Child Sex Abuse

The high-profile O.J. Simpson litigation that played out in Southern California courts some years back likely engendered a bit of confusion for many people regarding the mechanics of the judicial system. Some of our readers, for example, might have reasonably posed this question: Why was he tried twice? We bring that up today because the…

“[T]he light bulb is going off that this is the right thing to do.” So says a principal with one victims’ advocacy group in discussing the growing movement in many states across the country that is focused upon the mass testing of rape kits assembled in sex crime cases. In the context of what she…

There is really no reasonable excuse these days for any California parent to be in the dark regarding their children and the potential for sexual abuse. And the reasons for that are obvious. For starters, it is simply a stark and long-noted fact that acts of sexual abuse committed against children do occur and have…

So-called “group homes” that serve to house thousands of neglected and abused California children who cannot be readily situated with relatives or foster families have always been envisioned by state officials as temporary venues. In other words, the goal has been to place children in such places only for very limited periods, and only when…

Where to draw the line? That certainly seems to be the seminal question that courts — and society in general — must address and answer with some clarity regarding what FBI Director James Comey calls “the hardest question I’ve seen in government.” That question concerns privacy expectations on the one hand and the government’s need…

“You know nothing.” So says the mother of a man who died last year after losing a long-term battle with alcoholism to people who pass judgment on matters relating to child sex abuse without having personally dealt with it in their families. “Wait until you’ve walked in our shoes,” she says. The grief that personally…

It is a case, notes one news outlet, that “highlights the struggle of courts to interpret a convoluted web of clergy reporting laws” that exist across the United States. And it underscores this topical concern: the ability of church authorities in some instances to shield sexual abusers of children from liability through invocation of a…

“[T]here are cases you never forget, some that are always in the back of your mind that you hope one day to solve,” says a Louisiana sheriff. That official can now rest a bit easier regarding at least one such case, a harrowing tale of child sexual abuse that recently entered a new phase with…

He wanted to go to Mexico so that he could bargain with parents who would be willing to part with a child. He specifically communicated with a third-party contact that he wanted to “adopt/own” a toddler, adding that, “The cheapest baby girl under 3 would be good.” He commenced his journey from Ohio late last…