Who's Lying, Who's Self-Justifying? Origins of the He Said/She Said Gap in Sexual Allegations

Video Description:
The Woody Allen sex scandal of 2013 triggered a national conversation on who to believe, with people lining up on each side as if they knew what really happened. Based on recent research on how people navigate the often tricky waters of sexual negotiation, Dr. Carol Tavris shows that it is entirely possible in some sexual assault cases neither side is lying, but instead both sides feel justified in their positions. This talk was considered one of the best ever given at The Amazing Meeting.

AUSTRALIA - Sex abuse fears driving men from teaching

Original Article

05/12/2014

Fear of false child-sex abuse accusations is driving Australian men away from a career in teaching, according to high-profile education officials.

Australian Education Union members have reported that young men are showing an increasing reluctance to become teachers, said the president of the union's South Australian branch, David Smith.

"Quite frankly, there are concerns about (men's) safety regarding vexatious accusations," Smith told the Advertiser.

Smith said that the Debelle royal commission, which released a report in 2013 that was highly critical of the response to a child sex abuse case at an Adelaide school in 2010, has only made men more hesitant about becoming teachers.

"The recent publicity following the Debelle inquiry has led to a negative atmosphere," Smith said.

SA Primary Principals Association state president Pam Kent agreed, saying male teachers have become "more vulnerable to the possibility of unfair or vexatious allegations" when they are alone with students.

In South Australia, more than 50 schools did not have a single male teacher in 2013.

Those figures are reflected across the nation: The Australian Bureau of Statistics' Schools Australia 2012 report indicated that the number of male teachers had declined in the previous decade.

The NSW Department of Education and Communities said the percentage of male primary school teachers slipped from 20.1 to 18.9 from 2009 to 2013, while male secondary school teachers fell from 45.3 to 43.

I am a Registered Sex Offender, Subculture presentation

Video Description:
For my Social Problems class (sociology class) the assignment was to write a paper about a subculture you are a part of, I chose to do mine about registered sex offenders. Because this is a unique and misunderstood subculture I asked to do a presentation and this is it. The presentation portion is only 6:00 minutes followed by some Q & A. afterward.

Red Skelton's Pledge of Allegiance

All you politicians who took an oath to defend the Constitution and the rights of everybody need to watch this, maybe more than once, and also all the others who love trampling on their own, and others rights.

WARNING: Potential scam sites - Free isn't always free!

We have noticed over the years that there are many websites out there who claim to give you "free" alerts and information about sex offenders, but in order to get this "free" report, you have to give them your credit card info and may be billed monthly for their "service."

You should NEVER have to give a site your credit card information or other personal information when the information is public and free elsewhere by the police or government.

One example | Terms Of Service

NOTE: We are not saying this is or isn't a scam site, but like we said, why give out your CC information when it's free elsewhere?

DON'T BE A VICTIM!

P.S.: We do not agree with any public sex offender registry (hit-list)!

Sincerely,

Sex Offender Issues

NH - Bill seeks to fight sexual abuse through education

Emily Murphy

Original Article

Education is the key to putting a dent in sexual abuse, and we support that, but not bogus statistics and fear mongering to get elected or to look "tough" on crime.

01/27/2014

By Suzanne Laurent

In an effort to empower school-age children to recognize the signs of sexual abuse — and to break the silence surrounding it — Sen. David Watters, D-Dover, will introduce a bill Tuesday to establish a commission to study sexual abuse prevention education from kindergarten through grade 12.

Senate Bill 348 (PDF) will bring together parents, educators, representatives of state education, health and law enforcement agencies, legislators, and experts from Sexual Assault Support Services of New Hampshire and the New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence to make recommendations to the legislature.

“President Obama recently reported that 20 percent of undergrads are victims of sexual assault,” Watters said by phone Monday. “We need to start prevention at an earlier age.”

The White House Council on Women and Girls' “Rape and Sexual Assault: A New Call to Action,” reported earlier this month that nearly half of female survivors were raped before they were 18, and over one-quarter of male survivors were raped before they were 10.
- Where is the White House Council on Men and Boys site?

College students are particularly vulnerable with one in five women sexually assaulted while in college, the report stated.

“As a father, I have my own feelings about these numbers,” Watters said. “Our neighboring states, Vermont and Maine, have passed laws or established commissions or task forces to provide age-appropriate education about sexual abuse.”

Watters said these laws were inspired by the advocacy of Erin Merryn for “Erin's Law,” first adopted in her home state of Illinois. The mission of Erin's law is to get education in all 50 states on the prevention of sexual abuse by empowering children with their voice instead of allowing sex offenders to silence them. 


Watters said the bill was drafted when he was approached by Jessica Paradis, a constituent from Somersworth. Paradis is a long-time volunteer at Sexual Assault Support Services, or SASS, who advocated for the bill.

SASS, based in Portsmouth, serves 42 cities and towns in Rockingham and Strafford counties. For more than 25 years, SASS has offered prevention programs in an effort to keep children safe from sexual victimization.

In 2009, SASS merged its prevention education efforts with A Safe Place and created a comprehensive Safe Kids Strong Teens program.

“But we are only reaching 10,000 children in grades kindergarten through 12,” said Kathy Beebe, executive director of SASS. “There are 40,000 school-aged kids in this coverage area.”

SASS has two full-time educators during the school year, AmeriCorps volunteers and interns who go out to the schools to administer the prevention curriculum. But SASS is at its capacity and doesn't have the resources to expand.

“We are excited at the possibility of this commission,” Beebe said. “It will explore the best practices for bringing more uniformity across the state, more awareness and possibly funding.”

Under Senate Bill 348, New Hampshire's Commission would study the current practices and legislation in other jurisdictions regarding sexual abuse prevention education in elementary and secondary schools.

It will also identify model evidence-based curricula for sexual abuse prevention education and make recommendations for utilizing trained professionals to implement this curricula as well as training for reporting of sexual abuse in schools.

“Teachers are already overburdened,” Watters said. “We will study who would be best for implementing this type of education.”

Along these lines, the commission would study opportunities for collaboration with state and local agencies, community-based organizations, and other public and private organizations to provide prevention education services. It will also examine potential funding sources.

Watters said Sen. Martha Fuller Clark, D-Portsmouth, is interested in the commission and has been supportive of the bill.

The hearing for Senate Bill 348 is scheduled for Tuesday morning before the Senate Health, Education, and Human Services Committee. If the bill passes, a final report by the commission would be due July 1, 2015.

KY - Authorities warn parents about Internet predators

Original Article

Educating kids and parents is the key to helping put a dent in sexual abuse, not fear and bogus statistics, not the exploiting of ex-offenders and children for ones own personal gain.

We have no doubt that there are people who use the Internet to commit crimes, but show us the proof of where KNOWN sexual offenders are increasingly using the Internet to target children!

The very laws to "protect" children are ruining their lives!

01/22/2014

The Kentucky State Police used their latest episode of KSP-TV (video below) to warn parents about the dangers of Internet predators. The video shares an inside look at the agency’s Electronic Crimes Branch and the intricate work that takes place to protect children from online predators.

KSP spokesman Tpr. Paul Blanton says the Internet has become an important part of everyday life – for information, communication and entertainment.

“The most technology receptive segment of our population is young people,” says Blanton. “It’s an unfortunate fact of life that along with the many resources the Internet provides there are also online predators stalking our youth.”

Blanton says the problem with the Internet is that parents can’t see the predators that may be after children. That’s why he says it’s important for parents to talk to their children about what can happen with strangers on social media.

“Parents need to be open and honest with their teens. They need to tell them about the dangers that are out there. Sometimes we don’t think our teens listen to us, but they do,” he said.

According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), there are nearly 750,000 registered sex offenders in the United States. An increasing number of those individuals are utilizing the Internet to find their victims.
- Show us the proof of the statement!

KSP Detective Josh Lawson works in the Electronic Crimes Branch and says a majority of victims of Internet-initiated sex crimes are between the ages of 13 and 15 years old.
- And based on a huge study of this, most are propositioned by their own peers not known registrants or adults.

“The key to safeguarding your children is an open line of communication. You want to know who your children are talking to face to face. You wouldn’t let them talk to any stranger on the street, especially about intimate things,” says Lawson. “Why would you let them talk to someone on the Internet about even more intimate things?”

In 82 percent of online sex crimes predators used the victim’s social media site to gain information about the youth. Only 18 percent of youth use chat rooms but a majority of the Internet sex crimes are initiated in chat rooms.

Blanton says parents need to set ground rules with their children.

“Have the computer in a common room. Know your children’s passwords on social networking sites and talk to your children about what they are doing online,” adds Blanton. “If parents won’t, someone else will and that person could be a sexual predator hiding behind a computer.”

Blanton hopes the KSP-TV video segment will be a tool used by parents and teachers to create an open dialogue with young people about the dangers lurking beyond their computer screens.

The NCMEC recommends the website www.netsmartz.org as another valuable resource for parents and educators to utilize when talking to youth about Internet safety.

ALERT: New virus going around that is nasty called CryptoLocker

CryptoLocker

Description from Snopes.com:
The so-called "CryptoLocker virus" is an example of ransomware, a class of malware that, once it has infected a particular computer system, restricts access to that system until the user pays a ransom. CryptoLocker is a particular form of ransomware known as cryptoviral extortion, a scheme in which key files on the system's hard drive are encrypted and thus rendered inaccessible to the user unless and until that user pays a ransom to obtain a key for decrypting the files.

The CryptoLocker worm is generally spread via drive-by downloads or as an attachment to phony e-mails disguised as legitimate messages from various business, such as fake FedEx and UPS tracking notifications. When a user opens such a message, CryptoLocker installs itself on the user's system, scans the hard drive, and encrypts certain file types, such as images, documents and spreadsheets. CryptoLocker then launches a window displaying a demand for ransom (to be paid in less-traceable forms such as Bitcoins and Green Dot Moneypaks) and a countdown timer showing the date and time before which the user must submit payment in order to obtain the decryption key before it is destroyed.

See Also:

• Protect yourself with this program

Read more about this virus here

FL - Effective State Advocacy & Lobbying Strategies

Video Description:
Psychotherapists Eric Imhof and Suzonne Kline talk about their experiences talking to Florida legislators trying to educate them to the real facts about sex offender risk.

Moderated by Gail Colletta of the Florida Action Committee.

Recorded Friday August 30, 2013 in Los Angeles at the RSOL National Conference.

See Also:

• All RSOL 2013 Conference Videos

FL - Sex Offender Residency Restrictions by FAC

FAC Website

Henry Rollins Says: Watch This Thing on Prison Profiteers

Video Description:
Henry Rollins (Wikipedia) narrates the Prison Profiteers video series profiling the powerful institutions benefiting from locking up too many people for too long. See all the vids and take action here.

FL - Experts: Social networking a "playground" for predators

Original Article

10/08/2013

By Isabel Mascarenas

TAMPA - Parents teach children at a young age to not talk to strangers, but it's a lesson that seems lost when it applies to the Internet, a place cyber crimes experts call a playground for predators.
- The term "predator" covers more than just sexual crimes! The Internet is also a "playground" for many other criminals as well, like identity thieves, spammers, hackers, hate groups, etc, but those don't stir up emotions like the sex offender hysteria. Technology is always exploited by people and always will. If someone is intent on committing a crime they will. Parents and schools should be teaching kids common sense and educating them on sexual abuse, privacy, security, etc, not fear mongering BS!

Every time a teenager turns on their smart phone, computer, iPod, Xbox, or any electronic device with Internet access, there are countless of places to travel to and meet people.

"All the bad people in the world have access to you if you have access to them ... With technology, it's becoming a target-rich environment for pedophiles, for people preying on children," says Detective Bill Lindsey with the Cyber Crimes Unit at the Pasco Sheriff's Office.
- Based on the true definition of pedophile, pedophiles are rare and not the norm like the media continually tries to make it seem.  Just because someone molests a child, that doesn't mean they are a pedophile!

Lindsey says one popular site is Meetme.com. It claims to have 90 million members as young as 13 years old. Until last year, users knew it as Myyearbook.com, described on Facebook as "a social networking site for teens." Members have live webcams, where Lindsey says predators solicit videos and pictures.

Lindsey says, "The kinds of adults that are getting on Meetme.com and meeting children are doing that with malicious intent."

Unlike sites such as Facebook that will match one up with mutual friends or interests, sites such as Meetme.com will recommend people based on where one lives. 10 News checked for sexual offenders and predators and found 314 within a 5-mile radius.

Lindsey says, "It's terrifying. Parents don't know how much danger their children are in."
- If the parents and schools were educating their children, then this wouldn't be much of an issue, now would it?

Lindsey says teens often give away too much information online, listing schools, interests, and hangouts, providing predators with a road map to them and to trouble.

"We've had juveniles who have met adults online because they were their suggested friends, and adults take advantage of that online relationship, set up meetings in person, and engage in unlawful sex with minors," says Lindsey.

"In my situation, he wasn't a predator. He was a normal guy who swept me off my feet. I fell in love with him," says 18 year old Alexis Carrascos. Her nightmare began when she is 16 years old. She says, "To think all this started online from me posting a little too much information."

When Alexis met her ex-boyfriend, she thought it was a chance encounter. Later in the relationship, she learned he stalked her on Facebook first through mutual friends and pictures she'd tag online while out with those friends.

Alexis says, "If I could go back and un-tag myself in all those locations I would. It could have saved me a lot of trouble, a lot of heartache, a lot of lessons I think I learned too early in life."
- You can as far as we know.

Alexis says three months into the relationship she learned her 17-year-old boyfriend was really 18, and she says he became aggressive. Alexis says, "He started being very pushy, very jealous, very controlling."

And she says he became very violent, from grabbing her to punching walls. The break up included a restraining order against him. "He would stalk me," she says.

Alexis says she needed therapy plus extra protection. Alexis started carrying a taser and a trained dog for protection. Six months after the relationship ended, she's learning to trust again. "I'm still very alert with who sees my things, who likes my things, who's my friend on Facebook or Instagram or whatever."
- This is how everybody should be.  Don't post personal information at all.

Her advice to teens is to use caution online. She says, "If you don't know them, don't friend them. You don't need to necessarily tell people where you are because it's so easy for a predator, anybody that looks like a normal person, to become a stalker, to become possessive or abusive, lead to something that you don't want."

Meetme.com says it has "zero tolerance for abuse" and has staff to monitor images posted 24/7, Lindsey says, "Meetme.com is the most proactive of the social media online at policing their own website. They make an incredible amount of complaints to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children."

Detective Lindsey and Alexis say that doesn't replace parents from keeping an eye on their kids' online activities.

Alexis says, "This generation, we're too friendly. We think no one is going to cause us harm."

Detective Lindsey advises parents to know their child's passwords and frequently review each account with them. Also, make sure each friend is someone they know. And don't stop at Facebook; he suggests checking all their online accounts, including messaging sites such as kik, Twitter and Instagram.

FL - State Helps Lauren Book Launch Sex Abuse Prevention Initiative In Schools

Lauren Book

Original Article

If she does it without introducing her own hate into the mix, then we approve, and this should be done across the country. Erin Merryn is another person who has been pushing for this.

09/27/2012

By Sascha Cordner



The state launched a new initiative Thursday that educates elementary school about sex abuse prevention. The effort is inspired by sexual abuse survivor Lauren Book, who’s also the creator of the new program called “Safer, Smarter Kids.”

In a kindergarten classroom of Tallahassee’s Apalachee Tapestry Magnet School of Arts, Lauren Book read a book called “Do You Have A Secret?” As she was reading, she continually asked the kids questions as part of the “Safer, Smarter Kids” curriculum.

“Do you think it’s okay to keep an unsafe secret if someone asks you too," asked Book.

"No," replied the kids.

"Louder, I can’t hear you," exclaimed Book.

"Nooo," screamed the kids.

"Very Good," Book told the kids. "It is not okay for somebody who has done something that they’re not supposed to do to tell you to keep that secret.”

Lauren Book is a sexual abuse survivor, who was abused by her nanny for six years when she was a child. She and her father now run “Lauren’s Kids,” a group that aims to educate adults and kids about sexual abuse. But, Book says she didn’t want to stop there, and unveiled her new initiative that educates elementary school kids statewide about child abuse prevention in six, 30-minute lessons:

“They learn things like their safety stop sign, which gives them five or more seconds to stop and think about a situation makes them feel. They talk about their TFA, which is ‘Think, Feel, and Act.’ What do they think about a situation, how does it make them feel, and how are they going to act upon that? We do address the difference between safe touch and unsafe touch. And, we do that from a place of fun, not fear," said Lauren.

"And, we go over strangers! 90-percent of the time children are abused by someone they know, they love and they trust, and a lot of times, kids think it’s somebody wearing black, with messy hair, a bad nose, that has a gun, a knife, or a sword, who’s about to kidnap them.”

Both sides of the aisle worked together in the 2011 Florida Legislature to make sure Book's initiative got funding. Democratic Senator Bill Montford says as a result of Book’s lobbying efforts, her initiative was able to get off the ground of Florida.

“When you can get the Florida Legislature to put out millions of dollars for a program that has this much of an impact and do it so quickly, you know it’s a good program," remarked Montford. "I have four grandchildren, got another one on the way, October 29th, and I’m so glad that they will have the opportunity to go through this program themselves. So, as a grandfather, as a legislator, as a senator, I fully embrace this effort.”

Book was joined by other lawmakers, like Representatives Alan Williams and Michelle Rehwinkel-Vasilinda as well as the state’s Department of Children and Families Secretary David Wilkins and Superintendent of Leon County Jackie Pons Schools in launching the effort.

See Also:

• Nation’s Toughest Child Sex Abuse Reporting Law Takes Effect Today in Florida

PA - Legislation would make child sexual abuse awareness part of school curriculum

Original Article

It's about time they did this, but only if they use facts and not the usual lies we've heard over the years.

09/25/2012

Lawmakers in committee show unanimous support to advance bill

HARRISBURG - So far, lawmakers are showing unanimous support for new legislation designed to help school-aged children protect themselves against sexual abuse.

The bill would make Pennsylvania the fifth state in the country to require children to be taught in school about sexual abuse. Tuesday morning, the House education committee voted to advance the bill to the full House of Representatives without an objection.

If the bill becomes law, public schools would have to incorporate child sex abuse awareness into their health curriculum. Parents could opt their children out of the program, but only after they themselves review the materials.

Lebanon County Rep. Mauree Gingrich introduced the bill. She says child sex abuse is a sensitive topic and one that, as things stand today, children may not learn the signs of at home or school.

"It's too important to wonder if they know what to do. We need to know they know what to do. And this definitely will make a difference on the prevention side," said Gingrich.

The bill calls for age-appropriate lessons nearly every year from kindergarten through eighth grade. Gingrich hopes the bill might get a vote in the House by next week.

The bill will also have to be taken up by the Senate and signed by the governor before it becomes law. You can read the full bill here.