By: Alana Chazan, Esq. 11/13/2012 For many, the 2012 election will be remembered as the “rape” election. Rape, which had generally been regarded as a bipartisan issue that both parties stood against, turned out to be the surprise issue of the election. By and large, it was the Republicans who seemed to keep bringing the […]
Category Archives: Sexual Abuse
The question on everyone’s mind is why did Penn State Football coach, Sandusky, allegedly molest little boys? What makes adults sexually abuse children?
Unfortunately, the answer is simple: Child molesters are predators and they roam, hunt and kill to feed their own sexual pleasure. They are opportunistic sexual capitalists.
I get asked all the time. Aren’t child sexual abusers sick, mentally ill? After all, what normal person would do this to a child? Sorry to break it to you but unfortunately, most child sexual predators are mentally alert, stable, and of right mind. Remember, they are sexual opportunists– they are not sick or mentally ill.
Penn State-SILENT PARTNERS-It’s Not Enough to Fire Coach Paterno and the University President!
Shame on All the Silent Partners-Shame on Us
“Evil Prevails when good men do nothing” Edmund Burke
Blog from Shari Karney, Esq.
How did Former Penn State Football coach, Jerry Sandusky manage to prey upon young boys using Penn State as his personal Neverland?
ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME
I believe that the prosecutor at The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) should investigate Catholic Church officials including Pope Benedict XVI for crimes against humanity related to the widespread systematic concealment and cover up of sexual abuse of children.
According to a statement from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR),
LOS ANGELES (CNN) — The Boy Scouts of America released a study Wednesday that claims children were safer from sex abuse in the Scouts than when at home or school.
The report was prepared by a psychiatric expert hired by the Scouts to review so-called “perversion files” kept by the organization from 1970 to 1991.
A newspaper review of the files published last week said they showed scouting officials “failed to report hundreds of alleged child molesters to police and often hid the allegations from parents and the public.”
SHARI KARNEY SPEAKS OUT ABOUT
Stand by your Children
Richard Cliber, 60, is accused of touching a 6 year old boy, an 8 year old girl, a 4 year old girl, and a 5 year old boy when his wife went to run errands or was in another room. The children each told authorities, Richard Cliber used an instrument to assault them. How did the police find out? One of the parents of a child who went to the school called the police. Apparently, this Day Care Center was closed by the State four years ago. So how is it that parents enrolled their children in a Day Care Center that has been closed by the State? I just think parents have too much on their plate. They are running to work, running to drop their children off, trying to get it together.
And what the State says, What more could we do but close them down. We thought they were closed down, already. What happens is that children, childhood, and lives destroyed because parents didn’t check if the Day Care Center was licensed. And the State not checking to see if in fact they were still operating. We have children hurt in the wake of the illegal operation of a Day Care Center. I’ve seen better accountability, and better oversight done by the State and by parents doing research regarding a dog or animal safety.
SHARI KARNEY SPEAKS OUT ABOUT
1. In this quotation from the News-Advance of Lynchburg, Virginia it is clear that there is something mysterious and even hidden in dark shadows as character when parents are sexual abusers. After looking over the excerpt, please comment on two things: (1) What kind of person, both by characteristic and by moral character makes a good description of the parents who are sexual abusers? (2) Where do these acts by parents usually take place, and if there are not specific spots, how do you describe some of the ways and places of the acts of child molesting? Can you give us a case study?
The kind of person who does this to a child are fathers, uncles, neighbors, step-fathers, football coaches, athletes and the guy next door. Child sexual abusers are all races, all religions, all economic levels and in every neighborhood across the United States and around the world. It is epidemic. I believe it has always been this way. Now the victims are brave enough to step forward. It is not the poor, or people of color or people who live in certain neighborhoods. It is everywhere in every race, class, gender, and sexual orientation.
SHARI KARNEY SPEAKS OUT ABOUT
Comment on some of the agencies and non-profits that are engaged in educating and advocating against child abuse and molesting. You as a crusader for child rights and against child abuse take on various cases as an attorney. Is there an organization that you are connected with, too, that you will tell us about briefly?
Shari Karney: I like Child Help USA www.childhelp.org because they provide a haven for neglected and abused children. Also they are involved with education and protection. SNAP (Survivor Network of those Abused by Priests): www.snapnetwork.org is a network for those abused by Priests and Churches. The National Crime Victim Bar Association: www.victimbar.org puts a lot of energy into educating attorneys, helping crime victims with attorney referrals for civil lawsuits. National Center for Victims of Crime: www.ncvc.org helps victims of all types of crime. If you have been victimized, this is a good place to start. With their specialized DNA program, Stalking Center, and Youth Initiative program, it’s a safe place for crime victims (especially youth) to get information and support. California Protective Parents Association: www.protectiveparents.com protects and works with those who are victims of incest and family violence.
Our time needs to be spent educating caretakers, educating parents. We want to cut down on children being prey to opportunistic predators, which all child molesters are. We can’t just lay this on the parents, because it’s bigger than the parents. You can’t lock your children up 24 hours a day. Children (without being graphic), can be educated on what the rules are and what adults can and can’t do. Let’s teach our kids how to honor their gut feelings; How to stay safe, how to alert a trusted adult when something is Yucky, or doesn’t feel right. We want to empower our kids before they are in a dangerous situation. I don’t think parents should be expected to do all this on their own. We all need to pitch in and power up.
Are you working on a current case that has to do with child molesting. Is it another high profile case? Will you be telling us more about this new legal case you are taking up?
Shari Karney: Yes I am currently working on a high profile case. What happens when the protector is the perpetrator? What happens when the powerful is the perpetrator? If case development permits, I will be talking about these civil lawsuits in the future. The sums involved are millions of dollars.
Question: One characteristic of the child molester in the case of a Stephen Field who was expelled by the Boy Scouts is his persistence. So the Los Angeles Times recently writes in their report on the subject of Child Molesting. Stephen Field continued with the Boy Scouts, unbeknownst to the National Scouting Office after a period of being away due to his expulsion. He started back in another location. Would you say this is a typical practice in general by Child Molesters? Is the confidential or secret nature of the files held by the Boy Scouts on child molesters and suspected child molesters in their midst actually an impediment to keeping them out and having them prosecuted?
Shari Karney: The files that the Boy Scouts are keeping secret are similar to the files kept secret by the Roman Catholic Church. The only thing the secret files do is protect the perpetrator. If you are a parent of a child in the Boy Scouts, and your child was molested by a Scout Leader, how outraged would you be that the Scouts kept the file secret? Perpetrators count on silence. Silence does not protect the child. In the Penn State trial, when one child spoke out that helps to protect future generations of children. I believe the Boy Scouts, the Roman Catholic Church, and Universities should not keep secret files. Child Molesting thrives in privacy. One good example is Stephen Field of the Boy Scouts.
This is an incident reported in that same Los Angeles Times article: In September 1978, Scouting officials in North Carolina investigated the alleged abuse of a Scout by Mark F. Bumgarner, a 21-year-old assistant scoutmaster.
One night after most Scouts had retired to their tents at Camp Schiele, the boy stayed up talking with Bumgarner, who reached into the boy’s pants and fondled him, according to a statement from the boy’s father that is in Bumgarner’s file. The boy objected repeatedly, but Bumgarner persisted, telling him “the cartilage in [his] penis was similar to his nose and that he could break it,” the father wrote.
SHARI KARNEY SPEAKS OUT ABOUT
1.In this quotation from the News-Advance of Lynchburg, Virginia it is clear that there is something mysterious and even hidden in dark shadows as character when parents are sexual abusers. After looking over the excerpt, please comment on two things: (1) What kind of person, both by characteristic and by moral character makes a good description of the parents who are sexual abusers? (2) Where do these acts by parents usually take place, and if there are not specific spots, how do you describe some of the ways and places of the acts of child molesting? Can you give us a case study?
The kind of person who does this to a child are fathers, uncles, neighbors, step-fathers, football coaches, athletes and the guy next door. Child sexual abusers are all races, all religions, all economic levels and in every neighborhood across the United States and around the world. It is epidemic. I believe it has always been this way. Now the victims are brave enough to step forward. It is not the poor, or people of color or people who live in certain neighborhoods. It is everywhere in every race, class, gender, and sexual orientation.
When we talk about sexual acts by parents against their own children, they tend to take place in private, wherever an adult who is a sexual abuser has the opportunity and the privacy to perpetrate. There is a difference between a child molester and a pedophile. Most incest aggressors are child molesters or abusers. Where you find pedophiles—they have a different thought process and pattern. Pedophiles believe they are having a love relationship with a child. It’s the Michael Jackson comment: “I love children.” “I love sleeping in the same bed with children.” “I love bringing them cookies.” It’s Sandusky. They are serial child predators that are pedophiles. Incest aggressors are your more typical parent child molester. They do it for power and control. But the parent is more interested in feeling better about themselves: Having an outlet for their frustration, their feeling of helplessness. Some parents do it because it feels good and they can get away with it.