Legal News
Federal regulators concerned with U.S. traffic fatality numbers
Dismal. That is the clear and unadorned assessment of U.S. safety regulators who have culled and closely examined 2015 data relating to motor vehicle accidents across the country that resulted in fatalities. And here’s what is especially troubling to transportation and highway safety officials: Fatal accident-related numbers are up for virtually every type of crash.…
Read MoreA sometimes overlooked problem: student-committed sexual abuse
Do not wait to seek legal help. That is the firm admonition we stress for parents and other caregivers in Southern California or elsewhere across the state who reasonably know or suspect that a child under their charge is being sexually abused by one or more students at school. We note on our website at…
Read MoreOpinion: LAUSD on wrong track re teachers’ sexual abuse of kids
Two guest commentators in a recent media article on the Los Angeles Unified School District’s response to the problem of predatory sexual behavior committed by teachers initially note what they say was the response to child molestation first structured by the Catholic Church and the Los Angeles Archdiocese. That response was grossly ineffectual and unethical,…
Read MoreA tragedy re many serious, fatal accidents: they are preventable
It is of course infinitely sad every time a serious or fatal accident occurs in Southern California or elsewhere across the country. And the personal loss suffered by an individual or family can seem even more tragic when the precipitating factor most centrally contributing to harm is human error. A catalyst in many catastrophic injury…
Read MoreFormer high-ranking politician’s sex-abuse saga enters new stage
We last left off with one-time U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Dennis Hastert in a previous post, noting therein that the former politician — the longest-tenured Republican House speaker in the nation’s history — was soon scheduled to be sentenced in a high-profile criminal case involving allegations of sexual abuse committed against juveniles. There was…
Read MoreTask force acts: Los Angeles fertile ground for child molesters
The Internet — ubiquitous and powerful — is seemingly a global conduit for every conceivable thing. It provides news coverage to the second, sports and entertainment information and a ready catalog of virtually every song ever written and recorded. It allows users to instantly communicate across the world with others, do homework and research projects…
Read MoreStep 1 concluded: sex-crimes SOL passes California Senate
It’s a start. Would-be legislation in California is, well, would-be. That is, a bill is merely incipient and must clear multiple hurdles before it is deemed finally approved and can be enacted as law. A high-profile bill (SB 813, for short) focused upon the reporting window available for individuals to file legal claims regarding sex…
Read MoreAnnual summertime focus: Here come the teen drivers
Behind the wheel, judgment and focus are everything. Unsurprisingly, and from a collective standpoint, teen drivers in California and nationally flatly lack those attributes. The numbers don’t lie. Here are a few things to ponder, which convey the type of driving-related statistical information that fills more mature drivers with trepidation, if not outright dread. Just…
Read MoreChild abuser’s case underscores sheer dimension of global problem
To any person in California or elsewhere who might believe that criminal law authorities, advocacy groups, compassionate and knowledgeable attorneys and countless other people overstate the case of pedophile-related activity and child sexual abuse, we submit the case of Richard Huckle. Huckle was sentenced by a London court earlier this week to 22 life sentences…
Read MoreSpat over sex crime statute of limitations
It’s a recurring and sometimes strident debate that often materializes across the country, including in California. Now a prominent businessman and legislator have rekindled the discussion in another state. That state is New York, with the subject being the statute of limitations applicable to child sex abuse cases. In New York, so-called SOLs greatly —…
Read MoreYoung veteran actor cites pedophile problem in Hollywood
“People with parasitic interests will see you as their prey.” So says Elijah Wood, who generally commands a bit of attention when he speaks. And the reason for that is obvious, given that Wood, now 35 years old, has already had a decades-long acting career on television and in movies. Most notably, of course, he…
Read MoreLawsuit says L.A. Archdiocese failed to inform about allegations against priest
Perpetrators of child sexual abuse often go to great lengths to work with or be near children in order to “groom” them for abuse. Employers, and especially religious and youth organizations, should implement proper screening, monitoring and reporting processes in order to protect children from sexual predators. Unfortunately, even when an organization has rules designed…
Read MoreUnwanted publicity for prep schools: sex abuse allegations, Part 2
Is the sexual abuse of children by teachers in what a recent New York Times articles calls “the insular, privileged world of American prep schools” a singular or outsized problem as compared with what occurs in public schools? That’s debatable. And it certainly is being debated across the country these days in light of recurring…
Read MoreCalifornia minister charged with multiple counts of sexual abuse
We know that all our readers would fervently welcome the day when acts of child sexual abuse would simply cease to exist in California, nationally and across the rest of the world. The victimization of young people — from toddlers and adolescents to teens and beyond — by adult sexual perpetrators is a stark and…
Read MoreEditorial: university acts inappropriately in sex abuse matter
He flat-out got it wrong and, in the process, materially harmed the entire student body at his national university. Although a recent editorial goes far beyond that narrow and pointed condemnation, the single sentence above conveys quite accurately the central gist of criticisms levied against the president of Penn State University for a letter he…
Read MoreAnother dimension: when it’s a judge who is sexually abusing
We have often noted in our Los Angeles personal injury blog devoted to advocacy on behalf of sexual abuse victims (especially children) that no demographic is exempt when it comes to sexual predators. That is, the sexual abuse of children and other people is sadly, a flatly egalitarian practice. Our past posts have spotlighted criminal…
Read MoreHolding mandatory reporters accountable for failure to report suspected abuse, neglect, P.2
In our last post, we began looking at the California Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act and its requirements. As we noted, there are various forms of abuse and neglect which must be reported under the act by certain categories of individuals identified as legally mandated reporters. Such individuals are required to report when, in their…
Read MoreHolding mandatory reporters accountable for failure to report suspected abuse, neglect, P.1
For victims of child abuse, seeking compensation from those responsible for or who contributed to the abuse is critical to achieving a just resolution to their case. For the victim, of course, this may entail filing a civil suit and seeking damages to compensate for costs and suffering result from the abuse. It is also…
Read MoreNew tech assists to help fight child sexual abuse, Part 2
Technology that is unavailable to the public that can transform blurred images into sharply focused material. Fingerprints that can actually be pulled from a photo and enhanced to the point where positive identification of an individual can be made. So-called “Photo DNA” technology that enables criminal investigators poring over computers to review data 100 times…
Read MoreNew tech tools emerge in fight against child sexual abuse
A certain aspect of child sexual abuse eradication efforts is progressively emerging into public light in a manner that is most assuredly heartening to all but the most perverted and dangerous people living in the United States and foreign countries. At the same time, though, and even as dramatically exciting announcements are being made that…
Read MoreSexual abuse reports emerge at school academies, boarding schools
Readers seeing the words “grooming behaviors” might typically have no particular reaction to them at all, simply viewing them in the commonplace vein of actions taken to render oneself presentable in public. We clean, we comb … we groom. Given that this is a blog focused on advocacy for sexual abuse victims in California, though,…
Read MoreCritics ask: Why a time bar in California on sex crimes?
Statutes of limitation are so-called “repose” laws, meaning that they impose some cut off point in the future attaching to a criminal investigation for matters of fundamental fairness. Evidence grows old. Memories fade. Witnesses die. Prosecuting a case after, say, 40 years of an alleged crime occurring yields a heightened possibility for error and a…
Read MoreHigh-profile sex abuse case instructive on many levels
Former U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Dennis Hastert is scheduled to be sentenced later this month for criminal wrongdoing regarding evasive money transactions. Those dealings were what initially led to a federal investigation focused upon allegations of Hastert’s sexual abuse of students who were under his charge decades ago, when he was a high school…
Read MoreCulture of silence regarding young male assault victims, Part 2
“These issues thrive on silence,” says a program director of an organization devoted to reducing violence against young people. The “issues” that individual is referring to are centered on the scourge of sexual assault acts perpetrated by adults — both male and female offenders — against young juvenile males. The resounding silence that often surrounds…
Read MoreSearching for ways to better monitor teacher sex offenders, Part 2
Today’s post continues discussion of a problematic reality we referenced in our immediately preceding entry, namely this: teachers in states across the country who commit acts of sexual misconduct against children and simply relocate to jobs in other areas without repercussions. And then reoffend. How is that possible? It owes to what a recent media…
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