| Child abuse--Universal and Forever |
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IF A CHILD....
If a child lives with criticism,
he learns to condemn.
If a child lives with hostility,
he learns to fight.
If a child lives with ridicule,
he learns to be shy.
If a child lives with shame,
he learns to feel guilty.
If a child lives with tolerance,
he learns to be patient.
If a child lives with encouragement,
he learns confidence.
If a child lives with praise,
he learns to appreciate.
If a child lives with fairness,
he learns justice.
If a child lives with security,
he learns to have faith.
If a child lives with approval,
he learns to like himself.
If a child lives with acceptance and friendship,
He learns to find love in the world.
Author unknown
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It Happens Every Day
Every Where
Will it ever stop? Is Society ready to do
what it must to diminish this?
Oprah's School for Girls in Africa
tarnished with Abuse Incident
An employee of Oprah's leadership academy for girls was arrested on charges of physcial and sexual abuse the end of October 2007. This incident, though devastating to Oprah is only one of thousands. It is fortunate this one was was able to come forward. It brings international focus on a world wide problem. Thanks to Oprah's sensitivity to the nature of these problems, her magnificent determination to maintain the integrity of the school, she came forward and is handling this in a dignified and professional way. It is interesting to me to note her words ring the truth in my own poem "Break the Silence."
"I am grateful for their compassion and sensitvity to the girls during this difficult time. It means the world to me. I hope that the accused is brought to justice and that this serves as a reminder that any time a child has the courage to step forward, it is our duty as adults to listen and take immediate action." Oprah Winfrey
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The domestic crime and abuse that makes media news is only the tip of the iceberg. The vast majority remains hidden deep within a sea of silence.
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| Look what man does in the name of God! |
Caylee Anthony
2-Year-Old Missing in Florida
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filed under: Crime News, National News
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ORLANDO, Fla. (July 23) -- The mother of a missing 2-year-old is a person of interest in a case that is beginning to
2-Year-Old Missing in Florida
'Greatest Dad' Arrested in Child Sex Case
AP
Posted: 2008-07-16 12:57:54
Filed Under: Crime News, Nation News
(July 16) - A 33-year-old Michigan man is accused of wearing a "World's Greatest Dad" shirt to a meeting for sex with what he thought was a 14-year-old girl.
Daniel Allen Everett of Clarkston was arraigned Tuesday in Novi on charges of child sexual abuse and using the Internet to attempt child sexual abuse.
AP
The Michigan attorney general's office released this photograph of suspect Daniel Allen Everett shortly after his arrest.
Police Say Missing Girl's Body Found
By LISA RATHKE,
AP
Posted: 2008-07-02 22:01:40
BETHEL, Vt. (July 2) - The body of a missing 12-year-old Vermont girl was found Wednesday, hours after documents surfaced that accused her uncle of planning to initiate her into a child sex ring, authorities said.
Brooke Bennett's body was found about 4:45 p.m., not far from her uncle's home, said State Police Director Col. James Baker.
A 'Tragic and Heartbreaking' Case
 Vermont State Police / APVermont State Police said Wednesday they have found the body of Brooke Bennett, a 12-year-old girl who had been missing since June 25. A witness told investigators that Brooke's uncle allegedly planned to force the girl into a sex ring on the day she disappeared.
1 of 5PHOTOS
The greatest crime against humanity is the torture and mutilation of children. Child abuse and neglect, particularly in its extreme forms, represents a form of torture and mutilation. Not commonly recognized as child abuse and neglect and a form of torture and mutilation is the ritual mutilation of genitals of children (male and female). One reason for the non-recognition of these crimes of genital mutilation and torture is their common occurrence and their support by religious and social traditions of various kinds. Another reason is the denial and/or indifference to the pain that is being inflicted upon these children.
James Prescott, Ph.D.
Developmental Neuropsychologist, Cross-Cultural Psychologist
Benedict's journey will be best remembered for his repeated comments about the shame of the church's clergy sexual abuse crisis. He held a dramatic private meeting with five abuse victims from the scandal-scarred Boston archdiocese.
"For me, the takeaway from this whole week is the fact he met with abuse victims," said Bill McGarvey, editor of BustedHalo.com, a Web-based magazine owned by a Catholic religious order. "He did it. It was a pastoral, private moment. He mentioned the scandal repeatedly. Pope Benedict is aware American Catholics need to talk about it _ and heal. That is profound."
Benedict's journey will be best remembered for his repeated comments about the shame of the church's clergy sexual abuse crisis. He held a dramatic private meeting with five abuse victims from the scandal-scarred Boston archdiocese.
"For me, the takeaway from this whole week is the fact he met with abuse victims," said Bill McGarvey, editor of BustedHalo.com, a Web-based magazine owned by a Catholic religious order. "He did it. It was a pastoral, private moment. He mentioned the scandal repeatedly. Pope Benedict is aware American Catholics need to talk about it _ and heal. That is profound."
Kids Given 'Silly Pills' to Perform Sex Acts
By PAUL J. WEBER,
AP
Posted: 2008-06-23 10:00:42
MINEOLA, Texas (June 22) - In the windowless front rooms of a former day care center in a tiny Texas community, children as young as 5 were fed powerful painkillers they knew as "silly pills" and forced to perform sex shows for a crowd of adults.
Two people have already been convicted in the case. Now a third person with ties to the club, previously known in town only as a swingers group, is set to go on trial Monday not far from Mineola, population 5,100.
"This really shook this town," said Shirley Chadwick, a longtime resident of Mineola. "This was horrible."
Patrick Kelly, 41, is charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child, tampering with physical evidence and engaging in organized criminal activity.
In all, six adults have been charged in connection with the case, including a parent of the three siblings involved.
Jurors this year deliberated less than five minutes before returning guilty verdicts against the first two defendants, who were accused of grooming the kids for sex shows in "kindergarten" classes and passing off Vicodin as "silly pills" to help the children perform.
Jamie Pittman and Shauntel Mayo were sentenced to life in prison. Kelly also faces a life sentence if convicted, and Smith County prosecutors hope for another swift verdict.
Thad Davidson, Kelly's attorney, said his client passed a lie-detector test proving his innocence and worries about getting a fair trial in Tyler, 25 miles southeast of Mineola, which is in Wood County.
"I think it's impossible to get a fair trial within 80 miles of Smith County," Davidson said.
Mineola, about 80 miles east of Dallas, is a close-knit, conservative bean-processing town of with more than 30 churches. Residents there want to put the scandal behind them as quickly as possible.
The one-story building where prosecutors say four children - the three siblings, now ages 12, 10 and 7, and their 10-year-old aunt - were trained to perform in front of an audience of 50 to 100 once a week has been vacant since the landlord ousted the alleged organizers in 2004.
Down a slight hill is a retirement home, and even closer is the office of the local newspaper. Doris Newman, editor of The Mineola Monitor, said rumors of swinger parties spread around town but that no one mentioned children being involved.
Newman, who can see the building from her office window, said she remembers the parking lot filling up with more than a dozen cars at night.
In August 2004, an editorial under the headline "Sex In the City" opined that if the swingers left quietly, "we'll try and forget they've infiltrated our town with their set of moral standards."
"It's not that we're trying to look the other way," Newman said. "But there's a lot more to Mineola than that."
According to a Mineola police report, the department first investigated a complaint in June 2005 in which the siblings' foster mother said one of the girls described dancing toward men and another child saying that "everybody does nasty stuff in there."
In the second trial, Child Protective Services caseworker Kristi Hachtel testified, "I've seen a lot and I never in my wildest dreams imagined this. They were preyed upon in probably one of the most heinous ways possible."
The children are now doing better, the welfare agency said.
"Through counseling and therapy sessions, these children are now finally feeling secure and safe," agency spokeswoman Shari Pulliam wrote in an e-mail.
Permanent custody of the three siblings was given to John and Margie Cantrell. This week, prosecutors in California charged John Cantrell with sexually assaulting a child in the state 18 years ago. Margie Cantrell said her husband is innocent.
Kelly's attorney moved Friday asking to postpone the trial in light of the allegations against Cantrell, a state witness. Texas Child Protective Services said it would be "common" for the agency to investigate.
The Rev. Tim Letsch is opening a church in the yellow-plastered building where the children were abused. He acknowledges that building a congregation might be difficult because of the stigma attached to the property.
"You got to decide whether you're willing to forgive those kind of things," Letsch said. "It's a hard deal. Especially for a spiritual person to walk in and say, 'This happened here."'
Pair Charged in Death of Son Tied to Tree
By MIKE BAKER,
AP
Posted: 2008-06-13 17:18:34
RALEIGH, N.C. (June 13) - A couple accused of tying their 13-year-old son to a tree for two nights to punish him for disobedience has been charged with murder in his death, authorities said Friday.
Brice Brian McMillan, 41, of Macclesfield, told a deputy that the child was being disobedient and was forced to sleep outside Tuesday while tied to a tree, the Edgecombe County Sheriff's Office said. The teenager was released Wednesday morning but again tied up that night for bad behavior, authorities said.
The boy was left tied to the tree until the following afternoon when his stepmother found him unresponsive, Sheriff James Knight said. Knight said authorities believe the boy was bound to the tree with plastic ties and possibly other kinds of material.
Locked Kids Never Saw Sunlight, Cops Say
By VERONIKA OLEKSYN and WILLIAM J. KOLE,
AP
Posted: 2008-04-29 06:55:20
AMSTETTEN, Austria (April 29) - The children locked in the basement never saw the light of day for years. A retired electrician has confessed to imprisoning his daughter for 24 years and fathering seven children with her in a windowless cell sealed by an electronic keyless-entry system, police said Monday.
Officials Say Sect Kids Had Broken Bones
By APRIL CASTRO,
AP
Posted: 2008-04-30 16:08:12
AUSTIN, Texas (April 30) - Texas officials told legislators Wednesday that they're investigating the possible sexual abuse of some young boys taken from a polygamist sect's ranch, as well as broken bones among other children.
Photo Gallery
31 of 53 Sect Girls Have Been Pregnant
By MICHELLE ROBERTS,
AP
Posted: 2008-04-29 06:08:20
SAN ANTONIO (April 28) - More than half the teenage girls taken from a polygamist compound in west Texas have children or are pregnant, state officials said Monday.
Photo Gallery
Utah Dept. of Corrections, HO / AP
Complicated Custody Case
The compound was built by Warren Jeffs, who is serving two consecutive sentences of five years to life in Utah as an accomplice to the rape of a 14-year-old girl who wed her cousin in an arranged marriage. He is awaiting trial in Arizona on charges of incest and sex with a minor in connection with other arranged marriages of underage girls. Source: AP
A total of 53 girls between the ages of 14 and 17 are in state custody after a raid 3 1/2 weeks ago at the Yearning For Zion Ranch in Eldorado. Of those girls, 31 either have children or are pregnant, said Child Protective Services spokesman Darrell Azar. He didn't specify how many are pregnant.
"It shows you a pretty distinct pattern, that it was pretty pervasive," he said.
State officials took custody of all 463 children at the ranch controlled by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, saying a pattern of teen girls forced into underage "spiritual" marriages and sex with much older men created an unsafe environment for the sect's children.
Sect Sex Abuse Allegations Revealed
By MICHELLE ROBERTS,
AP
Posted: 2008-04-09 07:38:31
ELDORADO, Texas (April 9) - The scared girl, already a mother at 16, whispered into a cell phone: she wanted out. She'd been forced to spiritually marry a man more than three times her age, becoming his seventh wife.
Photo Gallery
In the name of God!
In the 1400's a law was set forth in England that a man was allowed to beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb. Hence we have "the rule of thumb"
Unrealistic ancient laws in the Twentyfirst Century
Currently there are two stories about two separate young women who are suffering abuse as a result of archaic laws and civil recalcitrance. One girl is only 19 and has been sentenced to 200 lashes and six months in jail (if she survives the whipping) because she was abducted and because of that was alone with a man not her relative. These laws are called Sharia.
Note: The young woman was pardoned. She was pardoned only because of the international publichity her case received. This proves two facts--1. public focus can made a differennce--2. Ancient laws can be challenged.
Dad Allegedly Kills Girl Over Head Scarf
By Jonathan Spicer,
Reuters
Posted: 2007-12-11 22:03:34
TORONTO (Dec. 11) - A Canadian teenager who was said to have clashed with her father about whether she should wear a traditional Muslim head scarf died of injuries late on Monday, and her father told police he had killed her.
Recalcitrant Government and judicial laws
A fifteen year old girl in Brazil who was thrown in a prison cell with 20 men who brutally raped her and tortured her for over a month.
Gillian Gibbons a teacher in Sudan is being held in jail because she allowed her seven year old students to name their teddy bear Mohammed. Ms. Gibbons has been found guilty she faces fifteen days in jail and deportation from Sudan. She could have gotten 40 lashes. It is ludicrous in this day and age that people still believe in whipping people. I mean no disrespect to other peoples sacred beliefs, I merely say that beliefs that are harmful in innocent situations should be more carefully examined to see if they truly are in the highest and best interest of humanity.
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Dad Gets 25 Years for Microwaving Baby
By JUAN A. LOZANO,
AP
Posted: 2008-03-27 12:31:56
GALVESTON, Texas (March 26) - Minutes after a jury sentenced him to 25 years in prison for severely burning his daughter in a microwave, a teary-eyed Joshua Mauldin listened one more time to details about the pain he had caused his child.
Police: Mom IDs toddler tossed onto H-1
Associated Press
HONOLULU — A 23-year-old Honolulu man is being held in the death of a child thrown onto the H-1 freeway yesterday.
The medical examiner has not released the identity of the boy, but police interviewed his mother and her boyfriend last night. The mother identified the child as Cyrus Belt, who would have turned 2 on Feb. 7.
Police are trying to determine how Matthew Higa allegedly got the boy. His mother said the child was not left with Higa, who had lived in the same apartment building.
He was arrested after witnesses followed him from the pedestrian walkway.
Higa allegedly dropped the toddler 30 feet onto the freeway.
SE Woman Says Four Daughters Were 'Possessed'
Girls Might Have Died in May
Marie-Lydie Y. Pierre-Louis, D.C. medical examiner, talks with police Cmdr. Michael Anzallo. At left is A. Wayne Williams of the medical examiners' office. (By Bill O'Leary -- The Washington Post)
Banita Jacks in a 1999 photo from the Charles County Sheriff's Office.
A worker from the D.C. medical examiner's office carries one of four bodies found by U.S. marshals in a rowhouse in the 4200 block of Sixth Street SE. (By Richard A. Lipski -- The Washington Post)
Brittany Jacks, 17. (Courtesy WJLA ABC 7. )
Tatianna Jacks, 11. (Courtesy WJCA ABC 7. )
N'Kiah Fogle, 6. (Courtesy WJLA ABC 7.)
Aja Fogle, 5. (Courtesy WJLA ABC 7. )
Banita Jacks was said to have lived a hermitlike existence.
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, January 11, 2008; Page A01
A Southeast Washington woman accused of killing her four daughters told police that they were "possessed by demons" and that they had been dead for at least four months before marshals found their bodies, according to police and charging papers filed yesterday.
Authorities said they believe the girls, ages 5, 6, 11 and 17, could have been killed as early as May, noting that the bodies were in an advanced stage of decomposition when discovered Wednesday by marshals serving eviction papers at the two-story brick rowhouse. The mother, Banita Jacks, lived a hermitic existence with the bodies upstairs, in a house that had its electricity cut off in September.
Authorities said that Jacks has denied killing the children and said they died in their sleep. Prosecutors said evidence shows otherwise. Brittany Jacks, 17, had three puncture wounds consistent with a stabbing near the neck, they said. Tatianna Jacks, 11, and N'Kiah Fogle, 6, had marks suggesting they were strangled. Aja Fogle, 5, had less-pronounced marks consistent with strangling and signs of blunt-force trauma to the back of her head, prosecutors said.
Jacks, 33, was charged yesterday with murder. While she was being ordered jailed without bond by a judge in D.C. Superior Court, city officials were investigating how government agencies failed to identify a family in trouble. Among the questions: How could Jacks's children disappear for so long without school officials, police or social workers noticing and stepping in to help? Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) promised some answers today.
Some who knew the family said that troubles spiraled in February when Nathaniel Fogle Jr., the father of two of the girls, died of cancer. Soon after his death, Jacks cleared the first floor of furniture, and she grew increasingly distant, they said. At one point, she put an Xbox game system in the front yard of the home, in the 4200 block of Sixth Street SE, and invited neighbors to take it.
Several relatives stopped by the house to visit or to deliver child support checks, but Jacks didn't answer the door. Jacks sometimes telephoned after the visits and reported that everything was under control, they said.
"Sometimes she wouldn't answer the door," recalled Tywana Richardson, godmother to the two youngest girls, who said she tried to stay in touch with the family after Fogle's death. "No one would answer the door. That happened a lot. . . . When I kept going and she wasn't there, I figured she had upped and moved."
The last time Richardson saw Jacks was sometime in July, she said. She handed her the mail through the door; Jacks did not invite her in. "They could have been dead while I was over there; I don't know," Richardson said.
D.C. Child and Family Services received a report about the family in April, but officials have not divulged the nature of the notice. Mindy Good, an agency spokeswoman, said yesterday that investigators went to the residence three times, once accompanied by D.C. police. Good said D.C. police also went to the home once on their own. But no one was able to locate the family.
In June, D.C. officials contacted their counterparts in Charles County, where Jacks has relatives, saying they had information that the family was moving there. But Charles social service workers were unable to find them, officials said.
Dad Threw 4 Kids Off Bridge, Police Say
By GARRY MITCHELL,
AP
Posted: 2008-01-09 18:14:30
BAYOU LA BATRE, Ala. (Jan. 9) - A day after reporting his four young children were missing, a shrimp fisherman broke down and confessed that he threw them off an 80-foot-high bridge to their deaths, authorities said Wednesday.
Lam Luong, 37, was charged with four counts of capital murder, and divers searched the murky waters for the bodies of the youngsters, who ranged in age from a few months to 3 years.
LINCOLN PARK, Mich. – Neveah Richardson, 9-days-old, died from injuries sustained from a sexual assault, police say. The girl’s mother told police that she woke up with her daughter on her chest and found her bleeding from the face and mouth. On the way to the hospital, Christopher Richardson, the baby’s father, beat the mother while in the car. Upon examination, health officials found that Neveah was bleeding from the mouth, nose and rectum. Prosecutors have ruled out no one and are considering any family members or friends in the home of Neveah between Nov 22nd and 23rd as suspects in the girls death.
This is Christopher’s third domestic violence charge and he is being held on a 100,000 dollar bond in relation to the attack on the mother. Thanks Kathy, for the heads up. As well as your nice eyebrows.
December 11,2007
Michael Anthony Smith
Mr. Smith is a high school coach in Torrance, California who was arrested for tying up four teenage girls--in his home and at school.
DENVER (Dec. 9) -" A gunman walked into a training center dormitory for young Christian missionaries early Sunday and opened fire, killing two people and wounding two others. No arrests had been made by late morning"
Before the day was over the same man went to another church and shot more people until a security guard shot him and he gave himself the fatal shot. Is it just a coincidence this killing took place so soon after the one in Nebraska?
Can the same questions be asked about this 24 year old man as Robert Hawkins? Are more religions, more laws, more teachers, and more police going to prevent future episodes? Maybe what we need is more knowledge and better understanding to learn the early signs of detection? Imagine what a major contribution to the understanding of human behavour the Museum of Innocence could contribute when its built.
Robert Hawkins
Robert Hawkins, a 19 year old who went on a shooting rampage at a Nebraska Mall
8 or possibly 10 people dead and others wounded by a boy from a "troubled childhood" Look at the price society paid for silence, denial and ignorance about child abuse!
Who is responsible for these dead people and the pain the many surviving family members are suffering and will continue to suffer the rest of their lives because of the senseless rage of one troubled boy who suffered a long time before his illogical behavior reached its logical conclusion? Who is responsible? Is it the parents who brought him into the world and failed to give a helpless child what he needed to develop with self esteem and good emotional health? Is it the educational system that failed to motivate him to love school and the process of learning? Is it the news media that glorifies thugs and murderers with glamourous labels as "gunman". Robert Hawkins imagines by his murderous rampage he went out in a blaze of glory. How many other troubled young men may believe the same and imitate Robert Hawkins. In my not so humble opinion, Robert Hawkins parents should be charged with these murders and be made to stand trial along with society. In this way and only this way can the real answers come forward so that the rest of the world can be protected from the mistakes of parents and society.
"When he first came in the house, he was introverted, a troubled young man who was like a lost pound puppy that nobody wanted," Maruca-Kovac told The Associated Press.
About an hour before the shooting, Hawkins called her and told her he had written a suicide note, Maruca-Kovac said. In the note, which was turned over to authorities, Hawkins wrote that he was "sorry for everything" and would not be a burden on his family anymore. More ominously, he wrote, "Now I'll be famous."
"He had said how much he loved his family and all his friends and how he was sorry he was a burden to everybody and his whole life he was a piece of (expletive) and now he'll be famous," she told CBS' "The Early Show," Thursday, describing the note. "I was fearful that he was going to try to commit suicide but I had no idea that he would involve so many other families."
Records in Sarpy and Washington counties showed Hawkins had a felony drug conviction and several misdemeanor cases filed against him, including an arrest 11 days before the shooting for having alcohol as a minor. He was due in court in two weeks.
Baby Grace
Grace is the name given to the the little blond girl stuffed in a plastic container box which washed up on shore this past Monday. The name Grace was chosen by the detectives investigating this case because it means "given" or "On behalf of". A composite picture was shown on CNN Nov. 3, 2007. She was a beautiful little blond girl who looked like a shining star who was trashed in a plastic container box, discarded in the ocean and washed up dead on the shore of Galveston Bay. Who is she? Was she even reported missing? What happened to Grace?
Baby Grace has been identified as Riley Ann Sawyer. The actual photo of her shows a gorgeous, bright child with all the hope and promise of becoming a gift to humanity. The demise of Riley Ann Sawyer was a loss to me and all the world who deserved her. mother and her mother's boyfriend were arrested. The mother describes beating the child with belts, her head being held under water, and finally thrown across the room so hard her head hit a tile floor and her skull was cracked. Oh my God! Why? 11/27/07
There are 22 more requests from people who are aware of missing children.
Rowan Ford
Nine year old Rowan Ford's body was found November 9, 2007. Her step father has been arrested. He along with another man confessed to kidnapping, raping, and murdering this beautiful child. Then they threw her body down a sink hole. Mother was at work at the time this happened. It seems strange the step father just suddenly decided to kidnap and rape Rowan that one night. Wouldn't this make you wonder if he had been molesting the child prior to his killing her? Didn't the mother see any signs?
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