More Positive Stories in the War Against Child Sex Abuse, Episode VI

Positive stories on child sex abuse are few and far between. 
Not everyone will agree that the death penalty is a positive story,
but India is so dreadfully desperate to stop child sex abuse,
and too many don't even know it.

Union Cabinet Approves Death Penalty In Aggravated Sexual Offences Under POCSO

Written By Asia News International | Mumbai | 

The Union cabinet on Friday approved death penalty in aggravated sexual offences under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

The cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the proposal for amendment in the POCSO Act, 2012 to make punishment more stringent for committing sexual crimes against children.

To discourage child sexual abuse, sections 4, 5 and 6 of POCSO are proposed to be amended to provide an option of stringent punishment including death penalty for committing aggravated penetrative sexual assault crime on a child to protect the children from sexual abuse.

The amendment is expected to act as a deterrent due to strong penal provisions incorporated in the Act. It may also protect the interest of vulnerable children in times of distress and ensure their safety and dignity. The amendment aims to establish clarity regarding the aspects of child abuse and punishment thereof.

The amendment in sections 4, 5, 6, 9, 14, 15 and 42 of POCSO Act, 2012, is made to address child sexual abuse in an appropriate manner. The modification is made to address the need for stringent measures required to deter the rising trend of child sex abuse in the country.

The amendments are also proposed in Section 9 to protect children from sexual offences in times of natural calamities and disasters and in cases where children are administered, in any way, any hormone or any chemical substance, to attain early sexual maturity for the purpose of penetrative sexual assault.

OMG, they do that?

Sections 14 and 15 of the Act are also proposed to be amended to address the menace of child pornography. It is proposed to levy fine for not destroying/or deleting/ or reporting the pornographic material involving a child.

Moreover, the person can be further penalised with jail term or fine or both for transmitting / propagating / administrating such material in any manner except for the purpose of reporting as may be prescribed and for use as evidence in court. Penal provisions have been made more stringent for storing/possessing any pornographic material in any form involving a child for a commercial purpose.

The POCSO Act, 2012 was enacted to Protect the Children from Offences of Sexual Assault, sexual harassment and pornography with due regard for safeguarding the interest and well being of children.

The Act defines a child as any person below 18 years of age and regards the best interests and welfare of the child as a matter of paramount importance at every stage, to ensure the healthy physical, emotional, intellectual and social development of the child. The Act is gender neutral.

Spain moves to extend statute of limitations
for child abuse

By Agence France-Presse

Spain’s cabinet approved a draft law on Friday which will extend the statute of limitations for cases of physical or sexual abuse of children.

Under the bill, the statute of limitations for cases of physical or sexual abuse of children would begin with the victim turns 30, instead of 18 as it currently stands under Spanish law (AFP Photo/DANI POZO/ MANILA BULLETIN)

Under the bill the statute of limitations for these types of crimes would begin when the victim turns 30, instead of 18 as it currently stands under Spanish law, the government said in a statement.

This is definitely an improvement but it's incremental, and needs to be improved considerably. The average age for repressed memories of childhood trauma is well over 30 and, even then, it often takes many years for a person to develop the courage to deal with it. The age limit should be eliminated altogether.

Campaigners have long argued that many victims take years to digest the abuse they have suffered and report them, meaning that in many cases the offenders cannot be prosecuted.

The proposed change to the criminal code, which still has to be approved by parliament, would affect sexual crimes, physical abuse, human trafficking and attempted murder.

The bill also includes “a broad definition of violence that encompasses any type of physical, emotional or psychological abuse, including corporal punishment or neglect,” the statement added.

The proposed law also includes new crimes committed online such as incitement to commit suicide, commit sexual crimes or encourage bulimia or other eating disorders.

The government also said it plans to tighten the rules granting conditional release or temporary exit permits from jail for people serving time for sexual assaults against minors.

Excellent! Good start!

Elizabeth Smart to be honored at

Barbara Sinatra Luncheon

Gulf California Broadcasting

PALM DESERT, Calif.- - Elizabeth Smart, who was abducted from her Salt Lake City home at age 14 and held captive for more than nine months, will be recognized at the Barbara Sinatra Children's Center's 2019 Champion Honors Luncheon in Palm Desert next month.

   

Smart, now 31, will serve as the luncheon's headliner and take part in an on-stage conversation with Natalie Morales, NBC West Coast ``Today'' show anchor and host of ``Access Hollywood.''

   

Following her abduction, Smart has spent her adult life as an activist advocating stricter legislation regulating sexual predators and training for educators on child sexual abuse.

   

The luncheon is scheduled for Jan. 22 at the Marriott Desert Springs Resort in Palm Desert and supports the Barbara Sinatra Children's Center in Rancho Mirage, which provides therapy and supports child abuse and neglect programs.

   

Smart said she was ``extremely honored to have been selected as the Champion Honoree'' for the luncheon.

``The Barbara Sinatra Center has impacted the lives of so many children and I am thrilled to be a part of this event to support the continued growth and efforts of this incredible organization,'' she said in a statement.

   

Event Co-Chair and Children's Center Trustee Hal Gershowitz added, 

``We are delighted Elizabeth is coming to share an up-close and personal glimpse into her story, the healing process and her emergence as a nationally recognized leader and advocate for issues related to child abuse.''

   

Tickets are $150 per person. Ticket information is available by contacting the Children's Center at (760) 773-1636.

   

``The efforts by Elizabeth to protect children from abuse is noteworthy and complements the mission of the Children's Center,'' Barbara Sinatra Children's Center Executive Officer John Thoresen said. ``Natalie Morales has previously interviewed both Elizabeth and her parents, so we can expect a most enjoyable and revealing conversation.''

#MeToo law restricts use of nondisclosure agreements in sexual misconduct cases

By STACY PERMAN
LA Times

Harvey Weinstein's former assistant, Zelda Perkins, shown in November 2017, signed a nondisclosure agreement that she now calls an "unethical" bargain. (David M. Benett / Getty Images)

For nearly 20 years, Zelda Perkins, Harvey Weinstein’s former assistant, lived with a secret.

Perkins, who had worked at Miramax’s London office, told no one about the movie mogul’s rampant bullying, how he had regularly exposed himself to her and forced her to take dictation while he bathed. She said nothing about the colleague who’d claimed that Weinstein had attempted to rape her, an incident that led Perkins (and the colleague) to leave the company after negotiating a settlement and signing a nondisclosure agreement that forbade them from discussing Weinstein’s behavior, even with family.

But once investigations into Weinstein turned up claims of rape in October 2017, Perkins was forced to reconsider the “unethical” bargain she made. “I was just so angry and frustrated, and I wasn’t allowed to speak to anybody about what happened,” she told the Los Angeles Times. Although she faced crushing legal and financial repercussions if she went public, “I felt I had an absolute moral duty to break this agreement.”

Perkins told her story in the Financial Times later that month, helping stir up questions about NDAs and the role they’ve long played in enabling men accused of abuse to evade discovery.

The onerous agreement Perkins signed — which included a $316,000 payout, split with the co-worker who had accused Weinstein of sexual assault — not only prohibited Perkins from speaking out, but also barred her from sharing her story with friends, family or doctors, unless they too signed NDAs. It also limited the scope of what she could say in any criminal case brought against the producer and bound Perkins’ lawyers to their own set of confidentiality agreements. Perhaps most bizarrely, Perkins wasn’t even allowed to possess a copy of the NDA she’d signed.

Weinstein, through a spokesperson, declined to comment on Perkins’ claims, and has repeatedly denied “any allegations of nonconsensual sex.”

Critics have long argued that NDAs can protect serial abusers from discovery and prosecution, and thus enable further abuse. In the 14 months since she broke what she calls an “immoral agreement,” Perkins has sparked British Parliamentary hearings about the legality of NDAs and a broader move to ban them as cudgels that mask workplace harassment and discrimination.

California will be among the first places to restrict the use of nondisclosure agreements. (Last April, New York endorsed a new NDA law that starting in 2019 permits confidentiality clauses only at the request of the victim; other laws are in the works.)

In September, outgoing Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law a bill that would ban nondisclosure provisions in settlements involving claims of sexual assault, harassment or discrimination based on sex. The California bill, one of a raft of #MeToo-inspired laws, goes into effect Jan. 1.

Nancy Erika Smith, a partner at New Jersey law firm Smith Mullin, who has backed a bill to ban NDAs in New Jersey, calls them untenable for women.

“I’ve been fighting NDAs for 38 years,” she said. “Every time they say they won’t settle unless we agree not to talk about it.”

Smith’s client, former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson, won a $20-million settlement against the late Fox Chairman Roger Ailes, but Carlson is prevented from discussing in detail the terms of her own settlement.

In March, the Weinstein Co. filed for bankruptcy and released anyone who had signed an NDA as a result of claims of sexual misconduct on the part of Harvey Weinstein.

However, Smith said another client wants to talk about a Weinstein sexual assault claim she made in 1998, the NDA she then signed, and the role of NDAs in enabling his behavior since. But the client is fearful and remains barred from doing so because her settlement took place when she worked for another company, one that hasn’t revoked those agreements.

A spokesperson for Weinstein said: “The allegations are absolutely untrue, and there has never been any claim of sexual assault that was part of any agreement.”

“Women don’t want to sell silence and lawyers shouldn’t be selling or buying silence,” Smith said.

Perkins had trouble finding work in the film industry after her settlement with Weinstein. She said that was partly because she could not explain why she had abruptly left the employ of a powerful and ascendant producer. And so Perkins, now 46, moved to Guatemala and trained horses for five years.

“I don’t think I understood the impact of being silent for 20 years,” she said.

For Weinstein, she said, “this is 10-minute drama. Six weeks later he was picking up the Oscar for ‘Shakespeare in Love.’ I should have been there too. It was the last movie I worked on.”

But when Perkins decided to break her NDA in the Financial Times in the fall of 2017, she found that no law firm would represent her. “No one would touch me,” she said. “It was infuriating.”

She said the lawyers who negotiated her settlement told her not to bother. “They said, ‘Harvey was being exposed,’ ” she recalled, “But I said, ‘This is bigger than Harvey.’ There are always going to be Harveys, and if the law is being used immorally to cover up criminal behavior, we’re in a dire situation.”

So Perkins lobbied members of Parliament, which recently established a committee devoted to examining the misuse of NDAs. “We will find out whether we will follow in the footsteps of California,” Perkins said.

What lawmakers and advocates are keenly aware of, they say, is that the new restrictions on NDAs are just an opening gambit. “While we’ve made great strides, there is so much more to do,” state Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara) said at a recent news conference.

Brown signed into law several important bills but declined to enact laws banning forced arbitration and extending statutes of limitations on filing a claim. Others believe current proposed legislation could go further.

Bloom said perpetrators accused of harassment should not be allowed to walk away with massive financial rewards. Moonves was to exit CBS with a $120-million severance package until the company’s board found that he had misled the investigation into alleged sexual misconduct; Ailes left Fox with a $40-million payout after multiple allegations of sexual harassment and abuse.

“I think things are starting to change,” said Cathy Schulman, president of Women in Film and the head of Welle Entertainment. But she said harassment is a symptom of a larger problem: gender disparity. For the last seven years she’s been working with a group of Hollywood executives on Reframe, an organization devoted to creating new systemic models in Hollywood.

“I think this legal relief coming our way has to be coupled with an effort to attack the problem systemically,” she said. “Harassment is a symptom not a cause of a discriminatory environment.”

Virginia Delegate announces bills to fight child abuse

By Veronike Collazo, vcollazo@loudountimes.com  

State Del. Wendy Gooditis (D-10th) on Friday announced four pieces of legislation aimed at combating child abuse, specifically sexual abuse.

During a press conference in Leesburg, Gooditis shared that her brother developed PTSD after being sexually abused as a child by the leader of an after-school activity.

The lawmaker's brother died in 2017 days after she announced her House of Delegates candidacy, and now Gooditis said she wants to make sure what happened to him doesn’t happen to anyone else.

Unfortunately, the reporter here makes it sound like Gooditis could actually stop child sexual abuse. Gooditis, herself, seems to know that, at best, she may make a small dent in the carnage.

“My grief and loss have created an energy in me,” Gooditis said. “... I couldn’t help my brother. I couldn’t fix it for him. If I can do anything to save that one child who is being abused right now, with the help of the people in this you and all of you watching, then I will do it.”

Longwood University Assistant Professor of Social Work Ian Danielsen commended Gooditis and her team for doing research and speaking with stakeholders to find the gaps in the system and propose bills to better help child abuse victims.

“If we grownups seek system reform through legislation like this, and we realize that a child experienced a better, more trauma-informed system because of our work, yet they never knew what those laws were, then we’ve done a good thing,” Danielson said.

Loudoun Abused Women’s Shelter (LAWS) and Loudoun County Child Advocacy Center (CAC) Director Judy Hanley also commended Gooditis and her team for doing the work to help child victims. The criminal justice system can sometimes re-traumatize children. Loudoun’s CAC and interdisciplinary team tries to avoid re-traumatizing kids, and Gooditis’ bills would directly help that mission, advocates said.

“Del. Gooditis’ draft bills are directly related to the child victims that LAWS and the Child Advocacy Center serve. The bills further the conversation to address system gaps,” Hanley said.

Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Phyllis Randall (D-At Large) said in her work as a mental health professional in prisons she’s seen many offenders who were once abused, and by stopping or preventing child abuse, efforts like Gooditis’ could stop the cycle of abuse from continuing.

The first of the four bills would change how child sexual abuse is defined to make it illegal to touch any part of the body of a child under 13 with clear sexual intent. Gooditis’ team says the bill would provide prosecutors with the ability to jail child molesters while maintaining due process for the accused and redress for those accused in bad faith.

The second bill would make clergy of all religious denominations mandated reporters of child abuse.

The third bill would maintain records of child abuse investigations in a secure database for three years regardless of how much evidence the investigations produced.

The fourth bill was developed in conjunction with the Loudoun County commonwealth’s attorney’s office and would penalize the exposure of children to domestic violence. The bill would create a separate offense for domestic violence in front of children in hopes of preventing childhood trauma.

Loudoun County Commonwealth’s Attorney Jim Plowman (R), who participated in the press conference, supported the measures and said he plans to advocate for their passage.

“What we have here, draft bills are just the first step,” Plowman said.

The Virginia General Assembly 2019 session convenes Jan. 9.