Positive Stories in the War on Child Sexual Abuse Episode XXI

New laws, new tools, new trainings, and FGM outlawed in Australia
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San Diego DA Unveils New Tool To Track Suspected Child Sex Abuse Cases

By Jade Hindmon, KPBS

District Attorney Summer Stephan (center) along with Deputy District Attorney Stephen Marquardt (left),

 John Warren, publisher of Voice & Viewpoint newspaper, Francine Maxwell and Carla Simental at the announcement

of the Student Safety in School Systems Task Force on Nov. 14, 2019.

There is a new, independent online tracking tool available that allows San Diego County residents to report suspected sexual and physical abuse of students.

The tool was unveiled along with a new task force by District Attorney Summer Stephan after a two-year investigation by Voice of San Diego into harassment and abuse in San Diego County’s public schools. The tool aims to address some of the issues raised in the investigation, such as gaps in mandatory reporting of suspected abuse.

Arizona task force calls for new laws,

education to combat child sex abuse

By Jerod MacDonald-Evoy 

A task force the governor created to help guide lawmakers on possible changes to state laws involving child victims of sexual abuse in Arizona made its final recommendations on Friday.

During its meetings, which began this summer, the task force’s discussions have ranged from preventative education, better reporting mechanisms within schools and data sharing between police departments to increasing awareness of changes in the law and changing criminal statutes. 

It appears that almost all the priorities discussed during the meetings have ended up in the 12-page document that outlines the task force’s recommendations to Gov. Doug Ducey. 

“My sincere thanks to the task force’s co-chairs, Maricopa County Attorney’s Office Chief Deputy Rachel Mitchell and Senator Paul Boyer, as well as everyone who dedicated their time and energy to develop these recommendations. I look forward to working with all members to implement them,” Ducey said in a press release about the task force’s recommendations. 

Ducey announced the creation of the Justice for Victims of Child Sex Abuse Task Force at a ceremonial signing in May of a new law to expand the statute of limitations for victims of childhood sexual abuse to sue their abusers or the organizations that protected them. 

The task force consisted of victim advocates, lawmakers and law enforcement from across the state. 

Boyer, who championed the statute of limitations issue throughout the previous session, was the co-chair of the task force. 

The recommendations 

The task force’s recommendations are broad. 

The first recommendation is to include child sex trafficking in the criminal statute of limitations. There is no such statute of limitations for sexual molestation, sexual explotation and sexual contact with a minor under state law, but child sex trafficking has a statute of limitations of 7 years. 

The task force also recommended that state law change in regards to the definitions of who is considered to be in a “position of trust.” Currently state law includes a child’s parent, stepparent, adoptive parent, legal guardian, foster parent, teacher, coach, instructor, clergyman and priest as people who are considered as being in positions of trust. 

The task force wants to add relatives by blood or marriage within the third degree except for siblings, employers or bosses, adults in the same house, persons 10 years or older who the child has a relationship with or has a relationship with the family and revise two other categories. It also wants teacher or educator to include any adult school employee and clergyman to include priest or youth pastor. 

“Position of trust” is important for prosecuting child sex crimes, because prosecutors do not need to show a lack of consent in cases involving a minor between the ages of 15 to 17 if the defendant was in a position of trust. Additionally, if the defendant was in a position of trust, it elevates the crime from a class 6 felony to a class 2 felony. 

The task force also recommended that the law be changed to allow any judge overseeing a child sex abuse case or child sex trafficking case to prevent a defendant from personally questioning his or her victim in court. 

Another statutory change the task force wants to see is enhanced probation on sex crimes. 

Currently, sex trafficking related crimes do not require special probation terms. The task force recommended that anyone convicted of sex trafficking have similar probation terms as those convicted of gang or white collar criminal offenses. 

The task force also recommended that additional funding be provided for forensic interviewing of victims. 

Other funding recommendations include setting up a statewide program to provide grants to counties to allow them to re-examine DNA in cold-case child sexual abuse allegations. 

The task force also recommended that the Arizona Department of Public Safety begin conducting a study on creating a statewide database for all law enforcement in the state to use to track confirmed sexual predators and sex traffickers. Currently there is no such system in place. 

The task force also further advocated for increased awareness of the civil statute of limitation changes enacted earlier this year, chief among them a civil window for anyone to file a lawsuit that ends in December 2020. 

Funding for community organizations that provide aid to victims of child sexual abuse and adult survivors was also recommended, as was funding for a 24-hour statewide hotline to report incidents of abuse that would include counseling and referral services. 

The task force is also hoping for some data on the new law that spurred its creation, recommending that the courts collect data on the number of new civil cases filed in order to help the state further understand how the law worked and guide possible future statue of limitation changes. 

One recommendation that has already drawn some controversy and will likely draw some going into the January session will be the recommendations on education. 

The task force is recommending that the Arizona Department of Education create a statewide training program on mandatory reporting, as well as provide additional resources to students on sexual abuse. 

The task force also wants the education department to create curriculum centered on social media and cell phones, and how they are used by sexual predators. It further suggested the Department of Education create policies to ensure educators are using social media appropriately with their students. 

Teaching children how to spot sexual predation and sexual abuse is another recomendation, including age-appropriate classes on the issue, something that could run afoul of anti-sex education Republicans in the upcoming session. 

However, the recommendations are not all about curriculum. 

The task force wants to give the Arizona Board of Education the authority to investigate sexual misconduct of uncertified teachers. There are currently 6,000 uncertified teachers in the state, none of which can be investigated by the board. 

Additionally, the Department of Education only has a staff of six to investigate claims of sexual misconduct, so the task force is recommending additional funding to deal with the high caseloads that each of those investigators have. 

The task force is hoping to spread awareness for the Childhelp National Abuse Hotline.

Lastly, the task force is also recommending that foster children in DCS care are given age-appropriate materials and resources about sexual abuse and sex trafficking before they are placed in a group home or foster home.

Excellent! A lot of good ideas there!

New NC laws get tough on criminals, drug dealers and people who ignore child abuse

BY TAMMY GRUBB, The News and Observer

North Carolina will get tougher on drug dealers and on armed suspects who attack public safety and law enforcement personnel, but prosecute fewer teens as adults as a slew of new laws take effect this month.

Multiple changes also have been made to sexual assault, child sexual abuse and human trafficking laws, including an update that lets women revoke consent to sexual activity, even after it begins.

North Carolina previously was the only state that did not consider it a crime to continue having sex with someone who changed their mind.

North Carolina also was the only state in the nation that still prosecuted 16- and 17-year-old offenders as adults for nonviolent felonies and traffic offenses. The new Raise the Age law will limit the number of teens in adult courts to those charged with violent felonies and those who have previously been convicted of a misdemeanor, felony or impaired driving in district or superior court.

Related bills passed this summer will provide $30 million to help local court systems implement the change, hire more court counselors and add more juvenile detention centers.

The state’s new 2019 laws went into effect Dec. 1, though some are scheduled for implementation on Jan. 1, 2020.

CHILD SEX ABUSE LAW

The new law, among other changes, makes it a Class 1 misdemeanor for anyone over age 18 to fail to notify the authorities when he or she suspects or knows that a child is being physically or sexually abused.

It also makes it possible to prosecute someone after 10 years have passed — instead of two years — after he or she has committed a misdemeanor crime against a child. The law also aims to protect children from online sexual predators.

Well, it's a meager start, but a start.

Over 5% of Coos County, Ore., residents

trained to recognize child sex abuse

Kids' HOPE Center surpassed its goal to train five percent of

Coos County residents in the Darkness to Light program

JILLIAN WARD The World

Darkness to Light facilitator and education coordinator at the Kids' HOPE Center, Sarah Bright, received an international award from Darkness to Light for recruiting organizations to attain the Partner in Prevention status. Oregon is first place in the nation for training the most organizations in Partners in Prevention.

COOS BAY — Coos County leads the state in the number of residents trained to recognize child sex abuse.

The Kids’ HOPE Center, a child abuse intervention center, announced in a press release that it has surpassed its goal to train five percent of Coos County residents in the Darkness to Light program. The goal was to train five percent of residents within three years, but accomplished it within two years.

“The Kids’ HOPE Center provides an important and necessary service in Coos County, as it has some of the highest rates of child abuse in the state of Oregon,” the release said.

Program Director Ashley Matsui told The World that the Darkness to Light training is important to the center because of the number of abuse and neglect cases they see every year. When the center got the grant to offer the Darkness to Light training, it was organized so it is free for participants.

“The only thing we ask of people is to give up their time,” Matsui said. “We feel fortunate that our county, out of all of Oregon, has taken this training seriously.”

The center’s education coordinator, Sarah Bright, is one of the facilitators for the free training and explained that when it started the focus was on teachers and social workers.

“But I had it in my mind the day we started that we needed to train parents,” she said. “It’s hard because you’re asking parents to leave their family since we don’t have daycare, but we do provide food. It hasn’t been easy to bring parents in, but I feel it is so important for every adult to have the training. It helps them identify when a child needs help and if a parent gets the training they might see signs in their child or be more vigilant for who is with their child.”

Bright pointed out how difficult it can be for parents to spot a predator, who often gains the family’s trust, appears to be nice to their kid and gives little gifts.

“Not everyone knows what it looks like, but with this training they will figure it out,” Bright said.

Not only that, but the Darkness to Light training helps remove the Hollywood stereotypes of child predators being "a big, scary guy driving a van,” Matsui said.

“That’s not how it happens,” Matsui said. “A small percentage of cases are that, but over 90 percent of cases are with perpetrators who are known to the child. It is someone the family knows and trusts and has built a relationship with, allowing the perpetrator to gain access to the child. This training talks about the grooming process and how easy it would be to overlook that person gaining family trust and getting close to your child.”

Sexual abuse cases are mostly what the center processes, with more and more of those cases being reported every year.

“But I don’t necessarily think more people are being sexually abused, since people have always been sexually abusing kids, but now people know the signs in order to report it,” Matsui said.

The Kids’ HOPE Center has 350 child abuse cases so far in 2019. Matsui said that 60 percent of those are sex abuse cases, while the rest are neglect. Most of these cases are for children 12 years old and under.

Not only will the Darkness to Light training teach participants how to identify abuse, but it will teach how to respond when a child discloses abuse.

“Those initial reactions are important,” Matsui explained. “Kids will test the waters when disclosing to an adult and if they feel believed they are more likely to fully disclose, but if the child is not met with support and understanding then they often don’t fully disclose or won’t recount later if they don’t have adult support around them.”

In 2018. Bright attended the Darkness to Light conference in Memphis, Tenn., where she received the Partner in Prevention award. When she received this award, the center had 25 partners or organizations committed to putting its staff through the Darkness to Light training. Now, the center has 45 partners. Bright said that Coos County has 45 of the 58 Partners in Prevention registered in Oregon.

“It shows how this community is coming together and realizing how important it is not to just train part of your staff, but all of your staff,” Bright said.

Matsui pointed out that the center has reached beyond the realm of social services, which include teachers and law enforcement, to training organizations that often have nothing to do with children at all.

“Like bakeries, banks, organizations where their primary goal isn’t social services,” Matsui said. “It’s encouraging for us that there is so much community support. We get calls from across the state on how we have so much buy-in from the community.”

People who have done the training are asked to repeat it every two years, while committed partners are asked to put new employees through the training.

One of the important tasks of the Darkness to Light training also includes breaking the stigma surrounding child sex abuse. For Bright, she has seen how participants in the training start out uncomfortable when discussing the topic but become more comfortable by the end.

Matsui added that it is often nerve-wracking for people walking into the training simply because some expect to be asked to talk about personal experiences, which doesn’t happen.

One of the other benefits to the training is that there are five or six different facilitators.

“They are from all walks of life and genders, which helps make people more comfortable,” Bright said. “There is the stereotype to not talk about this, but when you do the training you realize you have to talk about this.”

The training is every third Saturday of the month from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and every fourth Tuesday from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. To attend, call the center at 541-269-4196.

“It’s proud for us at the center to not only have 3,000 people who have done the training, but so many organizations who have committed to training their staff because they believe in this mission,” Matsui said.

Congratulations girls; keep up the great work. It will be interesting to see if there are any changes in statistics over the next few years. The UK has a problem with false reporting taking up valuable resources. I hope that doesn't happen in Coos County. God bless you all.

AR Kohima Battalion holds awareness lecture
on child abuse in India

NAGALAND

Puja Nair of HEAL (Help Eradicate Abuse through Learning) giving a lecture on ‘Child Abuse’ at Kohima Garrison on December 4. (Photo: PRO, IGAR)

Kohima, (MExN): The Kohima Battalion under the aegis of HQ IGAR (N) conducted an awareness lecture on child abuse for the teachers from various schools of Kohima on December 4.

Held under the theme, ‘Child Abuse,’ the lecture at Kohima Garrison was attended by 65 teachers from different schools in Kohima. 

Puja Nair, the resource person, covered the alarming rate at which child abuse is growing and how social media has given unhindered access to children and students to engage in the actions which have far reaching consequence hampering positive growth of a child from their tender age. 

She is a part of HEAL (Help Eradicate Abuse through Learning), an organisation founded by Rahul Bose, that has been working against Child Sexual Abuse since 2008 and is based in Mumbai, informed a press release from Lt Col Vincent Patton, the PRO of Inspector General of Assam Rifles.

The lecture was meant to make adults aware of what child abuse is and how “we as adults have the responsibility to prevent it,” the release said.

The lecture was followed by queries from the teachers in attendance and interaction.

Australia’s Highest Court Rules Female Genital Mutilation Illegal in All Forms

..

Around 200 million girls and women globally

have undergone some form of FGM

Editor’s note: This story contains sensitive details concerning FGM and a recent case related to two young Australian girls.
Global Citizen

High Court of Australia

Australia’s most powerful court ruled Wednesday that female genital mutilation (FGM) is illegal in all its “various forms.” 

In a huge victory for women’s rights, the judgment by Australia’s High Court has alleviated the uncertainty and debate around the words ‘mutilation’ and ‘clitoris’ — which has previously allowed convicted individuals to be acquitted of their crimes. 

The ruling will now negate the release of three people who, in 2015, were found guilty of performing FGM on two young girls, but later had their convictions set aside because Australia’s Criminal Court of Appeal claimed the trial judge had misinterpreted the two terms. 

ABC Religion&Ethics

@ABCReligion

The High Court has ruled that even "symbolic" female genital mutilation is illegal: https://ab.co/2oPV3jF 

Former nurse Kubra Magennis, spiritual leader Shabbir Mohammedbhai Vaziri, and the young girls’ mother allegedly performed “khatna” with the children — which sees the cutting or nicking of a clitoris.

The trio claimed the girls did not have their clitoris’ cut. They argued the ceremony was purely symbolic and simply involved "touching the edge of the genital area … allowing the skin to sniff the steel,” according to the ABC. 

Regardless, the three individuals were sentenced to 15 months in jail.

However, Australia’s Criminal Court of Appeal overturned their conviction after finding that the word ‘mutilate’ means some “imperfection or irreparable damage” had to have occurred.

A further medical exam presented to the court revealed the tip of the clitoral head was apparent for both girls, meaning it could be argued that the clitoris was not mutilated. 

On Wednesday, the High Court confirmed that the phrase ‘mutilates’ must cover the cutting of the clitoral hood. The clitoral hood, the court ruled, must also be considered a part of the ‘clitoris’.

"This broader construction ... would best promote the purpose or object of prohibiting such procedures generally," Chief Justice Susan Kiefel and Justice Patrick Keane said in a joint judgment, according to the Canberra Times. "On the Court of Criminal Appeal's construction, it may be taken as intended that even if a child might suffer a painful and distressing experience, no offence is committed unless some defect of damage is apparent."

FGM is practiced around the world.

Often thought of as a cultural tradition that helps girls become adults, the practice in reality causes significant health issues. 

Earlier this year, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare released a report which revealed 53,000 Australian girls and women who were born overseas have been subjected to the procedure. Around 200 million girls and women alive today have experienced some type of FGM, according to the World Health Organization.

Parents of 10-Year-Old Girl Who Died After FGM Are 'Hampering' Prosecution, Activists Say

All Australian states have laws prohibiting the practice — which all include legislation that makes it illegal to perform the procedure on an Australian overseas. Penalties differ largely among states. 

With the trio’s actions in 2015 now reconsidered illegal, their case will go back to the New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal next week to determine whether the original 15-month sentencing was fair.

Police-Reported Sexual Assaults in Canada Are Up - But Most Are Unsolved

It's just my opinion, but I think Canadian police and judicial systems are well behind many western countries in dealing with sex abuse and especially child sex abuse. The need for specialized centres where children can be taken to be examined by specialized nurses and deposed by specialized police psychologists is obvious in Canada, but if they exist at all, they are few and far between. Neither are judges up to speed on the effects of sexual assaults on children, which result in testimony being dismissed and cases thrown out. How many aboriginal children are not taken seriously by police, at all?

I don't have statistics or even many good examples of this, but I believe it is true.

Catharine Tunney · CBC News

In this Saturday, Jan. 20, 2018 file photo, a protester carries a sign at a Women's March in Seattle. Over half of sexual assault victims in 2016 and 2017 in Canada were females under 25 years of age, according to Statistics Canada. (Ted S. Warren/Associated Press)

The average number of police-reported sexual assaults spiked in Canada after the emergence of the #MeToo movement last fall — but that hasn't led to an increase in criminal charges.

After sexual assault allegations against movie executive Harvey Weinstein first surfaced in October 2017 and kicked off a global anti-sexual assault campaign, the average number of police-reported sexual assault cases went from 59 per day to 74 per day, according to a new Statistics Canada report published Thursday.

That accounts for a 25 per cent increase in the three months after the hashtag #MeToo first went viral — October to December 2017.

Statistics Canada defines police-reported sexual assaults as cases that are reported to police and then classified as founded criminal offences — those where a police investigation determined a crime took place.

The agency said the jump doesn't necessarily reflect a rise in the prevalence of sexual assaults in Canada, but likely is attributable to an increase in the number of victims willing report to police.

However, the increase in founded cases has also meant more cases going unsolved.

Just under half of founded cases were classified as not cleared before #MeToo. That figure increased to 56 per cent after #MeToo launched.

When a case is founded but not cleared, it can mean that there was evidence that a crime took place but no perpetrator was identified, said Statistics Canada in its report.

Shift away from 'unfounded'

"Cases that would have been previously classified as unfounded are now being founded, but consequently, proportionally more are going unsolved," notes the report.

'Unfounded' is a designation applied to a complaint when police determine through investigation that an offence did not occur.

A 2017 Globe and Mail series found that police in Canada determine sexual assault cases to be baseless at a rate far higher than for other types of crime, raising questions about the conduct of investigations and the distortion of statistics related to sexual assaults.

Also about the attitude of police to whom the crimes were reported. This attitude varies significantly in different parts of the country. In the greater Sudbury area of northern Ontario, fully one third of sexual assaults reported to police were determined as unfounded. I expect the number is that high, or worse, in many rural areas, especially where there are many indigenous people.

Since then, police forces across the country, including the RCMP, have vowed to review sexual assault cases deemed unfounded.

But was there any specialized training for police before reexamining these files. Without that you have the same police with the same attitudes looking at the same files. 

"Changes in police practices explain some of these shifts, given that when more sexual assaults are founded, a lower proportion may be solved as a result," said Statistics Canada.

Statistics Canada's report on Canada's sexual assault figures also takes a closer look at those doing the reporting.

"Overall, victims of sexual assault were disproportionately young women and girls. Over half of sexual assault victims in 2016 and 2017 were females under 25 years of age, a proportion which was similar before and after #MeToo," notes the report.

A breakdown of the regions shows Quebec, which saw prominent French figures accused of sexual misconduct, saw the largest increase in reported sexual assaults.

Statistics Canada notes police services in that province introduced a dedicated hotline for reporting sexual assault.

And we seriously don't have such a thing in the rest of Canada? How disgraceful!

Statistics Canada found that following the emergence of the #MeToo social media movement in October 2017, police-reported sexual assaults in Canada increased sharply. (Statistics Canada)

Flight Attendant Rescues Girl from Human Traffickers

Flight attendant sees “I need help” written in bathroom, saves teen from human trafficking

by  Sophia Perez 

Flight attendant Shelia Frederick was making her rounds on an Alaska Airlines flight from Seattle to San Francisco when she noticed something strange: a blonde teenager wearing wrinkled, old clothing was seated by a window, next to a well-dressed older man. The girl had a large bruise on her leg. When Shelia noticed her, the girl looked up.

“Her eyes just pierced my soul,” remembered Fredrick. “They fixed on me and I knew something was wrong and I needed to help her.”

Fredrick went to the nearest lavatory and placed a note for the girl where she could find it. She also left a pen.

When she returned to the young girl, the man seated next to her was eyeing a menu. Fredrick looked at the girl and mouthed “go to the bathroom.”

The girl followed Fredrick’s instructions. Sure enough, when Fredrick checked the note, she had written back:

“I need help.”

Fredrick called the captain, who arranged for police to be waiting in the terminal when the plane arrived in San Francisco. The teen was a victim in an incident of human trafficking. She had been kidnapped for over two months by the time she and Fredrick locked eyes.

“Traffickers use commercial airlines all the time because it keeps them anonymous,” said Nancy Rivard. Rivard was an American Airlines flight attendant before she founded Airline Ambassadors International in 2009.

Rivard identified multiple trafficking victims before becoming frustrated by the lack of training that she and her coworkers received in the area. She founded Airline Ambassadors to teach crew members how to spot victims. Airline Ambassadors now works alongside US Customs and Border Protection to stop human trafficking in its tracks.

“It’s incredible this isn’t industry-wide yet,” Rivard asserted. That said, more and more airlines are starting to implement similar training.

It's incredible that this isn't a national program for airline attendants, taxi drivers, bus drivers, hotel employees, etc., etc. It's an example of how most western governments are ignoring the worst atrocity man has ever committed.

Fredrick identified the teen back in 2011. Since then, Frederick has become an Airline Ambassadors member and has received training in how to identify human trafficking incidents.

“I tell people to be aware of their surroundings,” said Fredrick. “There are so many warning signs. Look closely.”

A few months after the incident occurred, Fredrick was surprised to receive a phone call from the young girl she rescued. She called to “say thank you and that she was back with her family, in therapy,” Fredrick remembered.

Fredrick and the girl still keep in touch every so often. According to Fredrick, the girl is now attending college, working towards a brighter future.

God bless you, Sheila and all those Airline Ambassadors.

Online ‘Pedophile Hunters’ Told to Join Police Force

Most police forces are not so friendly with pedophile hunters, but this might be an answer to a rapidly growing problem

© Rolf Kremming / Global Look Press

Members of vigilante ‘pedophile hunter’ groups could be made special constables to help officers in their online search for child sex groomers, a police and crime commissioner has suggested.

Police and Crime Commissioner for Gwent, Jeff Cuthbert, told BBC Wales that the groups, which track down and confront groomers then post the video on social media, were “intent on playing what they see as their part,” and saying they had secured many convictions.

“What we don’t know is how many potential perpetrators have got away with it because it’s not been done properly, or walked away because it’s not stood up in court, so it’s a question of balance,” he said.

“I would encourage members of these groups to become special constables or police volunteers so as to mediate that risk and to ensure that they have the right training and skills.”

“We need to find a way to ensure that this type of activity is carried out as safely as possible, with appropriate focus on minimizing the risks to the volunteers and the subjects of their activity, while maximizing the chance of getting a conviction,” he added.

“Working within the policing framework, with their assistance and support is the best way forward.”

The former head of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Agency, Jim Gamble, described the growing number of child sexual exploitation cases as a “tsunami” and “almost overwhelming.”

“I doubt there are more than 30 officers across the UK who are actually online at this very moment masquerading undercover … They simply haven’t got the resources to meet this head on, or to even create an active and meaningful deterrent,” he told the BBC.

Gamble called for 1,500 volunteers to be recruited.

“I’d like to see the government engage in a sensible conversation about how we can empower and educate ordinary citizens across the UK by giving them the opportunity to sign up to a special digital detectives program.”

Cuthbert’s force has distanced itself from his comments, making it clear that investigations are the work of warranted officers.

“Cases involving child sex abuse are extremely serious,” Detective Superintendent Leanne Brustad, head of public protection for Gwent Police, told the Times.

“We understand the desire to protect children, but any member of the public who has information about child sexual abuse, online or otherwise, should get in contact with the police.”

After violence broke out during a sting operation by vigilante group The Hunted One in Kent in April, the National Police Chiefs Council issued guidance to forces that they should discourage vigilantism.

The Home Office has also condemned such groups.

“The issues of child protection understandably matters greatly to people, but they should allow the police and law enforcement agencies to do their vital work by not taking the law into their own hands,” a spokesperson told the Daily Mail.

In War on Child Porn, US Turns Wounded Soldiers Into Hunters

Victoria Macchi

A group of military veterans take the oath at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) ceremony, swearing them in to serve as analysts on child exploitation cases, at ICE headquarters in Washington, March 31, 2017. (B. Hamdard/VOA)

WASHINGTON — 

The language at a small graduation ceremony inside a federal office building in Washington Friday morning was militaristic: Fighting. Frontlines. Enemies. War.

For a fifth year, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) rather quietly has trained a small team of injured, wounded or sick military veterans for a different type of deployment - supporting the agency’s lesser-known investigative arm as analysts on child exploitation cases - the ones who will be able to take photos off a hard drive in a child pornography investigation, then help identify the perpetrator and build the case for an arrest.

"It is a battle. It is a war. And it needs to be,” said Daniel Ragsdale, ICE Deputy Director.

Since 2013, more than 100 veterans have learned computer forensics through the H.E.R.O. Child-Rescue Corps, an 11-week program in the nation's capital, followed by a nearly year-long internship in ICE field offices around the country.

Chris Wooten, a U.S. Army ranger who was injured in a helicopter crash seven years ago while serving with a special operations regiment in Afghanistan — his fifth tour in Iraq and Afghanistan — felt like the program could return that sense of purpose and pride he felt serving in the military.

“I did have a lot of buddies who weren't able to make it home, that were killed overseas or even individuals that took their own lives when they made it back just because they didn't have that sense of purpose anymore,” he explains after the ceremony, before flying home to southwest Florida, where he starts his internship next week.

“I think this opportunity, even though we're all wounded and can't do our military job anymore, that this program allows us to serve our country again, and not only that, but help save some kids."

‘Daunting’ task

It’s unpaid work that first year, working alongside agents to find suspects and build the cases, often looking at graphic, violent content for clues about the perpetrator, the victim, or even the location. But the program regularly leads to job offers from ICE, according to an agency spokesman.

The collaboration between ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations office, U.S. Special Operations Command, and the National Association to Protect Children builds the ranks of child sexual abuse investigators, as law enforcement across the United States scrambles to keep up with networks of elusive online suspects — the ones supplying the images and the ones demanding them.

Non-profit organizations like the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that also work on these cases report that the trade in child pornography images is growing "exponentially." They report receiving thousands of requests from law enforcement agencies to analyze millions of images and videos in one year.

Ragsdale, the second in command at ICE, says there aren’t enough analysts to meet the investigative demand. The agency is only one of several federal bureaus trying to dismantle the online exchange of child pornography, and in the week before Friday’s graduation, it posted three updates on three such cases:

“Tucson man sentenced to 10 years in prison for possessing and distributing child pornography”

“Idaho man sentenced to 25 years on federal child pornography charges”

“Southwest Texas man sentenced to nearly 16 years in federal prison for distributing child pornography”

“It's daunting to see case after case after case... when you see 100-year sentences or multiple life sentences,” Ragsdale told the graduates. “Unfortunately, it's still not enough. It's certainly not tipping the scale to dissuade people who abuse children.”

“You are joining a fight that law enforcement is having a hard time winning,” he added.

Horrible photos

Chosen to speak for the class at the ceremony, Wooten’s voice faltered at the podium; he spoke about friends who died in combat or after returning home. He mentioned the veteran suicide rate in the U.S. — about 20 a day. He talked of “scars, visible and invisible.”

More than the adrenaline rush of military work under high stress, Wooten says with the investigatory work “you get that sense of pride back.”

"In the military, you’re very proud to serve your country. And this, you almost get a sense of pride that 'I’m able to handle the images,’” said Wooten, who at 29, is the father of five children. “I knew the struggle was going to be looking at horrible photos and videos that everyday people don't even know goes on.

“This job, I’m actually going out and saving kids and stopping bad guys, and help putting bad guys behind bars by analyzing evidence and different things that help them get a prison sentence,” said Wooten. “Before, I was just sitting at a desk basically doing paperwork.”

These 2nd time heroes need our prayers as this battle may be harder than they can imagine right now. 

God bless them for doing it and keep them from being overwhelmed by it and from being drawn into it. Amen?

Historical Child Sex Abuse Claims Against Catholic Church Decline in Dublin

Settlements cost archdiocese €22.4 million to date, including legal fees of €7.2 million

Patsy McGarry, The Irish Times

Diocesan director of safeguarding Andrew Fagan said the continuing decline meant the service could give more time  to ensuring the creation and maintenance of safe environments for children

    Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, Ireland

Four new allegations of child sexual abuse involving its priests were received by Dublin’s Catholic Archdiocese this year, new figures show

Three of the priests were dead and one was retired. It indicates a continuing decline in the number of complaints and allegations of abuse being processed by the archdiocese’s child safeguarding service and brings to 110 the total number of priests in Dublin against whom allegations have been made since 1940.

Of those, 12 priests or former priests have been convicted in the courts, with 277 civil actions taken against 54 priests or former priests. Of these, 215 cases have concluded and 57 are ongoing. Costs to date to the Archdiocese of settlements regarding child sexual abuse by priests are currently €22.4 million, €15.2 million in settlements and €7.2 million in legal costs for both sides.

110 priests have been accused of child sex abuse

since 1940, in Dublin

This year more than 2,000 people took part in one-day safeguarding training sessions (953) and information sessions (1,161) at the archdiocese, more than double the figure for the previous 12 months.

Also 8,500 people were Garda vetted through the Archdiocese, an increase of 1,500 on 2015. It brings to nearly 54,000 the total number of people that have been vetted through the Dublin archdiocese.

Diocesan director of safeguarding, Andrew Fagan, said “we deal with complaints about a wide range of people apart from diocesan priests and there has been a notable decrease in the number of such cases coming to our attention since 2010. This proved true in 2016 also.”

The continuing decline in the number of complaints received meant the service could give more time and attention to the work in parishes to ensure the creation and maintenance of safe environments for children, he said.

This was reflected in the doubling of the numbers attending training and information sessions. Mr Fagan warned, however, that it was vital that no-one became complacent around the issue of child abuse, whether working directly in the Child Safeguarding Service or in a volunteer capacity in parishes.

The diocesan service was still very much alert to the need to help and support anyone who has suffered from child abuse and anyone who has concerns about child abuse, he said.

Body to Fight Child Sexual Abuse Launched in Zimbabwe

The pain and sadness in the eyes of the beautiful, young
woman make it seem obvious that she is well acquainted
with the horrors of abuse. God bless you, Rita.

WOMEN’S Comfort Corner Foundation has launched the Line of Hope Project aimed at protecting children from sexual abuse in different parts of the country.

BY CHARLES LAITON

Speaking at the launch of the project at the British Council recently, the foundation’s executive director Rita Marque-Mbatha said communities and adults must be equipped with the right information to help them protect children from sexual harm.

“These are ambitious plans, but we are an ambitious campaign. We want as many trainees as possible especially counsellors, school children, teachers and administrators to become aware of child sexual abuse issues, including warning signs to look for in children and adults, so that more children and women are protected,” she said.

Marque-Mbatha said the organisation has partnered with End Violence Against Women (EVAW) International, a non-profit organisation based in USA, who have offered free online training for counsellors and school children.

“In preparation for their training events, and to learn more about the Start by Believing public awareness campaign, selected youth, will in April next year attend a three day training conference, which will be hosted by EVAW International in USA from April 18 to 20,” she said.

Marque-Mbatha said the training would allow selected students to return home and cascade the information to other children in various schools. She added the campaign would focus on school children and University students between 16 and 24 years.

Marque-Mbatha said men and boys would be engaged with a view to educate them and equip them with skills necessary to become leaders in their communities.

“Engaging men and boys in violence prevention is not simply a matter of getting their attention; it is also a question of how to incorporate men into already active women’s violence prevention efforts in a productive and collaborative manner,” she said.

“While there is a need for men and boys to be leaders in violence prevention, they must learn to do so in ways that do not reproduce the power dynamics and silencing of women’s voices that already contribute heavily to interpersonal violence in our culture. Men and boys gain the skills necessary to become leaders in their communities, by helping create positive environments using their newly acquired knowledge about healthy relationships, as well as recognising warning signs of abusive behaviour and knowing what to do if an unhealthy situation arises.”

Line of Hope Project was designed to inspire, empower, engage and equip youth and young adults to join Women’s Comfort Corner Foundation in to help prevent child abuse.

Are Child Rapists Monsters? Or Just Your Boyfriend?

Preventing child sexual abuse requires acknowledging the problem, advocates say

Erin Beck , Staff Writer, Charleston Gazette-Mail

10-month-old Emmaleigh died of her injuries after police say she was violently sexually assaulted. Benjamin Taylor, 32, of Cottageville, is charged with murder. Advocates say child abuse happens every day, usually by someone known and trusted by the family.

Unfortunately, people who abuse children, including infants, are not “monsters.”

Amanda Adkins, the mother of the 10-month-old baby who Benjamin Taylor allegedly raped in Jackson County last week, probably wouldn’t have let Taylor be around her daughter, Emmaleigh, if Taylor had fur or horns, indicating a more obvious threat. If Taylor was a “monster” — as many have called him in the days since Emmaleigh was assaulted, and then died of her injuries — then he would have never been allowed inside the home and Emmaleigh might be alive today.

But Taylor is a human being. So are the people who have committed lethal infant rapes in other areas throughout the world. So are all the numerous others who live in West Virginia who sexually and physically abuse children.

While the incidents may not elicit the same level of shock and revulsion, children in West Virginia, and everywhere, are sexually and physically abused every day, usually by someone known and trusted by the family.

It will take acknowledging and accepting that uncomfortable fact to learn to prevent similar incidents.

I have to disagree with Erin here. I know what she is saying but these people are monsters, it is just that we don't recognize what a monster is anymore. Society has gotten so desensitized to evil and violence that it looks almost normal to us. There must be signs of extreme narcissism, or a disdain for goodness and innocence, a lack of compassion, or something that signals the difference between a mentally and emotionally healthy person and a monster caught up in perversion and the destruction of innocence.

As most fathers would like their daughters to learn: if your boyfriend is rude or cruel to your waitress, your boyfriend is rude and cruel, and eventually he will be rude and cruel to you. We need to find those kinds of markers that differentiate child molesters from normal people.

Lt. D.B. Swiger, who heads the State Police Crimes Against Children unit, has investigated few cases involving strangers.

“They’re among us in society,” he said. “We all want to envision this horrid looking person that hides in the shadows and commits these crimes. The reality is it’s not the case.”

Jim McKay, state coordinator of Prevent Child Abuse West Virginia, noted that states spend a lot of money on sexual predator registries.

“The states that have really strict registries don’t necessarily have safer kids,” he said. “It creates a false sense of security because we think we can look at a map and see where the ‘monsters’ are, when the ‘monsters’ are right in our own homes.”

One in Ten, or much worse

While determining a definitive number is difficult because child abuse is under-reported, Darkness to Light, a well-respected child-abuse prevention organization that also provides training on preventing abuse, reviewed six studies and found that about one in ten children will be sexually abused before they turn 18.

In America the majority of sexually abused children are girls According to D2L: About one in seven girls and one in 25 boys with be sexually abused before they turn 18. However, D2L informed me that "they do not include peer on peer sex abuse in their statistics or the numbers would go way up".

So, in reality, we can conservatively say that about one in 5 girls are sexually abused before they turn 18. Some reputable organizations put that ratio at one in four or even one in three.

We also don’t know exactly how many children are abused on the state level. But child advocacy centers, where children are interviewed about allegations of abuse, served 3,518 new clients in the 2016 fiscal year, according to an annual report. About 35 percent were under the age of 6. As in Emmaleigh’s case, in 99 percent of cases, the alleged perpetrator was someone the child knew.

Of course, strangers rarely have access to children under 6 years of age.

And child maltreatment fatalities, while not as common, are also a regular occurrence in West Virginia. According to the Department of Health and Human Resources, there were 17 in the 2014 federal fiscal year. In Hampshire County in October 2013, an 18-month-old child died due to injuries caused by the mother’s boyfriend, according to summaries of the incidents provided by DHHR spokeswoman Allison Adler.

In Taylor County in October 2013, a father was charged after police said he either threw or shook his 2-month-old child, killing the infant. In Wood County in August 2014, a 2-week-old baby was injured and killed by a live-in boyfriend of the mother.

Notice, 2 of the 3 stories related immediately above involve boyfriends of the mother. In this blog you will find story after story of a mother's boyfriend or a child's step-father raping or sexually abusing a child. Single mothers are not nearly discerning enough when it comes to who they let into their children's lives and many children pay a very high price for their mother's recklessness.

Traci Busch, executive director of the West Virginia Court Appointed Special Advocates Association, understands the outrage and disgust over Emmaleigh’s case.

But she also wishes there was more outrage for the hundreds of children she’s served in her 30 years of experience, and worries that in our selective outrage, we are discounting those children’s experiences.

“It’s such a secret thing,” she said. “Nobody in society really wants to talk about it or think about it. When this comes out in the media, people don’t know how to handle their feelings about what happened. Let’s use our outrage as a community to figure out what we can do to prevent this — what we can do to protect our innocent children.”

‘I think there’s more we can do than call for justice’

Other child-abuse prevention advocates in the state also said they understand the intense emotion this case has evoked. They’re dealing with it themselves.

But they too cautioned against knee-jerk reactions.

As of mid-afternoon Friday, 60,000 people had called for side-stepping the criminal justice process and publicly hanging Taylor. The person who created it, “J.R.” wrote “Maybe if these people were actually afraid of what would happen to them if/when they were caught, they’d be less likely to do such vile things?” By late afternoon Friday, the petition, on the White House website, was closed because it was “in violation of our Terms of Participation.”

Senator Majority Leader Mitch Carmichael, R- Jackson, has also said the Legislature may consider bringing back the death penalty. He did not return a call Friday.

McKay, the head of Prevent Child Abuse West Virginia, noted that research suggests that perpetrators don’t think about what will happen next. According to the National Institute of Justice, there is no proof that the death penalty deters criminals, and increasing the severity of punishment does little to deter crime.

“The evidence is pretty clear that guy is not thinking about getting caught,” McKay said.

Calling for vengeance and putting perpetrators on death row may make people feel safer.

But advocates in West Virginia — who work in the field every day — would prefer to see West Virginians who are outraged by the case to put their energy into more preventative strategies.

“I think if you put all your focus on penalties, you lose focus on what’s actually happening,” said Emily Chittenden-Laird, director of the West Virginia Child Advocacy Network.

Chittenden-Laird said that while instituting the death penalty may seem like justice, it would actually result in making prosecutors less likely to bring cases forward, and juries less likely to convict.

“I think everybody’s immediate reaction is this visceral place where they want accountability and justice,” she said, “and there is no degree to which inflicting anything on this perpetrator would equate justice in this situation, and that’s just the reality we have to sit with. But I think there’s more we can do than call for justice.”

It’s still early in the investigation, and police are releasing only limited information, so it’s unclear what warning signs might have preceded the assault in this case.

Jackson County Sheriff Tony Boggs said he didn’t know of any specific ways Emmaleigh’s case could have been prevented.

“Take care of them and hug them extra,” he said.

Taylor did post jokes that demeaned women on Facebook, which might have set off some sort of red flag about his values. It could hardly predict infant rape, although McKay noted “our collective inaction in response to those types of jokes and comments” could be part of the problem.

Exactly! And yet the child's mother, and most mothers, would not be deterred by that red flag. Our expectations of people in our lives is at such an all-time low that we hardly ever consider a person's character anymore before allowing them unsupervised access to our children. It's a sorry state our society has fallen into, and, as always, it's our children who pay the price for our carelessness.

But there are ways that we can prevent child abuse, according to advocates. The work will just take more time than the seconds it takes to sign a petition.

‘We all have a role in preventing in child sexual abuse’

Police and advocates provided a variety of strategies for preventing abuse. Swiger encouraged parents to be vigilant, and take children at their word. Advocates also provided additional strategies, including: ensuring children feel safe and unafraid to talk about sensitive subjects, reporting suspicions, becoming educated on the signs, providing support to new or stressed-out parents, and volunteering for community programs that support children.

The first step, they said, is accepting the possibility that it could happen to your children, and someone you know could be the perpetrator. Boyfriends of single mothers are also frequent perpetrators.

In an email, Les Nichols, who develops child protection programs within youth-serving organizations, and spent 22 years as a youth safety expert for the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, pointed to a book, “Identifying Child Molesters,” by Dr. Carla Van Dam.

He said the author notes that “child sexual abuse is so horrible to the public, that we would have eliminated it from our society years ago if it were not for the four obstacles we, ourselves, present,” including:

 People must accept that people they often trust and respect are capable of being a child molester,

 People must be willing to learn about the patterns of child molesters, which are very predictable,

 People must be willing to learn to intervene in some way to prevent things from going any further, and

 Someone must connect the dots so that a molester doesn’t keep going from victim to victim.

“All of us are angry and horrified at what happened to Baby Adkins,” McKay said. “As a father, I can only imagine how much pain their family is suffering right now. But this case highlights the importance of our efforts to keep children safe.”

He advised everyone, not just parents, to look into the Darkness to Light child abuse prevention training, and said that local trainings are also being planned.

“One thing we have learned in recent years is that communities are prepared to come together in response to crisis,” he said. “We need to come together in response to this crisis, just as we did during the flood or at other times. We all have a role in preventing in child sexual abuse and as a state we can, and must, prevent this kind of abuse from occurring.

Pedophile Hunting Moms

Two mums become paedophile hunters because they claim police aren't doing enough to protect children

BY JOHN JAMES ANISIOBI

Two UK mothers have taken the law into their own hands

to hunt down paedophiles

A couple of mums have decided to take matters into their own hands when it comes to the safety of their children, by forming a vigilante gang that goes after suspected paedophiles.

The self-styled paedophile hunters spoke about their experiences on Good Morning Britain and revealed their techniques in catching and entrapping people that they believed proved a danger to kids.

The two mothers talk to mainly men online pretending to be young girls, and then arrange to meet them and confront them as part of a well planned and rehearsed sting.


Speaking with their backs to the camera they said: "We set the operation up because we didn't feel the police were doing enough."

They continued: "We would put a historical picture up in a chat room and wait for these people to talk with us.

"Everything is left down to them, the balls in their court. We wait for them to approach us with a meet. Several times we have handed over information to police and in all fairness there is no follow up."

When questioned about why they can't involve the police earlier on in their quest they said: "The easiest way for us to do it is go there and meet them, and then we instantly call the police so we know the police are on the way.

"It's really distressing as an adult, I can't imagine how a child would feel in that situation."

A former policeman joined the debate and disagreed that the women were doing all the necessary things to help the situation.


ITV/SWNS This man was caught in a sting by the paedophile hunters after they chatted to him online
The man denied being a paedophile but the mums thought he was

He said that the women are not helping in the right way and they need to be brought inside the criminal justice system because untrained they endanger the lives of other children and themselves.

While he did admit that there are not enough officers to catch paedophiles, he suggested that the women, and other similar groups be brought in for training and work with the police.

Now there's an idea. I wonder if it will fly? Imagine, dozens, if not hundreds of adult vigilantes stinging the heck out of pedophiles. Might make a difference.

The two mothers, whose identities were kept secret didn't think his words would be put into action, though, and said: "Id like to see it put into practice."

Stopping Child Sexual Abuse

Recognizing the steps of grooming and

knowing safe and unsafe touch

Safe and unsafe touches: Yong says that personal safety programmes teach children how to fend for themselves. Photos: The Star/Azman Ghani

BY MAY CHIAM

When the crimes of child sex abuser Richard Huckle came to light, Malaysians were shocked and horrified. Huckle’s crimes provoked national outrage, and left many wondering how he could have gone undetected for so long. How had he managed to continue his abuse without anyone speaking up?

“A lot of offenders keep the secret by grooming children,” Protect and Save the Children (PS The Children) founder Madeleine Yong says. “Grooming builds a relationship of trust with the community, the adults, and the child.”

The NGO is one of the few in the country focused solely on combating child sexual abuse. When Huckle was arrested in December 2014, PS The Children was called upon by British police to go into the affected communities to provide safeguarding activities.

“These offenders go to places where they can access children. They become volunteers and church members, for example,” Yong says.

Child sexual abuse is a complex and taboo subject, one we’re reluctant to discuss for fear of causing offence or embarrassment. But our silence fosters a culture of ignorance that makes it difficult to disclose and uncover sexual abuse.

“We need nationwide training of all adults about the dynamics of child sexual abuse. We had a case of a coach who was sexually abusing his runners. They were all groomed.

“Grooming puts the responsibility on the child. The child thinks, ‘It’s my fault.’

“The grooming process keeps sexual abuse a secret. And the hallmark of sexual abuse is secrecy,” adds Yong.


In P.S The Children’s personal safety programme, these illustrations are used to demonstrate safe or unsafe situations

How grooming works

Like Huckle, most sexual offenders groom their victims. In S.A.F.E. Children, a toolkit for the prevention of child sexual abuse, PS The Children identifies a five-stage grooming process.

In the first stage, sexual predators “create opportunities” by going to places where children are. By being helpful and friendly, the sex offender gains the trust of the child and the adults around. His goal is to make everyone feel safe.

In the second stage, he “targets the child”. The targeted child is usually more vulnerable than his or her peers, with lower self-esteem and is less likely to reveal the abuse. The victim has an emotional void that the sex offender can fill. Once he gains the victim’s full trust and dependence, he starts “twisting” the relationship.

In the third and fourth stages, the predator introduces physical touch and sexual touch.

“After he befriends the child, he normalises physical touch. “He’ll say, ‘Well done!’, and pat the child on the back. Then he goes from physical touch to sexual touch (abuse).”

In the final stage, the child is manipulated – oftentimes coerced and intimidated – into “keeping the secret”. Once shrouded in shame and secrecy, it becomes even harder for the child to speak out.

“Most children have amazing hearts. They want the attacks to stop, but they don’t want any harm to happen to the sex offender. The relationship makes it very difficult for a child to disclose (the sexual abuse). And it takes a lot for a child to disclose,” says Yong.

The onus is on parents and adult caregivers to step up. They must be aware of changes in behaviour and how to respond when a child reveals abuse.

“We advocate for adults to be alert,” Yong continues.

“We had a preschool girl who one day didn’t have dinner. And grandma said, ‘Are you sick?’ And the girl said, ‘I don’t want to go back to school tomorrow; there’s karate classes.’ And the grandma asks, ‘Did anything happen?’ Then the child disclosed.”

Yong urges parents not to react inappropriately – dismissing claims, passing judgment – but to respond calmly. Instead of closing communication channels, parents should be open to any disclosures of abuse.

“Parents should get training on the dynamics of sexual abuse and how to run a personal safety training workshop.

“Be alert, knows the signs, and know how to report. If adults are safeguarding – if there’s a community that looks out for sex offenders – sex offenders aren’t going to be so bold,” she says.

Signing children up for personal safety training programmes is also critical. While there is a compulsory personal safety component in the pre-school curriculum, Yong says that teachers rarely cover how to prevent child sexual abuse.

“It’s stated that you have to cover personal safety, so a lot of schools just teach children how to cross the road safely. They’re not teaching personal safety in terms of abuse. We teach personal safety in terms of sexual abuse but in a child-friendly way,” Yong says.

“One thing that we teach is ‘Say no, run, and tell!’”. We make it fun. We dance and sing. We ask the children if they like their body parts, like their eyes and nose. Then we teach them the proper names for their private parts to remove the shame,” says PS The Children training and education executive Ting Pei Lim. The NGO’s personal safety training programme is called Keeping Me Safe, and is modified for pre-school, primary, and secondary children. There are also workshops for adults.

In the pre-school programme, children are taught three basic “Touching Rules”. The first that no one should touch their private body parts except to keep them healthy. The second that if they’re touched and they don’t like it, they should say no, run away, and tell someone. The third is that they should tell someone they trust and to keep telling until someone helps them.

The children are also taught about safe and unsafe touches, which are associated with emotion. A safe touch makes a child experience positive feelings, while an unsafe touch does not.

“You get the child to discern, so they can decide what is a safe or unsafe touch,” Yong explains. “We do this as preventive, so the children have the skills to know what to do.”

Yong and her team at PS The Children are elated that Huckle has been brought to justice, but they know too well the stealthy offenders who still lurk in our backyard.

“We know many other local children who’ve been sexually abused where the offenders got no convictions; at least Huckle got convicted.

“But it’s the same thing here in Malaysia. You get the same local abusers here,” says Yong.

“Until the criminal justice system tightens up and the conviction rate is a lot higher, it’s still going to remain the same,” she continues. “You can have a lot of awareness, but until the system supports the child, you’re constantly going to have this problem.”