Frances Andrade death: Charity calls for review in child abuse trials, Ireland sent girls, women to Catholic workhouses until 1996, report finds

Frances Andrade death: Charity calls for review in child abuse trials
Frances Andrade Violin teacher Frances Andrade was found dead after giving evidence  9 February 2013

A charity for adults who were abused in childhood has said the way prosecutions are brought must change after a victim took her own life during a trial.

Frances Andrade was found dead less than a week after she faced Michael Brewer at Manchester Crown Court.

Following Brewer’s conviction for indecently assaulting her, her family said “the court system let her down”.

The National Association for People Abused in Childhood’s Pete Saunders said the “legal system has to change”.

He said a conclusion such as the one in Mrs Andrade’s case was “not as uncommon as it should be”.

‘Ashamed of themselves’

“She is another victim not only of the people who abused her, but the British legal system too,” he said.

“The people who put her through the trauma of the court case should be ashamed of themselves.

“Child abuse is a unique crime and it should be dealt with very sensitively. Instead, it is dealt with as if it were any other sort of crime.”….
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-21395749

Ireland sent girls, women to Catholic workhouses until 1996, report finds

By Ian Johnston, Staff Writer, NBC News

Ireland’s government was directly involved in sending girls and women to work for nothing in laundries run by Catholic orders, a landmark report published Tuesday concluded.

The report by Irish Senator Martin McAleese found that orphans and abused, neglected or unruly children were among more than 10,000 sent to the Magdalen Laundries from 1922 to 1996.

Some had committed minor crimes, others were simply homeless or poor. Women with mental or physical disabilities and some people with psychiatric illness also found themselves in the laundries.

Their average age, the report found, was 23, but the youngest child was just nine and the oldest known entrant was 89.

Activists called on the government to issue a formal apology and pay compensation, with one group saying those affected had been “treated like slaves.”

Their plight came to greater public attention when it was the subject of a 2002 film called The Magdalene Sisters, which used a different spelling.

And in June 2011, the United Nations’ Committee on Torture highlighted allegations of “physical, emotional abuses and other ill-treatment” and said it was “gravely concerned” at Ireland’s failure to “protect girls and women who were involuntarily confined.”….
http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/05/16854772-ireland-sent-girls-women-to-catholic-workhouses-until-1996-report-finds

Charity’s Insurer Need Not Cover, But May Have to Pay to Defend, Sandusky, Month-long ICE crackdown nets 190 child p_rn suspects; 18 victims rescued

Charity’s Insurer Need Not Cover, But May Have to Pay to Defend, Sandusky
By Saranac Hale Spencer
The Legal Intelligencer  June 6, 2012

With jury selection under way this week in the criminal child sex-abuse trial of Jerry Sandusky, the former Penn State assistant football coach suffered a setback in federal court when a judge ruled that the insurance company from which he was seeking coverage is not responsible for indemnifying him for damages that may arise from the allegations.

U.S. District Chief Judge Yvette Kane of the Middle District of Pennsylvania also discussed whether or not Federal Insurance Co. would be obligated to pay for Sandusky’s defense, but deferred answering the question until discovery provides a factual record.

On Dec. 16, Sandusky informed the company that insures the nonprofit organization that he started 35 years ago to help “at-risk” youth that he would be seeking coverage from its policy. The organization, The Second Mile, announced last month that it planned to transfer its assets and programs to a similar nonprofit, called Arrow, because after the allegations against Sandusky, “there would not be adequate support, including financial, from donors, volunteers and referring social service agencies to continue The Second Mile as its own entity.” http://www.law.com/jsp/pa/PubArticlePA.jsp?id=1202557357820&Charitys_Insurer_Need_Not_Cover_But_May_Have_to_Pay_to_Defend_Sandusky

Month-long ICE crackdown nets 190 child porn suspects; 18 victims rescued  6/8/12
By Kari Huus, msnbc.com

Federal agents targeting child pornography offenses say they arrested 190 people in May and rescued 18 children who were being victimized by the accused perpetrators, in a stepped-up focus on these crimes. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, which investigates a wide range of crimes that cross state or national borders, is one of the main federal agencies — along with the FBI — to handle child porn and exploitation investigations….

The 190 arrests in May represented a  “significant number” for one month, Bennett said. ICE arrested 1,455 suspected child predators in the 2011 fiscal year, which ended on Sept. 30, 2011, she said, up from 922 a year earlier.

Typically, she said, ICE is responsible for more than half of the federal cases involving child sexual exploitation.

In 2011, Bennett said, agency investigations resulted in 915 convictions on child porn-related charges with sentences ranging from a few years to life in prison, depending on the severity of the offense and the age of the victim — who are sometimes as young as infants. http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/08/12125265-month-long-ice-crackdown-nets-190-child-porn-suspects-18-victims-rescued