quote:The groups share many aspects with organized crime gangs.
"Eh, Jedediah. You take care of that thing?"
"Just 'bout. Look, me and the old woman we're going to go milk the cows. Then I'll take care of it."
"Which?"
"What?"
"Jedediah, which o' your old ladies're you going out milking with?"
"Penelope."
"All right. You got what you need to take care of that thing?"
"Sure, sure. No problem. Badda-bing."
quote:I think that there is a growing body of evidence that these people do abuse their children and their teenagers and that something needs to be done about. This kind of action will make it that much harder for anyone to intervene even when there is strong evidence of abuse. It is also likely to make these groups more closed and more secretive and more likely to abuse.
According to Voss, there have been no allegations of abuse toward the younger children, or toward any of the boys.
Posts: 14554 | Registered: Dec 1999
| IP: Logged |
quote:According to Voss, there have been no allegations of abuse toward the younger children, or toward any of the boys.
A lot of people keep saying this, but I'm not sure it matters.
I mean, at the very least, the boys are watching a community that finds it acceptable for girls as young as 13, according to some reports, to be married off to much older men and then have sex in a bed inside a church. How is that a positive environment for a boy to grow up in, an environment in which he comes to respect women as individuals with rights? It seems more to me that this group treats girls as the property of men, and in my opinion, raising boys in that environment is not healthy for them.
What concerns me the most are the reportst that the women seem incapable of making decisions outside the group, that they aren't exercising independent thought and evidence of free will to make decisions about their own lives. That just isn't right...and it isn't right for boys to be raised in an environment that treats that as okay.
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
I thought that it was pretty well established that many of the boys are abandoned as teenagers, without any money, skills, knowledge of the outside world or support?
Posts: 2223 | Registered: Mar 2008
| IP: Logged |
quote:Gideon is one of the ''Lost Boys," a group of more than 400 teenagers -- some as young as 13 -- who authorities in Utah and Arizona say have fled or been driven out of the polygamous enclaves of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City over the last four years.
His stated offenses: wearing short-sleeved shirts, listening to compact discs, and having a girlfriend. Other boys say they were booted out for going to movies, watching television, and staying out past curfew.
Some say they were sometimes given as little as two hours' notice before being driven to St. George or nearby Hurricane, Utah, and left like unwanted pets along the road.
The men with the most power in this society will actively work to excommunicate the sons of rivals and less powerful families, not only because it consolidates breeding availability and wealth for their own family line but because they often want more of the pool of women in the recently 'available' generations (age 13 or so up) made available to them as new harem stock and they dislike having to share them with boys even remotely of the women's same generation.
The women, in addition to having it worse involving the whole arranged marriages thing, are also legitimately being subject to a real-live honest-to-God eugenics program run by the cult founder to breed women to be more docile. I am not making this up. They're explicitly and intentionally breeding in stupidity and complacency into the females. Those that have been "rescued" are not exactly well functioning members of society.
And, of course, the remaining pool is beginning to inbreed fantastically and generate endemic birth defects.
The FLDS is a profound picture of almost dystopic societal dysfunction.
[Replaced links to same article from (I think) more neutral party. --PJ]
[ April 20, 2008, 06:14 PM: Message edited by: Papa Janitor ]
Posts: 15421 | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:A witness for the parents who was presented by defense lawyers as an expert on the FLDS disputed the state's contention that a bed in the retreat's gleaming white temple was never used to consummate the marriages of underage girls to much older men.
Instead, W. John Walsh testified, it is used for naps during the sect's long worship services.
"There is no sexual activity in the temple," Walsh said.
Now, I haven't heard that they found evidence that the bed was used to consummate marriages. Have you?
quote:What concerns me the most are the reportst that the women seem incapable of making decisions outside the group, that they aren't exercising independent thought and evidence of free will to make decisions about their own lives. That just isn't right...and it isn't right for boys to be raised in an environment that treats that as okay.
Independent thought, free will-- those things are culturally subjective, wouldn't you say?
From a certain standpoint, Christianity is opposed to both independent thought and free will. Empowering an organization to police belief is a terrible idea. It sucks that the point has to arise over so despicable a group as the FLDS seem to be-- but here we are.
There is no question that if what we've heard about the doctrines of the FLDS church is true that it is an evil (or at least enormously mistaken) organization, and that we need to watch them very carefully to make sure that their actions do not cause harm to the people within their communities. But sacking them because of their beliefs? That idea doesn't sit well at all with me.
I don't know why no allegations of child abuse toward the younger crowd or toward the boys has been made. I can think of one pretty good reason, though-- there's no evidence to base the allegations on.
Posts: 14554 | Registered: Dec 1999
| IP: Logged |
I think that site you linked to is an explicitly anti-Mormon site. The Cards have asked in the past that we not link to anti-Mormon sites from this board.
Posts: 14554 | Registered: Dec 1999
| IP: Logged |
quote: How is that a positive environment for a boy to grow up in, an environment in which he comes to respect women as individuals with rights? It seems more to me that this group treats girls as the property of men, and in my opinion, raising boys in that environment is not healthy for them.
It's not a good environment, if what we've heard is true. But neither is the ghetto. Or many trailer parks. Or small towns. Or any number of environments with high poverty, low formalized education, low job rates, etc.
Is the environment criminal? That's the question CPS needs to answer.
Posts: 14554 | Registered: Dec 1999
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Scott R: And also-- as long as I'm posting--
quote: How is that a positive environment for a boy to grow up in, an environment in which he comes to respect women as individuals with rights? It seems more to me that this group treats girls as the property of men, and in my opinion, raising boys in that environment is not healthy for them.
It's not a good environment, if what we've heard is true. But neither is the ghetto. Or many trailer parks. Or small towns. Or any number of environments with high poverty, low formalized education, low job rates, etc.
Is the environment criminal? That's the question CPS needs to answer.
I don't know the answers to this from a law perspective. I know that I grok where you are coming from.
Someone used an illegal drug use analogy. "What if a person raised a kid to believe that illegal drug use was morally okay? We couldn't take their kid away for teaching them something." But it's not QUITE that here, at least from what I'm reading. It's more like someone raising the kids in the community to EXPECT that at age 14 they would start taking the drugs. And year after year, each kid sees exactly that happen. Their friend Biff and their cousin Angie and their older sister. So at age eight, such a kid is not taking part in anything illegal. But he fully expects and the adults remind him and the older kids are doing it -- they all PLAN for this to happen.
What is our responsibility to this kid?
Posts: 628 | Registered: Nov 1999
| IP: Logged |
posted
I can't believe anybody is actually defending underage marriage. I mean, sure, my great-great grandmothers were probably all married and pregnant by age 14 or 15, but...that's not any reason to cut these people any slack, is it?
Posts: 3354 | Registered: May 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:The groups share many aspects with organized crime gangs.
"Eh, Jedediah. You take care of that thing?"
"Just 'bout. Look, me and the old woman we're going to go milk the cows. Then I'll take care of it."
"Which?"
"What?"
"Jedediah, which o' your old ladies're you going out milking with?"
"Penelope."
"All right. You got what you need to take care of that thing?"
"Sure, sure. No problem. Badda-bing."
Ha! Ha! Ha!
Your are just showing your ignorance of the issues. I know nothing in particular about the finances of this particular group but The Kingson Organization (a polygamist group whose leader has been convicted of incest, accessory to rape and other crimes) has a financial empire worth over $200 million dollars. No one knows exactly how much sense many of the groups holdings are deliberately hidden. Their businesses include a coal mine that was grossing of 1 million dollars per day in 2002, a vending machine company, a bail bond company, a grocery store, pawn shops and dozens more.
Perhaps you are old enough to remember Ervil LaBaron who ordered two of his wives to murder the leader of a rival polygamous group, Rulon Allred.
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
I'd bet my next paycheck none of the FLDS people actually have/use their own milk cows. I know some Mennonites who do, but they're a little too busy milking twice a day to murder and steal, so far as I can tell.
quote:I think that there is a growing body of evidence that these people do abuse their children and their teenagers and that something needs to be done about. This kind of action will make it that much harder for anyone to intervene even when there is strong evidence of abuse. It is also likely to make these groups more closed and more secretive and more likely to abuse.
According to Voss, there have been no allegations of abuse toward the younger children, or toward any of the boys.
Scott, What was your point in stripping this out of my post. You give a completely wrong impression of what I said and the point I was making.
If you had bothered to read my post rather than operating under some preconcieved notion of what I was going to say, you would have noted that I was agreeing with you. I said Voss' testimony was particularly damning and was evidence that Texas was indeed out of line.
The first line in that paragraph you quoted read
quote:This really pisses me off not just because of the religious persecution involved (although that is of concern) but also because it will make it harder to prosecute these rapists.
There is evidence from many other cases that these polygamist groups systematically abuse their children. Unfortunately because these groups are so secretive and closed it is extremely difficult to get enough evidence to prosecute them. Like organized crime gangs, prosecutors have to rely on the testimony of individuals who have been inside these groups. The fact that Texas went in with "guns blazing" and apparently removed this children with out finding evidence of physical abuse will make it even harder to protect children who are being genuinely abused. Its a classic "cry wolf" scenario.
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
| IP: Logged |
quote: I know nothing in particular about the finances of this particular group but The Kingson Organization (a polygamist group whose leader has been convicted of incest, accessory to rape and other crimes) has a financial empire worth over $200 million dollars. No one knows exactly how much sense many of the groups holdings are deliberately hidden. Their businesses include a coal mine that was grossing of 1 million dollars per day in 2002, a vending machine company, a bail bond company, a grocery store, pawn shops and dozens more.
This is a fraction of the money that the LDS church has in various business interests. If you had left the dollar figures and specific businesses out of your description, it could have applied to either organization, or any number of others.
Posts: 3275 | Registered: May 2007
| IP: Logged |
quote:This is a fraction of the money that the LDS church has in various business interests. If you had left the dollar figures and specific businesses out of your description, it could have applied to either organization, or any number of others.
Yes, but when you consider that the LDS church has 10,000 times as many members as the Kingston clan. I think that makes a difference in interpretation of the numbers.
Furthermore, my point was that Scott's characterization of these groups as quaint farmers who still milked their own cows didn't quite fit the picture.
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
OK. For some reason I was picking up a "church that owns businesses = organized crime" vibe there. My bad.
Posts: 3275 | Registered: May 2007
| IP: Logged |
quote:Your are just showing your ignorance of the issues.
Er...that's an interesting reaction.
I think your farce-o-meter isn't functioning.
While it was obviously a farce, it was also pretty clearly a farce intended to poke fun at the idea that these "simple farmers" might be involved in racketeering.
My farce-o-meter often doesn't function well when people strip quote me in attempt to deliberately misrepresent what I said.
I was agreeing with you Scott, are you so petty that you can't even graciously win an argument?
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
| IP: Logged |
Alternately: If someone "wins", it's obvious. If someone makes a cogent point, demolishes an opponent's logic, or has the most convincing evidence, it's obvious. There is no judge and no trophies being passed out, so "winning" an argument is its own reward.
Demanding that the other person bow down in response is unnecessary.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
| IP: Logged |
quote:Is the environment criminal? That's the question CPS needs to answer.
I'm hoping someone posts the transcript soon - the excerpts themselves do sound problematic.
However, this proposition is incorrect. There are a significant number of environments warranting removal of children wherein the environment itself is not criminal.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
Hm...agreeing with Dag a bit. 'Criminal' is perhaps too strong a word.
I've worked with families (through Church) to help them get their homes clean and get their kids' on a livable schedule in order to keep the parents from losing custody. There was nothing criminal about their environment; but it was definitely unsanitary and unhealthy. So, yeah-- criminal's a bit much.
quote:are you so petty that you can't even graciously win an argument?
I don't understand how I'm being petty.
Posts: 14554 | Registered: Dec 1999
| IP: Logged |
posted
"I've worked with families (through Church) to help them get their homes clean and get their kids' on a livable schedule in order to keep the parents from losing custody."
quote:Originally posted by steven: "I've worked with families (through Church) to help them get their homes clean and get their kids' on a livable schedule in order to keep the parents from losing custody."
LDS families?
Why not? The point of church is in part to perfect the Saints, not to allow only those who are already perfect. That would be an extremely small church. There would be tumbleweeds.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
| IP: Logged |
I think that you're reading a hostility in my posts that isn't there.
I don't understand how you think I've mischaracterized your arguments. From my point of view you said something (for example, "...these polygamist groups systematically abuse their children.") that seems to be contradicted by Voss' statements-- that no allegations of abuse have been leveled on behalf of younger children and boys from this group in Texas.
quote: my point was that Scott's characterization of these groups as quaint farmers who still milked their own cows didn't quite fit the picture.
Of course it didn't. It was FARCE. There was no argument made against anything you said-- merely a comment on the incongruousness of the stereotypical fundamentalist lifestyle and the stereotypical mafia lifestyle.
steven:
Mostly LDS families. Taken as an aggregate, most of my service opportunities come from the Church because of shared viewpoints and an effective organization. In other words-- it's difficult to find needy families that are willing to accept your help if you're working solitaire. One does not generally walk into a dilapidated old home and say, "This place is a wreck! I'ma clean it up! And mentor your kids! And teach them how to take a bath and brush their teeth and change their clothes and..."
Well...not in my part of the world, anyway.
Posts: 14554 | Registered: Dec 1999
| IP: Logged |
posted
I went and found my old link just to go look at the site it was hosted on.
.. it's like the cumulative years of wacky obsession from a rabidly anti-Mormon dip. Hah, wow.
Too bad, really, because that link had the best pictures for the AP article. Sorry I wasn't around to fix that myself.
Posts: 15421 | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Scott, the rest of Rabbit's post was specifically railing that it looked like the children were removed because of the FLDS's religious beliefs and not because anyone but the adolescent girls were being abused. The section you quoted was only talking about marrying young girls to older men. The rest of the post was saying that going just by Voss's statements the rest of the children shouldn't have been removed.
quote:D*#@N, This is what people have feared. If this is indeed the grounds on which the children were taken into custody the the Texas CPS has indeed overstepped their bounds.
quote:But even if I could imagine a case where parents teaching their children their beliefs amounted to abuse, I can not possibly see how that could justify emergency removal of the children. Certainly the children were not in immediate danger.
I agree with her that your selected quote mischaracterizes the overall theme of her post.
Posts: 7954 | Registered: Mar 2004
| IP: Logged |
Rabbit specified "children and teenagers." Assuming she means what she says, and that by 'children' she means prepubescent children (otherwise, why delineate "teenagers") her statement contradicts what Voss said.
Furthermore, Rabbit stated, speculating about the case in Texas:
quote:Even if prepubescent children were not be sexually abused, they may have been physically abused. In fact based on what I know about several polygamous groups, I think its likely that the group encouraged severe corporal punishment of its children. At this point that is just speculation but it is no more unfounded than the speculation that there was no abuse of the younger children.
EDIT: That was from page 5, before I posted Voss' statements.
I don't feel like I'm being petty, vindictive, or persecuting Rabbit in any way. I don't feel I've mischaracterized her arguments in the least.
Posts: 14554 | Registered: Dec 1999
| IP: Logged |
The judge ruled that continued custody was appropriate. This does not mean she has ruled that taking them into custody in the manner done was appropriate.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
| IP: Logged |
posted
I also don't think you're being petty, vindictive, or persecuting, for the record. Just that there's a miscommunication. And I don't think that her speculation from page 5 can still be held relevant after new information became available.
Posts: 7954 | Registered: Mar 2004
| IP: Logged |
quote:How soon will they make the transcripts publicly available?
I don't know if they will. Someone will have to order the transcripts (and pay for them) and then post them. Since it seems to have been public, I'm pretty sure it's allowed. But it's not clear it will happen absent someone deciding to make it happen.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
| IP: Logged |
I think that you're reading a hostility in my posts that isn't there.
I don't understand how you think I've mischaracterized your arguments. From my point of view you said something (for example, "...these polygamist groups systematically abuse their children.") that seems to be contradicted by Voss' statements-- that no allegations of abuse have been leveled on behalf of younger children and boys from this group in Texas.
Scott, Within the context of the rest of my post, including the line immediately preceding the part you strip quoted, I don't see I could have made it more obvious that I thought Voss' testimony indicated that they lacked sufficient evidence for emergency removal of the children in this case.
My assertion that there is evidence that these (meaning a variety of polygamous sects and not solely the one in question) abuse both their children and their teenagers, was based on previous cases and the testimony of women who have left these sects and not specifically within this case. I thought that was obvious and quite honestly given the full context of my post I simply can't see how you could have made this mistake unless you didn't bother reading the post and just jumped on the first thing you found offensive.
I presume that when Voss said there have been no allegations of abuse of the younger children or boys she was referring specifically to allegation from the TPCS in this incident. If she was claiming that there have never been any allegations by any source, then she is clearly wrong.
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
| IP: Logged |
Rabbit specified "children and teenagers." Assuming she means what she says, and that by 'children' she means prepubescent children (otherwise, why delineate "teenagers") her statement contradicts what Voss said.
Scott, Since I began that post by stating that based on Voss's testimony, TCPS had acted inappropriately, I can't see any possible way that you could justify the claims you are making. Your persistence in making those claims based on posts I made BEFORE Voss' testimony is either petty or stupid.
If you honestly misunderstood the point I was making, then an apology is in order. But so far, all you have done is persisted in making the claim despite further clarification.
The quote you stripped from my post, gives an impression that is opposite of the point I was trying to make and which ElJay at least got. That is why it is a misrepresentation of my view. Do you get it now?
By taking that quote out of context, you implied and are continuing to argue that I had not changed the position I held prior to reading the exerts from Voss' testimony. I have changed that stance and was agreeing with you that there is now evidence that TCPS overstepped its bounds. I don't see how I could have been clearer about that in my post.
[ April 21, 2008, 06:47 PM: Message edited by: The Rabbit ]
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by ElJay: I also don't think you're being petty, vindictive, or persecuting, for the record. Just that there's a miscommunication. And I don't think that her speculation from page 5 can still be held relevant after new information became available.
If he wasn't being petty and vindictive, then he would admit that he had misunderstood after I clarified rather than continuing to repeat the same BS.
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
| IP: Logged |
The point I was trying to make in that paragraph you strip quoted, was that when Child Protective Services oversteps its authority in a high profile case, it makes it harder for CPS is intervene when children are truly at risk. So the impact potentially reaches far beyond this case. Is that a point you disagree with or did you just miss it?
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
| IP: Logged |
quote:This really pisses me off not just because of the religious persecution involved (although that is of concern) but also because it will make it harder to prosecute these rapists. I think that there is a growing body of evidence that these people do abuse their children and their teenagers and that something needs to be done about. This kind of action will make it that much harder for anyone to intervene even when there is strong evidence of abuse. It is also likely to make these groups more closed and more secretive and more likely to abuse.
That's the paragraph in complete.
The only issue I had with it was that you maintained that there was abuse of children and teenagers, and Voss' testimony appears to contradict that.
That was the point I was making-- I don't have even the slightest inclination to examine your motivations, Rabbit. It seemed to me you were making a factual error, and I was pointing that out.
I understood that you seem to think that there was insufficient evidence for the removal of the children, as demonstrated by Voss' testimony. My point was something completely separate from that. You were making statements about the polygamists' lifestyle that may be contradicted by things the CPS witness was testifying.
Do you think we're talking past one another?
Posts: 14554 | Registered: Dec 1999
| IP: Logged |
quote:The only issue I had with it was that you maintained that there was abuse of children and teenagers, and Voss' testimony appears to contradict that.
Scott, You may be talking past me but I thought I have been very specific in addressing your posts and why I took offense.
Since I haven't been clear yet, let me try one more time. Early on in this thread I said I was waiting for further evidence to develop before drawing conclusions about whether or not CPS had acted improperly. When you posted the exerts of Voss' testimony, I immediately posted to indicate that with the new evidence I was changing my stance.
Not only have you never acknowledge that, but you continue to argue as though I never made those statements and continuing to argue a side issue. To me, that seems petty.
In my earlier posts I had indicated evidence outside this case that many of these polygamous cults encourage severe corporal punishment of young children. My most recent comment was in reference to that earlier evidence. Nothing Voss said contradicts that evidence. All it says is that TCPS has made no allegations of such abuse based on their findings in this case.
I think its outrageous that they removed these young children under emergency powers if there was no evidence that the children were in immediate danger, regardless of what evidence in earlier cases. Not only is that a gross violation of these families' rights, it will make it harder for CPS to protect children who really are in danger and harder for the courts to prosecute crimes of these polygamous cults when they actually exist.
If you want to keep arguing about whether Voss' comment contradicted my statement, go ahead.
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
| IP: Logged |
quote:You were making statements about the polygamists' lifestyle that may be contradicted by things the CPS witness was testifying.
A statement that CPS was making no allegations of abuse of the younger children and boys says at most they did not find evidence of such abuse in this case. If your point is solely that evidence for this does not appear to have been found in this raid, then we are in agreement.
If your point is that all allegations that these groups abuse their children have been disproven by Voss' testimony, you need a course in logic.
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
| IP: Logged |
Though how in the world a foster system that, in most states, is already overworked, is going to absorb 437 kids, I have no idea.
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
Belle, Texas will have an easier time with this than most states simply because of its size. As I posted earlier, this is only a 1.5% increase in the number of children in Foster Care in Texas.
The bigger problem I see is the difficulty in keeping syblings together. One of the reasons that they state for continuing to hold all the children is that they can't verify familial relations.
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
There's an interesting (sad) problem for the state there regarding how they define familial relationships for purposes of organizing the children into homes.
Posts: 4287 | Registered: Mar 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Even if they go with simply defining all children with the same mother as syblings, many of these women have alot of children. How many foster homes would be able to take 8 or 10 children?
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
| IP: Logged |
quote:The bigger problem I see is the difficulty in keeping syblings together. One of the reasons that they state for continuing to hold all the children is that they can't verify familial relations.
The familial relations are further complicated because a lot of the children are taken by new homes when men in the compound are excommunicated to free up some wives.
Posts: 15421 | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
The thing is, according to the report I saw, they are trying to keep all of them in a five-county area, so that they are all within easy driving distance of therapists, lawyers, and social workers that they have to all meet with weekly. So, we're not talking about the entire state of Texas absorbing these kids, but rather a small section of Texas.
What a nightmare for all involved.
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
| IP: Logged |
quote:How soon will they make the transcripts publicly available?
I don't know if they will. Someone will have to order the transcripts (and pay for them) and then post them. Since it seems to have been public, I'm pretty sure it's allowed. But it's not clear it will happen absent someone deciding to make it happen.
If the children (and/or adult women) are considered victims of a crime, I doubt those transcripts will be made public anytime soon.
I've been out of the victim services field for a while, but I seem to recall that this information, particularly in the case of children, was not made public.
The federal VOCA might offer some ideas about if and when we could see transcripts.
*toys with the idea of reviewing VOCA and decides not -- too tired -- maybe tomorrow*
Do you know, Dags, how the victim-witness protections are applied these days?
Edit: so, I'm looking at this website WCSAP which talks about the loss of privacy for victims bringing suit . . . but that's not the case here, at this point . . .
*wanders off to dig a wee bit more*
So much for tired.
Hmmm . . . well, here's WA state statute on "rape shield" laws for criminal and civil cases:
quote:State Statutes States may restrict the release of the name or other identifying information about the victim. More common is the confidentiality of the victim's address or phone number. Laws also exist to protect financial, medical, employment and other records. States have laws regarding the release of information by courts, law enforcement, medical facilities, social service agencies and other government agencies . . . There are state laws that prohibit the media from publication or broadcast of a victim's identity, photo, address or similar identifying information.
Privacy Rights of Sexual Assault Victims In many states, the identity and the address of a victim of sexual assault is confidential. Many states prohibit the publication of such information. These laws exist in part to encourage the reporting of an offense which has historically carried much stigma to the victim. . . . In Texas, the victim is given a pseudonym on request to the court (although the victim's name is still released to the defendant and the defense attorney). . . . After indictment, a minor victim may still have his or her identity protected upon request to the court.
quote:If the children (and/or adult women) are considered victims of a crime, I doubt those transcripts will be made public anytime soon.
I've been out of the victim services field for a while, but I seem to recall that this information, particularly in the case of children, was not made public.
The hearing was public, though - it was reported in the press, including direct quotations from the judge and witnesses. I'm aware that many proceedings are not made public, but it's rare that the proceeding is public but the transcript is kept sealed.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
![[ROFL]](graemlins/rofl.gif)
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
![[Confused]](confused.gif)
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
