Sex Abuse Cases – Marci Hamilton, Capturing the Friedmans – The Victims speak out

Sex abuse cases: ‘I have a personal stake in this’ (Video)
Mar 28, 2013  Jeff Blumenthal     Reporter- Philadelphia Business Journal

Last week, I interviewed Marci Hamilton, a lawyer representing victims in the Sandusky and Philadelphia Archdiocese child abuse scandals, as part of our Inside the Reporters Notebook series….

Hamilton’s pointed response explained what she says is a personal reason for her involvement. She is a professor at Cardozo School of Law and not a litigator by trade. But she said she was incensed on February 10, 2011, when a Philadelphia Grand Jury released a report following an investigation into allegations that two priests and a teacher sexually abused a 10-year-old boy at St. Jerome Parish in Philadelphia, and that another priest assigned to St. Jerome sexually assaulted a 14-year-old boy.

It was that report, Hamilton said, that caused her to contact her co-counsel Jeff Anderson, and say she wanted to participate in the litigation.

“I have a personal stake in this,” Hamilton said. “My children are Catholic. My daughter was baptized by a pedophile priest. I have family pictures with a pedophile at one of the most important ceremonies of a child’s life. So I am in it, yes, in Philadelphia. Because its the only way to make this Archdiocese to do the right thing.”
http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/blog/jeff-blumenthal/2013/03/sex-abuse-cases-i-have-a-personal.html

Capturing the Friedmans
At a time when child sexual abuse has been identified as a major public health crisis, the new film “Capturing the Friedmans” takes a skeptical attitude regarding believing children. The 1989, Arnold Friedman and his son Jesse plead guilty to multiple charges of sodomy and sexual abuse against young boys who took computer classes taught in the basement of their home. Jesse now claims he was wrongly convicted.

Our research into the case shows that the director of the film sacrificed truth in favor of creating artistic ambiguity. Clear evidence is omitted and facts are distorted. In addition, the film  relies on  popular but erroneous myths about child sexual abuse. As a result, uncertainty is created about the guilt of two confessed pedophiles — who are recast as victims — while the real  victims — the boys and their families — are portrayed as  untrustworthy.
http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/1/ctf/1.html

In Their Own Words:  Jesse’s Victims Speak Out
….The Film “Capturing the Friedmans” about a case of child molestation in Great Neck, Long Island has been nominated for an Academy Award.  We are two of the victims of Arnold and Jesse Friedman writing to you, asking you to hear out side of the story, writing on behalf of the other victims and ourselves. We were abused, tortured, and humiliated by Arnold and Jesse Friedman in computer classes in Arnold’s basement.  Many of us have physical scars from what was done to us; all of us have psychological scars. Although it has been 16 years, we live with the knowledge of these crimes every day of our lives. Some of us have had bad dreams, some of us slept with baseball bats under our bed for years for fear of reprisals.  Many years ago, we thought we could not tell what was happening to us because we felt too guilty and embarrassed and were constantly threatened. Our parents thought Arnold was calling our houses so often because he was such a concerned teacher. His calls were to make sure we were not telling and to repeat the constant threats.
http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/1/ctf/vict.html

How the Steubenville case exposes the cruelty faced by rape survivors, I Was Wounded; My Honor Wasn’t

How the Steubenville case exposes the cruelty faced by rape survivors

A sexual assault occurs every two minutes in the US, but here is a rare spotlight on how the justice system handles rape charges Tuesday 8 January 2013 Megan Carpentier

….The fact is that, if the way sexual assaults are investigated and prosecuted – as in Steubenville, Ohio – represents the justice that society wants for victims and survivors of sexual assault, there’s little question why 54% of sexual assaults in America go unreported to the police.

It’s because, of the 46% of assaults that are reported, only about 25% of those lead to an arrest. One quarter of those arrested will never be prosecuted. Only about half of those prosecuted will receive a felony conviction. And only about half of those who receive a felony conviction will serve even one day in jail.

And all that despite the fact that every two minutes, on average, another person in America is sexually assaulted.

Occasionally, outcries against the justice system, like the one going on in Steubenville, gives survivors an indication that the poor quality of justice we receive for the assaults committed against us isn’t exactly the justice the rest of society wants for itself. But in the 149 days since the Steubenville survivor was assaulted, statistics indicate that nearly another 85,000 sexual assaults have been committed in the United States. And for these, there are no protests, no Anonymous group turning up videos or digging into the backgrounds of the police and prosecutors, no spotlight on anything but, in all likelihood, the background and personality of the victim.

When one is sexually assaulted – assuming the police investigate at all and the prosecutors intend to do any sort of prosecution – they don’t just look into the background of the perpetrator or his (or her) actions during the assault. Police and prosecutors examine the background of the victim, which, under the American system, means that anything that could prove “exculpatory” for the defense must be turned over to them (such as, occasionally, one’s own sexual history)….
http://m.guardiannews.com/commentisfree/2013/jan/08/steubenville-rape-case-cruelty-survivors

Op-Ed Contributor
I Was Wounded; My Honor Wasn’t
By SOHAILA ABDULALI
January 7, 2013

THIRTY-TWO years ago, when I was 17 and living in Bombay, I was gang raped and nearly killed. Three years later, outraged at the silence and misconceptions around rape, I wrote a fiery essay under my own name describing my experience for an Indian women’s magazine. It created a stir in the women’s movement — and in my family — and then it quietly disappeared. Then, last week, I looked at my e-mail and there it was. As part of the outpouring of public rage after a young woman’s rape and death in Delhi, somebody posted the article online and it went viral. Since then, I have received a deluge of messages from people expressing their support….

The law has to provide real penalties for rapists and protection for victims, but only families and communities can provide this empathy and support. How will a teenager participate in the prosecution of her rapist if her family isn’t behind her? How will a wife charge her assailant if her husband thinks the attack was more of an affront to him than a violation of her?

At 17, I thought the scariest thing that could happen in my life was being hurt and humiliated in such a painful way. At 49, I know I was wrong: the scariest thing is imagining my 11-year-old child being hurt and humiliated. Not because of my family’s honor, but because she trusts the world and it is infinitely painful to think of her losing that trust. When I look back, it is not the 17-year-old me I want to comfort, but my parents. They had the job of picking up the pieces.

This is where our work lies, with those of us who are raising the next generation. It lies in teaching our sons and daughters to become liberated, respectful adults who know that men who hurt women are making a choice, and will be punished….

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/08/opinion/after-being-raped-i-was-wounded-my-honor-wasnt.html

Vast international child-p_rn network uncovered

Vast international child-porn network uncovered   

By DENISE LAVOIE AP Legal Affairs Writer Aug 4, 2012

BOSTON (AP) — The men came from different walks of life on two continents: a children’s puppeteer in Florida, a hotel manager in Massachusetts, an emergency medical technician in Kansas, a day care worker in the Netherlands. In all, 43 men have been arrested over the past two years in a horrific, far-flung child porn network that unraveled like a sweater with a single loose thread….

Authorities have identified more than 140 young victims so far and say there is no end in sight as they pore through hundreds of thousands of images found on the suspects’ computers. They are also trying to determine whether the men who talked about murder and cannibalism actually committed such acts or were just sharing twisted fantasies….

Robert Mikelsons, a 27-year-old day care worker who baby-sat the boy, was arrested. On his computer were thousands and thousands of images of children being molested and raped, including the boy holding the stuffed bunny.
Photos and online chats found on computers owned by Diduca and Mikelsons led to more than three dozen other suspects in seven countries, including Canada, Britain, Germany, Sweden and Mexico. The oldest victim in the Netherlands was 4, the youngest just 19 days old….

Mikelsons also received an 18-year sentence, followed by indefinite psychiatric commitment, after confessing to sexually abusing more than 80 children….

What they found on Arnett’s computer was unlike anything some of the investigators had ever come across: long, graphic, online chats about his desire to abduct, kill and eat children. They said he had also made photos of a naked 2-year-old boy in a roasting pan inside his oven. The child and two other boys Arnett allegedly abused and photographed were later identified and found alive….

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CHILD_PORN_NETWORK?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-08-04-10-44-22

Arrests in major child porn investigation  Aug 4,2012
Some of the men charged in an international child porn investigation that has led to 43 arrests and the identification of more than 140 child victims….
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_CHILD_PORN_NETWORK_GLANCE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-08-04-10-28-26

 

Penn State signals it wants to settle Sandusky cases – University may have to pay millions to victims of sexual abuse by former coach, Analysis: Number of victims persuaded Sandusky jurors in ‘he said, he said’ case

Penn State signals it wants to settle Sandusky cases – University may have to pay millions to victims of sexual abuse by former coach
By Ian Simpson  6/24/2012

BELLEFONTE, Pennsylvania  — With former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky  now behind bars for child sexual abuse, the university has given an unusual signal that it wants to wrap up civil suits as fast as possible, legal observers said on Saturday.

Shortly after Sandusky, 68, was convicted late on Friday on 45 counts of sexual abuse, Pennsylvania State University invited victims to try to resolve claims against the school.
“The purpose of the program is simple – the university wants to provide a forum where the university can privately, expeditiously and fairly address the victims’ concerns and compensate them for claims relating to the university,” it said in a statement.

Sandusky’s conviction clears a hurdle for potentially big-ticket civil suits since abuse victims suing the school now can point to a crime that was committed, the observers said.
At least two civil suits have been filed already against the school, both in Philadelphia. A filing by Sandusky’s lawyers last month put the number of potential victims at almost 20….
A former assistant coach, Mike McQueary, testified he told late head coach Joe Paterno, Curley and Schultz about a 2001 incident in which Sandusky abused a boy in a Penn State locker room.

Curley and Schultz face charges of perjury and failure to report suspected abuse in an alleged cover-up of the incident. “Schultz and Curley will tell us a lot more about what Penn State knew”  about Sandusky’s pedophilia, Kennerly said. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47935946/vp/47934464#47934464

Analysis: Number of victims persuaded Sandusky jurors in ‘he said, he said’ case
By Wes Oliver, Special to msnbc.com  ANALYSIS  6/23/12

Friday night was not a good night for the Penn State community but you couldn’t tell it from the atmosphere outside the courtroom.  Jerry Sandusky was convicted of the overwhelming majority of the child sex abuse counts of against him. The verdict revealed that the jury believed the account of every of major witness the prosecution presented. There were only three verdicts of ‘not guilty’ in the 48 counts Sandusky faced….

The eight witnesses demonstrated a range of credibility. Ultimately the jury concluded that all of the victims were credible but carefully examined their testimony to see if it established the crimes alleged. It is entirely possible that no single victim could have prevailed in the he-said, he-said conflict in this case. But the victims reinforced one another. The odds that they were all lying were too remote for the jury to conclude anything other than they were all telling the truth.

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/23/12370562-analysis-number-of-victims-persuaded-sandusky-jurors-in-he-said-he-said-case

Irish Catholic Church unable to foot $1.84 billion abuse bill

Irish Catholic Church unable to foot $1.84 billion abuse bill
Government vows to pursue every means possible to get the compensation

By Dara Kelly, IrishCentral.com Staff Writer
Sunday, April 8, 2012

The Irish Minister for Education says that religious orders in the country found culpable in the sexual abuse of children are not able to pay their share of the compensation owed to victims.

However, he also went on to say that he is still going to pursue every means possible to get the compensation from them.

The total compensation package for victims of sexual abuse is some $1.84 billion dollars and the plan was for it to be split between Irish taxpayers and religious orders where abuse took place.

The Residential Institutions Redress Scheme is the authority that makes the awards to victims of abuse….

It now seems that the onus will be placed on the taxpayer to stump up more than the 50 percent originally planned.

Quinn is trying to get the orders to hand over deeds of schools and other property assets to redress the cash shortfall, but many of the properties are now owned by trusts and not directly by the orders.

http://www.irishcentral.com/news/news_from_ireland/Irish-Catholic-Church-unable-to-foot-19-billion-abuse-bill-146552675.html

Church’s Lawyers Have SNAP in Their Sights, global online pedophile network

Church’s Lawyers Have SNAP in Their Sights – Victims’ advocacy group’s national director speaks to RD about a flurry of subpoenas, and fears of ongoing harassment
By Kathryn Joyce     March 16, 2012

In October, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), the oldest, largest, and most visible peer counseling group for victims of clergy sex abuse in any denomination, received a subpoena from a Kansas City, Missouri, priest being prosecuted for sexually abusing an older male victim SNAP has never met. The subpoena demanded a sweeping range of documents and correspondence concerning thousands of the estimated 100,000-plus people SNAP has counseled over two decades.

In December, the group received a second subpoena from the other side of the state, from the Archdiocese of St. Louis, facing its own charges concerning the alleged abuse of a 19-year-old woman. SNAP has fought the requests, citing Missouri laws protecting the privacy of rape survivors, and describing the records-request as a coordinated Church effort to bully sex abuse victims into silence and harass a longtime opponent into bankruptcy.

While the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has denied that there is a national strategy for the Church to fight sex abuse cases more aggressively, even the Church’s staunchest defenders see the pattern. As William Donohue, the pugilistic president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, told the New York Times this week, bishops are going after SNAP because “SNAP is a menace to the Catholic Church.”….

Why do you think they are doing this?

What they’re trying to do is to discredit, derail, bankrupt, and silence SNAP. And to scare anyone—police, prosecutors, victims, concerned Catholics—from contacting us and reporting crimes and exposing corruption.

What they have said in court filings is we’re trying to get to the truth of this case. But if you think about it, the easiest way to get to the truth of John Doe BP v. Fr. Michael Tierney and the Kansas City Diocese and Jane Doe v. Fr. Joseph D. Ross and the St. Louis Archdiocese is to depose the parties, the people involved, John Doe and Jane Doe. And they haven’t even tried. In both cases, they haven’t even sought the records. In essence they’re using these two court cases as a ruse and a weapon.
http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/atheologies/5803/church%E2%80%99s_lawyers_have_snap_in_their_sightschurch%E2%80%99s_lawyers_have_snap_in_their_sights.hm

Italy police break up global online pedophile network
By Catherine Hornby, Reuters March 8, 2012
ROME – Italian police have broken up a pedophile network spanning at least 28 countries that used social media websites to swap pornographic images and videos of child abuse.

Ten people have been arrested in Italy, the United States, France and Portugal, and another 112 are being investigated on suspicion of child pornography, Italy’s computer crime police bureau NIT said in a statement….

The data revealed an Italian-founded criminal group with more than 700 followers around the world, exchanging thousands of images and videos, NIT said. http://www.timescolonist.com/news/Italy+police+break+global+online+pedophile+network/6270037/story.html

Penn State – Cultural Denial & Child Sex Abuse -Institutional Betrayal, Eugenics

articles:
Cultural Denial and Child Sex Abuse
Betrayal Blindness and Institutional Betrayal
Pedophiles infiltrate respected institutions to find victims
In North Carolina, sterilization victims demand answers and compensation

Voices In The Family – This Week 11/14/11
Cultural Denial and Child Sex Abuse

Alleged incidents of child sexual abuse brought to light at Penn State are disturbing. University stakeholders have been ousted. The campus remains a live wire of anger and confusion. As our hearts go out to children and families who have come forward with their stories, we find ourselves wondering, why did so many people fail to report what they saw or heard about?

On the next Voices in the Family with Dan Gottlieb: why the cultural hesitation and denial in sexual abuse cases, in general, when the well-being of children is at stake? We’ll take a look at the psychology of institutional betrayal as well as prevention of abuse with Jennifer J. Freyd, Michael Stinson, Ken Singer, and Kelly Moore.

Jennifer J. Freyd is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Oregon. She has published extensively on topics that include child abuse, memory, and mental health, as well as ethical issues related to trauma research and conceptualizations. Her current research includes investigation of the impact of institutional betrayal. She is finishing a new book called Betrayal, co-written with Pamela J. Birrell.

http://www.whyy.org/91FM/voices.html

Betrayal Blindness and Institutional Betrayal
Jennifer J. Freyd, Department of Psychology, University of Oregon

What is Betrayal Blindness?
Betrayal blindness is the unawareness, not-knowing, and forgetting exhibited by people towards betrayal. The term “betrayal blindness” was introduced by Freyd (1996), and expanded in Freyd (1999) in the context of Betrayal Trauma Theory. This blindness may extend to betrayals that are not traditionally considered “traumas,” such as adultery, inequities in the workplace and society, etc. Victims, perpetrators, and witnesses may display betrayal blindness in order to preserve relationships, institutions, and social systems upon which they depend. (Also, see Eileen Zurbriggen’s essay on Betrayal Trauma in the 2004 Election.)

What is Institutional Betrayal?
The term “Institutional Betrayal” refers to wrongdoings perpetrated by an institution upon individuals dependent on that institution, including failure to prevent or respond supportively to wrongdoings by individuals (e.g. sexual assault) committed within the context of the institution. The term “Institutional Betrayal” as connected with Betrayal Trauma Theory is discussed in more detail in various publications, including in a section starting on page 201 of Platt, Barton, & Freyd (2009) and in recent conference posters by Smith & Freyd (2011a; 2011b) and by Medrano, Martin, and Freyd (2011). http://dynamic.uoregon.edu/~jjf/institutionalbetrayal/index.html

Pedophiles infiltrate respected institutions to find victims
By Greg Toppo, USA TODAY  11/15/11
The Penn State allegations may seem unthinkable: revered assistant coach and prominent community activist Jerry Sandusky preying on eight children. But such abuses of trust play out in the USA over and over again.

Respected people who set up charitable or social groups for children, only to be implicated in some form of child sexual abuse, are a frightening reality.

“I call them ‘institutions of trust,’ ” says Portland, Ore., attorney Kelly Clark, who has represented more than 300 sex abuse victims. Some predators are so tacitly trusted “that when something like this happens, the instinctive reaction is, ‘That can’t happen here. We can’t allow the mission to be compromised,’ ” he says.

Abuse experts say the common denominators in many such crimes are parents willing to allow noted people to have unrestricted access to their kids.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2011-11-13/pedophiles-breach-trusted-institutions-sex-abuse-victims/51189758/1

In North Carolina, sterilization victims demand answers and compensation  Tue Nov 8, 2011
http://rockcenter.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/08/8698125-in-north-carolina-sterilization-victims-demand-answers-and-compensation

Pope German Visit: Religious Leader Talks With Sex Abuse Victims

Pope German Visit: Religious Leader Talks With Sex Abuse Victims

ERFURT, Germany — Pope Benedict XVI met with German victims of sexual abuse by priests and expressed “deep compassion and regret” at the suffering of those abused by members of the clergy, the Vatican said Friday….

Germany’s Catholic church has seen the numbers of faithful leaving the congregation jump, after hundreds of people came forward last year with stories of having been physically or sexually abused by members of the clergy. Church leaders had expressed hope that Benedict’s visit could help heal wounds left by the scandal.

Benedict has been accused by victims groups and their lawyers of being part of systematic practice of cover-up by church hierarchy for pedophile priests, in his earlier roles as an archbishop in Germany and later at the helm of the Vatican morals office….

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/23/pope-german-visit-sex-abuse_n_978265.html

US Child Maltreatment 2009 Statistics

US Child Maltreatment 2009 Statistics

Child Maltreatment 2009
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Administration for Children and Families
Administration on Children, Youth and Families
Children’s Bureau

….Victims in the age group of birth to 1 year had the highest rate of victimization at 20.6 per 1,000 children of the same age group in the national population.

Victimization was split between the sexes with boys accounting for 48.2 percent and girls accounting for 51.1 percent. Less than 1 percent of victims had an unknown sex.

Eighty-seven percent of victims were comprised of three races or ethnicities—African-American (22.3%), Hispanic (20.7%), and White (44.0%).

What were the most common types of maltreatment?

As in prior years, the greatest proportion of children suffered from neglect. A child may have suffered from multiple forms of maltreatment and was counted once for each maltreatment type. CPS investigations or assessments determined that for unique victims:

More than 75 percent (78.3%) suffered neglect;
More than 15 percent (17.8%) suffered physical abuse;
Less than 10 percent (9.5%) suffered sexual abuse; and
Less than 10 percent (7.6%) suffered from psychological maltreatment.

….Child fatalities are the most tragic consequence of maltreatment. Yet, each year children die from abuse and neglect. Forty-nine States reported a total of 1,676 fatalities. Based on these data, a nationally estimated 1,770 children died from abuse and neglect.

….Four-fifths (80.9%) of duplicate perpetrators of child maltreatment were parents, and another 6.3 percent were other relatives of the victim;

Of the duplicate perpetrators who were parents, four-fifths (84.7%) were the biological parents of the victim;

Women comprised a larger percentage of all unique perpetrators than men, 53.8 percent compared to 44.4 percent;

and Four-fifths (83.2%) of all unique perpetrators were between the ages of 20 and 49 years.

….Forty-four States reported that more than 3 million children received preventive services;
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/pubs/cm09/cm09.pdf

Former Daycare Worker Gets 40 Years In Prison For Sexually Abusing Preschoolers

Benjamin Janicki, Former Daycare Worker, Gets 40 Years In Prison For Sexually Abusing Preschool Kids

7/22/11 Benjamin Janicki, 20, a former Denver church daycare worker, has been convicted of sexually molesting nine preschool children and sentenced to 40 years in prison, the maximum allowed under a plea agreement, according to The Denver Post.

The plea agreement was arranged so the nine young girls would not have to testify about the horrifying abuse they faced at the hands of Janicki, who was a summer hire aide for pre-Kindergarten aged kids at the daycare center, according to 9News….

Janicki plead guilty to to two counts of first degree assault and two counts of attempted sexual assault on a child, according to CBSDenver.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/22/benjamin-janicki-former-d_n_907343.html

Plea Deal Announced In Church Day Care Molestation Case
May 9, 2011 Benjamin Janicki entered a guilty plea in court Monday morning to two counts of first degree assault and two counts of attempted sexual assault on a child. He was charged after being accused of molesting four preschool-aged children at the Park Hill United Methodist Church.

Janicki worked as an aid at Park Hill United last summer when he was 19.

Originally the charges Janicki faced stemmed from four victims. On Monday during court proceedings it was revealed that five more victims were added to the list.

http://denver.cbslocal.com/2011/05/09/plea-deal-announced-in-church-day-care-molestation-case/