16, 2014
NEW DELHI (RNS) Despite tougher laws against sexual violence, the grisly rape and murder of two teenage girls found hanging from a tree shows India has a long way to go to safeguard women in its male-dominated, socially stratified culture, critics say.
Protestors rally outside Sufdarjung Hospital in 2012 while seeking justice for a gang rape victim. Despite recent reform to toughen India's sexual violence laws, India's male-dominated and socially stratified culture isn't helping solve the problem, critics say.
Protestors rally outside Sufdarjung Hospital in 2012 while seeking justice for a gang rape victim. Despite recent reform to toughen India’s sexual violence laws, India’s male-dominated and socially stratified culture isn’t helping solve the problem, critics say.
“Even though the laws are there, many people feel they can get away with anything, an attitude that some of our politicians have gone out their way to encourage,” said Ranjana Kumari, a prominent women’s rights activist and director of the Centre for Social Research in New Delhi.
The incident in Katra Sadatganj, an impoverished village in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, is just the latest in a string of attacks. At least two other rape cases were reported in the past two weeks in the same state. The incidents are igniting debate about sexual violence against women and triggering outrage over lax attitudes about it, despite the strengthening of laws against rape last year....
More than 240,000 sexual offenses against women were reported in 2012, according to Indian government statistics. But human rights experts believe that number is vastly underestimated because many women don’t report the crimes.
India’s government enacted measures last year to address concerns after nationwide protests seeking more security for women followed Singh’s death. The new laws mandate strict guidelines for reporting rapes, shorter trials, less onerous hurdles for victims making accusations and requirements that female officers process victims.
However, high-profile rapes continue to occur, suggesting men’s behavior isn’t changing and marring the country’s image abroad. Last year, the number of female tourists dropped 10 percent, according to industry experts, in a country where tourism makes up 6 percent of GDP....
http://www.religionnews.com/2014/06/16/despite-tougher-laws-india-cant-shake-rape-culture/
By Janine di Giovanni 6/16/14
....“War zone rape thrives on silence,” Jolie said in her opening remarks, and Hague agrees: Sexual crimes should not be shameful. “It’s about waking people up,” he told Newsweek. “Despite all the communications within the modern age, these crimes have taken place on a vast scale without the world noticing. And that now is changing.”
....Five years after the Sri Lankan government defeated the Tamil Tigers, human rights groups report continued abductions, torture, rapes and other sexual violence against both men and women of the Tamil minority.
“For all intents and purposes, the war has not finished,” insists Frances Harrison, author of Still Counting the Dead, a brutal account of the Sri Lankan conflict. “Especially for young men and women who had association with the rebels, they are still being abducted, hunted down. It’s a mopping up operation five years on.”
Harrison says the Sri Lankan government—which is not considered a pariah state, despite its persistent human rights violations—“are using very sophisticated intelligence methods like facial-recognition software, as well as hooded informers who nod when they identify somebody.” ....
http://www.newsweek.com/celebrities-join-fight-stop-rape-weapon-war-255054
Despite tougher laws, India can’t shake rape culture
Mandakini Gahlot USA Today Jun 16, 2014
NEW DELHI (RNS) Despite tougher laws against sexual violence, the grisly rape and murder of two teenage girls found hanging from a tree shows India has a long way to go to safeguard women in its male-dominated, socially stratified culture, critics say.
Protestors rally outside Sufdarjung Hospital in 2012 while seeking justice for a gang rape victim. Despite recent reform to toughen India's sexual violence laws, India's male-dominated and socially stratified culture isn't helping solve the problem, critics say.
Protestors rally outside Sufdarjung Hospital in 2012 while seeking justice for a gang rape victim. Despite recent reform to toughen India’s sexual violence laws, India’s male-dominated and socially stratified culture isn’t helping solve the problem, critics say.
“Even though the laws are there, many people feel they can get away with anything, an attitude that some of our politicians have gone out their way to encourage,” said Ranjana Kumari, a prominent women’s rights activist and director of the Centre for Social Research in New Delhi.
The incident in Katra Sadatganj, an impoverished village in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, is just the latest in a string of attacks. At least two other rape cases were reported in the past two weeks in the same state. The incidents are igniting debate about sexual violence against women and triggering outrage over lax attitudes about it, despite the strengthening of laws against rape last year....
More than 240,000 sexual offenses against women were reported in 2012, according to Indian government statistics. But human rights experts believe that number is vastly underestimated because many women don’t report the crimes.
India’s government enacted measures last year to address concerns after nationwide protests seeking more security for women followed Singh’s death. The new laws mandate strict guidelines for reporting rapes, shorter trials, less onerous hurdles for victims making accusations and requirements that female officers process victims.
However, high-profile rapes continue to occur, suggesting men’s behavior isn’t changing and marring the country’s image abroad. Last year, the number of female tourists dropped 10 percent, according to industry experts, in a country where tourism makes up 6 percent of GDP....
http://www.religionnews.com/2014/06/16/despite-tougher-laws-india-cant-shake-rape-culture/
Monday, January 20, 2014
Late BBC Host Jimmy Savile Abused 'Up to 1,000 People' (Report), Report: Television Star Jimmy Savile Sexually Abused Victims in BBC Studios, Culture of secrecy blamed for BBC's failure to stop Jimmy Savile's crimes, Britain disrupts Philippines online child abuse ring
Late BBC Host Jimmy Savile Abused 'Up to 1,000 People' (Report) 1/20/2014 by Georg Szalai
A report about the results of an internal probe at the U.K. public broadcaster is expected to be published in February.
LONDON -- The final report on an internal BBC probe is expected to state that late radio and TV host Jimmy Savile sexually abused "many hundreds and potentially up to 1,000 people" while working for the U.K. public broadcaster, the Guardian's sister publication The Observer reported.
At least 138 victims are believed to be pursuing civil actions against the BBC, according to the newspaper report. Last year, a police report cited 214 abuse cases and about 450 overall complaints recorded by authorities.
The BBC report is also set to call on the broadcaster's leadership to reform a "culture of secrecy," according to the paper....
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/late-bbc-host-jimmy-savile-672456
Report: Television Star Jimmy Savile Sexually Abused Victims in BBC Studios
by Warner Todd Huston 19 Jan 2014
Just when the UK may have thought that there could not be any worse news about the sex abuse scandal perpetrated by its once most famous TV and radio star, the Jimmy Savile case gets worse—not just for the late celebrity's reputation but for those accused of enabling him, including the CEO of the New York Times.
A new report is about to come out saying that Savile abused teens right on the premises of government-run broadcasting facilities.
Jimmy Savile, an actor, TV and radio announcer—or "presenter" as they call it in Britain—and well-loved charity spokesman, passed away in 2011, but only months later, rumors of his rampant abuse of British teens who were enamored of his stardom began to leak out.
In 2012, allegations of his sexual abuse of vulnerable young Brits gained critical mass, and a full-scale government investigation was launched—as the British Broadcasting Service (BBC) is owned and run by the government. This gave Savile's crimes an air of government approval when it became known that many BBC officials may have known of Savile's crimes but covered them up, assisted in them, or at the least ignored them.
By June of 2013, not only had hundreds of cases of abuse come to light but the investigation had spread to other BBC employees.
In mid-2013, the BBC released a statement saying that it was "appalled" by all the sexual crimes perpetrated by Savile and his cohorts....
A source close to Dame Janet's investigation told the British media: "The numbers are shocking. Many hundreds and potentially up to 1,000 people were victims of Savile when he was representing the corporation. The report will overshadow Pollard. It will go right to the heart of how Savile was able to get away with the most heinous of crimes under the very noses of BBC staff for more than 40 years."....
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2014/01/19/Blockbuster-Report-Sex-Molesting-BBC-Star-Used-BBC-Studios-to-Abuse-Victims
Culture of secrecy blamed for BBC's failure to stop Jimmy Savile's crimes
Chris Patten pressed to prove corporation has changed as inquiry expected to conclude that DJ abused up to 1,000 people
Jason Deans The Guardian, Sunday 19 January 2014
Senior BBC figures are facing calls to reform the corporation's "culture of secrecy", as an internal inquiry is expected to reveal Jimmy Savile sexually abused up to 1,000 children while working for the corporation.
The BBC Trust chairman Chris Patten and director general Tony Hall will come under renewed pressure to show that the corporation has decisively changed a culture that allowed Savile to abuse his victims unchecked during more than 40 years as a presenter of TV shows including Top of the Pops and as a Radio 1 DJ. Savile died in 2011.
Former court of appeal judge Dame Janet Smith's report will say the number of victims of Savile's sexual activities may never be known but that his behaviour had been recognised by BBC executives who took no action, according to the Observer. At least 138 victims are pursuing civil actions against the BBC.
The paper quoted a source close to the Smith inquiry, expected to report next month, saying that "many hundreds and potentially up to 1,000 people" were victims of Savile while he was working for the BBC from the 1960s until his retirement in 2006....
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/jan/19/call-to-end-bbc-culture-of-secrecy
Britain disrupts Philippines online child abuse ring
Kim Hjelmgaard, USA TODAY January 16, 2014
LONDON — Britain's National Crime Agency said it has broken up an international crime group that live-streamed child sexual abuse from the Philippines.
The agency said the joint investigation with authorities in the United States and Australia yielded 29 arrests for people in 12 countries who had paid to watch the online abuse, which in some cases was arranged by members of the children's own families.
In a statement, the NCA said that the "use of Web cams to stream live abuse, particularly from the developing world, is a significant and emerging threat."
The investigation was started after a routine visit by police in the English county of Northamptonshire to a registered sex offender, the NCA said. The probe began in 2012 and resulted in 15 children ages 6 to 15 being safeguarded from abuse....
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/01/16/britain-philippines-child-abuse-online/4504911/
A report about the results of an internal probe at the U.K. public broadcaster is expected to be published in February.
LONDON -- The final report on an internal BBC probe is expected to state that late radio and TV host Jimmy Savile sexually abused "many hundreds and potentially up to 1,000 people" while working for the U.K. public broadcaster, the Guardian's sister publication The Observer reported.
At least 138 victims are believed to be pursuing civil actions against the BBC, according to the newspaper report. Last year, a police report cited 214 abuse cases and about 450 overall complaints recorded by authorities.
The BBC report is also set to call on the broadcaster's leadership to reform a "culture of secrecy," according to the paper....
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/late-bbc-host-jimmy-savile-672456
Report: Television Star Jimmy Savile Sexually Abused Victims in BBC Studios
by Warner Todd Huston 19 Jan 2014
Just when the UK may have thought that there could not be any worse news about the sex abuse scandal perpetrated by its once most famous TV and radio star, the Jimmy Savile case gets worse—not just for the late celebrity's reputation but for those accused of enabling him, including the CEO of the New York Times.
A new report is about to come out saying that Savile abused teens right on the premises of government-run broadcasting facilities.
Jimmy Savile, an actor, TV and radio announcer—or "presenter" as they call it in Britain—and well-loved charity spokesman, passed away in 2011, but only months later, rumors of his rampant abuse of British teens who were enamored of his stardom began to leak out.
In 2012, allegations of his sexual abuse of vulnerable young Brits gained critical mass, and a full-scale government investigation was launched—as the British Broadcasting Service (BBC) is owned and run by the government. This gave Savile's crimes an air of government approval when it became known that many BBC officials may have known of Savile's crimes but covered them up, assisted in them, or at the least ignored them.
By June of 2013, not only had hundreds of cases of abuse come to light but the investigation had spread to other BBC employees.
In mid-2013, the BBC released a statement saying that it was "appalled" by all the sexual crimes perpetrated by Savile and his cohorts....
A source close to Dame Janet's investigation told the British media: "The numbers are shocking. Many hundreds and potentially up to 1,000 people were victims of Savile when he was representing the corporation. The report will overshadow Pollard. It will go right to the heart of how Savile was able to get away with the most heinous of crimes under the very noses of BBC staff for more than 40 years."....
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2014/01/19/Blockbuster-Report-Sex-Molesting-BBC-Star-Used-BBC-Studios-to-Abuse-Victims
Culture of secrecy blamed for BBC's failure to stop Jimmy Savile's crimes
Chris Patten pressed to prove corporation has changed as inquiry expected to conclude that DJ abused up to 1,000 people
Jason Deans The Guardian, Sunday 19 January 2014
Senior BBC figures are facing calls to reform the corporation's "culture of secrecy", as an internal inquiry is expected to reveal Jimmy Savile sexually abused up to 1,000 children while working for the corporation.
The BBC Trust chairman Chris Patten and director general Tony Hall will come under renewed pressure to show that the corporation has decisively changed a culture that allowed Savile to abuse his victims unchecked during more than 40 years as a presenter of TV shows including Top of the Pops and as a Radio 1 DJ. Savile died in 2011.
Former court of appeal judge Dame Janet Smith's report will say the number of victims of Savile's sexual activities may never be known but that his behaviour had been recognised by BBC executives who took no action, according to the Observer. At least 138 victims are pursuing civil actions against the BBC.
The paper quoted a source close to the Smith inquiry, expected to report next month, saying that "many hundreds and potentially up to 1,000 people" were victims of Savile while he was working for the BBC from the 1960s until his retirement in 2006....
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/jan/19/call-to-end-bbc-culture-of-secrecy
Britain disrupts Philippines online child abuse ring
Kim Hjelmgaard, USA TODAY January 16, 2014
LONDON — Britain's National Crime Agency said it has broken up an international crime group that live-streamed child sexual abuse from the Philippines.
The agency said the joint investigation with authorities in the United States and Australia yielded 29 arrests for people in 12 countries who had paid to watch the online abuse, which in some cases was arranged by members of the children's own families.
In a statement, the NCA said that the "use of Web cams to stream live abuse, particularly from the developing world, is a significant and emerging threat."
The investigation was started after a routine visit by police in the English county of Northamptonshire to a registered sex offender, the NCA said. The probe began in 2012 and resulted in 15 children ages 6 to 15 being safeguarded from abuse....
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/01/16/britain-philippines-child-abuse-online/4504911/
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Charges initiated against Pope for crimes against humanity, PTSD-trauma link
also: Twin study may quiet doubts over PTSD-trauma link
Charges initiated against Pope for crimes against humanity
TWO GERMAN lawyers have initiated charges against Pope Benedict XVI at the International Criminal Court, alleging crimes against humanity. PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent The Irish Times - February 23, 2011
TWO GERMAN lawyers have initiated charges against Pope Benedict XVI at the International Criminal Court, alleging crimes against humanity. Christian Sailer and Gert-Joachim Hetzel, based at Marktheidenfeld in the Pope’s home state of Bavaria, last week submitted a 16,500-word document to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court at the Hague, Dr Luis Moreno Ocampo.
Their charges concern “three worldwide crimes which until now have not been denounced . . . (as) the traditional reverence toward ‘ecclesiastical authority’ has clouded the sense of right and wrong”.
They claim the Pope “is responsible for the preservation and leadership of a worldwide totalitarian regime of coercion which subjugates its members with terrifying and health-endangering threats”. They allege he is also responsible for “the adherence to a fatal forbiddance of the use of condoms, even when the danger of HIV-Aids infection exists” and for “the establishment and maintenance of a worldwide system of cover-up of the sexual crimes committed by Catholic priests and their preferential treatment, which aids and abets ever new crimes”. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2011/0223/1224290630240.html
Criminal Charges against Dr. Joseph Ratzinger, Pope of the Roman Catholic Church on grounds of Crimes against Humanity According to Art. 7 ICC Statute
http://www.kanzlei-sailer.de/pope-lawsuit-2011.pdf
Twin study may quiet doubts over PTSD-trauma link
By Lynne Peeples NEW YORK Sep 30, 2010 NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Trauma really is the trigger of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, suggests a new study that could help settle an ongoing debate.
"It's been argued by some that PTSD is not a bona fide disorder, that these people are just maladjusted and the trauma doesn't have anything to with it," senior researcher Dr. Roger Pitman of Boston's Harvard University told Reuters Health....
Pitman and colleagues from Harvard and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs looked to 103 pairs of identical male twins from the Vietnam Era Twin Registry to test whether trauma truly causes PTSD, or if its sufferers would have developed symptoms of the disorder regardless. One brother from each pair had been exposed to combat in the Vietnam War; the other had not. Fifty of the combat-exposed men had PTSD.
The researchers found a substantial difference in mental disorders between the twins: Men exposed to combat and diagnosed with PTSD had three-fold more symptoms than their brothers, as well as compared to the combat veterans without PTSD and their co-twins. Similar patterns appeared when considering only PTSD-related psychiatric symptoms, report the researchers in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. According to Pitman, "If you assume that the identical twin is a representation of what the veteran would have been like had he not been exposed to combat, with the same genes and same family upbringing, then the conclusion is that psychiatric trauma causes substantial psychiatric symptoms in a portion of the population."
Given the similarities in symptoms between co-twins of combat-exposed brothers that did and did not develop PTSD, the findings also refute the presence of any predisposing genetic or environmental traits that increase vulnerability to trauma-induced PTSD, the authors say.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/09/30/us-twin-ptsd-idUSTRE68T47B20100930
Is Trauma a Causal Agent of Psychopathologic Symptoms in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder? Findings From Identical Twins Discordant for Combat Exposure
Mark W. Gilbertson, PhD; Alexander C. McFarlane, MD; Frank W. Weathers, PhD; Terence M. Keane, PhD; Rachel Yehuda, PhD; Arieh Y. Shalev, MD; Natasha B. Lasko, PhD; Jared M. Goetz, BA; and Roger K. Pitman, MD, for the Harvard/VA PTSD Twin Study Investigators
J Clin Psychiatry 2010;71(10):1324–1330
10.4088/JCP.10m06121blu
....Method: A case-control twin study conducted between 1996–2001 examined psychopathologic symptoms in a national convenience sample of 104 identical twin pairs discordant for combat exposure in Vietnam, with (n = 50) or without (n = 54) combat-related PTSD (DSM-IV–diagnosed) in the exposed twin....
Results: Combat veterans with PTSD demonstrated significantly higher scores (P < .0001) on the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised and other psychometric measures of psychopathology than their own combat-unexposed cotwins (and than combat veterans without PTSD and their cotwins).
Conclusions: These results support the conclusion that the majority of psychiatric symptoms reported by combat veterans with PTSD would not have been present were it not for their exposure to traumatic events.
http://article.psychiatrist.com/dao_1-login.asp?ID=10007050&RSID=75635130271135
Study on twins may quiet doubts on PTSD-trauma link
Researchers found major difference in mental disorders in twins if one had seen combat
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39441551/ns/health-mental_health/
Charges initiated against Pope for crimes against humanity
TWO GERMAN lawyers have initiated charges against Pope Benedict XVI at the International Criminal Court, alleging crimes against humanity. PATSY McGARRY, Religious Affairs Correspondent The Irish Times - February 23, 2011
TWO GERMAN lawyers have initiated charges against Pope Benedict XVI at the International Criminal Court, alleging crimes against humanity. Christian Sailer and Gert-Joachim Hetzel, based at Marktheidenfeld in the Pope’s home state of Bavaria, last week submitted a 16,500-word document to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court at the Hague, Dr Luis Moreno Ocampo.
Their charges concern “three worldwide crimes which until now have not been denounced . . . (as) the traditional reverence toward ‘ecclesiastical authority’ has clouded the sense of right and wrong”.
They claim the Pope “is responsible for the preservation and leadership of a worldwide totalitarian regime of coercion which subjugates its members with terrifying and health-endangering threats”. They allege he is also responsible for “the adherence to a fatal forbiddance of the use of condoms, even when the danger of HIV-Aids infection exists” and for “the establishment and maintenance of a worldwide system of cover-up of the sexual crimes committed by Catholic priests and their preferential treatment, which aids and abets ever new crimes”. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2011/0223/1224290630240.html
Criminal Charges against Dr. Joseph Ratzinger, Pope of the Roman Catholic Church on grounds of Crimes against Humanity According to Art. 7 ICC Statute
http://www.kanzlei-sailer.de/pope-lawsuit-2011.pdf
Twin study may quiet doubts over PTSD-trauma link
By Lynne Peeples NEW YORK Sep 30, 2010 NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Trauma really is the trigger of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, suggests a new study that could help settle an ongoing debate.
"It's been argued by some that PTSD is not a bona fide disorder, that these people are just maladjusted and the trauma doesn't have anything to with it," senior researcher Dr. Roger Pitman of Boston's Harvard University told Reuters Health....
Pitman and colleagues from Harvard and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs looked to 103 pairs of identical male twins from the Vietnam Era Twin Registry to test whether trauma truly causes PTSD, or if its sufferers would have developed symptoms of the disorder regardless. One brother from each pair had been exposed to combat in the Vietnam War; the other had not. Fifty of the combat-exposed men had PTSD.
The researchers found a substantial difference in mental disorders between the twins: Men exposed to combat and diagnosed with PTSD had three-fold more symptoms than their brothers, as well as compared to the combat veterans without PTSD and their co-twins. Similar patterns appeared when considering only PTSD-related psychiatric symptoms, report the researchers in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. According to Pitman, "If you assume that the identical twin is a representation of what the veteran would have been like had he not been exposed to combat, with the same genes and same family upbringing, then the conclusion is that psychiatric trauma causes substantial psychiatric symptoms in a portion of the population."
Given the similarities in symptoms between co-twins of combat-exposed brothers that did and did not develop PTSD, the findings also refute the presence of any predisposing genetic or environmental traits that increase vulnerability to trauma-induced PTSD, the authors say.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/09/30/us-twin-ptsd-idUSTRE68T47B20100930
Is Trauma a Causal Agent of Psychopathologic Symptoms in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder? Findings From Identical Twins Discordant for Combat Exposure
Mark W. Gilbertson, PhD; Alexander C. McFarlane, MD; Frank W. Weathers, PhD; Terence M. Keane, PhD; Rachel Yehuda, PhD; Arieh Y. Shalev, MD; Natasha B. Lasko, PhD; Jared M. Goetz, BA; and Roger K. Pitman, MD, for the Harvard/VA PTSD Twin Study Investigators
J Clin Psychiatry 2010;71(10):1324–1330
10.4088/JCP.10m06121blu
....Method: A case-control twin study conducted between 1996–2001 examined psychopathologic symptoms in a national convenience sample of 104 identical twin pairs discordant for combat exposure in Vietnam, with (n = 50) or without (n = 54) combat-related PTSD (DSM-IV–diagnosed) in the exposed twin....
Results: Combat veterans with PTSD demonstrated significantly higher scores (P < .0001) on the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised and other psychometric measures of psychopathology than their own combat-unexposed cotwins (and than combat veterans without PTSD and their cotwins).
Conclusions: These results support the conclusion that the majority of psychiatric symptoms reported by combat veterans with PTSD would not have been present were it not for their exposure to traumatic events.
http://article.psychiatrist.com/dao_1-login.asp?ID=10007050&RSID=75635130271135
Study on twins may quiet doubts on PTSD-trauma link
Researchers found major difference in mental disorders in twins if one had seen combat
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39441551/ns/health-mental_health/
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