Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein must register as NY’s highest level sex offender

palmbeachdailynews.com | Nov 22, 2011

By Michele Dargan

Jeffrey Epstein must register in the state of New York as the highest and most dangerous level sex offender, despite efforts by the Palm Beach billionaire, his attorneys and even a New York prosecutor to lower it.

A New York appeals court Thursday upheld a lower court’s ruling that Epstein must register as a Level 3 sex offender. A Level 3 status means “high risk of repeat offense and a threat to public safety exists,” according to the state’s guidelines.

Even though Epstein pleaded guilty to one count of sex crimes involving a minor girl in Palm Beach and one count of solicitation, there is plenty of evidence there were many more victims, according to the four-page ruling.

Epstein’s criminal convictions — for which he served 13 months of an 18-month sentence with liberal work release hours — requires him to register as a sex offender in every state where he owns a home. One of those homes is in Manhattan.

In siding with Epstein’s request for the lowest status — Level 1 — the New York prosecutor “mistakenly” disregarded crimes with other minor victims that Epstein was not charged with and considered only the one count he was charged with, the ruling says.

“The strong evidence that the offense against the other victims did occur outweighs any inferences to be drawn from the manner in which this case was prosecuted in Florida,” the ruling states. “The reasons for the actions taken by the Florida authorities remain unclear on this record.”

Epstein has settled more than two dozen lawsuits and claims against him by teen-agers who say they were lured to his Palm Beach mansion to give him sexually charged massages and/or sex in exchange for money. The terms of all settlements are confidential.

It was during a Jan. 18 hearing on Epstein’s sex offender registration act (SORA) hearing in New York that his attorneys tried to get his status set at the lowest level with the blessing of Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Gaffney. Yet, the New York State Board of Examiners of Sex Offenders recommended Epstein be designated a Level 3.

Gaffney said she was unable to rely on the Palm Beach Police’s probable cause affidavit — which listed multiple victims and multiple charges — since the state attorney went forward on only one count of soliciting a minor. Gaffney said the victims, although they spoke to police early on, did not cooperate.

Judge Ruth Pickholz would have none of it.

“I have to tell you, I am a little overwhelmed because I have never seen a prosecutor’s office do anything like this,” Pickholz said. “I have done many SORAs much less troubling than this one where the [prosecutor] would never make a downward argument like this.”

Gaffney said she tried to reach the assistant state attorney who handled the case (in Palm Beach County), but that prosecutor had left the office, and Gaffney said she was unable to obtain any more information.

Federal guidelines state that offenders must register as a sex offender in every state where the person has a home. Epstein has homes in Palm Beach, Manhattan, New Mexico and the U.S. Virgin Islands as well as Paris. According to his sex offender registration, Epstein’s primary residence is in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands.

On behalf of Epstein, attorney Sandra Musumeci told Pickholz that Epstein’s New York home is a vacation home. If Epstein is required to register as a Level 3 offender, that means Epstein must return to New York every 90 days and renew his registration, Musumeci said.

“He can give up his New York home if he does not want to come every 90 days,” Pickholz said.

Child rape coverup: Penn State’s Sandusky Paid $500,000 by Boy’s Charity; “pimped out kids” to rich donors

Former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky after his Nov. 5 arrest. Pennsylvania State Attorney General’s Office/Reuters

huntingtonnews.net | Nov 12, 2011

by Tony Rutherford

STATE COLLEGE, PA (HNN) – A former Penn State defensive coach accused of child rape  by multiple victims received nearly $500,000 from the at-risk  boys charity that he founded, according to CBS TV 21 reports. The station obtained copies of income tax returns from Second Mile which beginning in 2001 (the earliest year available) paid Jerry Sandusky approximately $50,000 annually as a “consultant.”

Sandusky founded the Second Mile Foundation in 1977. Tax records were not available prior to 2001, according to the Channel 21 investigation.

The initial allegation of sexual abuse of a child came in 1998. Sandusky reportedly admitted to “hugging” a  ten year old boy while showering. The board of  waited ten years before taking its first punitive action  —  barring him from overnight camping trips. He “retired” in 2010

Now, radio reporter has told the New England Sports Network (NESN) that Second Mile  and Sandusky are targets of an investigation that “pimping” of boys were occurring. Madden first broke a story in April 2011 which revealed the alleged Sandusky child rape cover-up.

On WEEI’s morning show, Nov. 10, Madden also said, “The other thing I think that may eventually become uncovered, is that I think they’ll find out that Jerry Sandusky was told that he had to retire in exchange for a cover-up,” Madden said. “If you look at the timeline, that makes perfect sense, doesn’t it?

Related

• Allegation: Sandusky “Pimped Out” Kids
• Jerry Sandusky’s charity Second Mile may hold more secrets
• Sandusky interview surprised even NBC’s Bob Costas
• Sandusky TV interview could haunt him at trial
• Penn State scandal threatens to destroy the Second Mile charity

“My opinion is when Sandusky quit, everybody knew — not just at Penn State,” Madden added. “I think it was a very poorly kept secret about college football in general, and that is why he never coached in college football again and retired at the relatively young age of 55. [That's] young for a coach, certainly.”

Madden denied that he started the “rumor,” stating, “The Second Mile was the perfect cover [for him to be with young kids],” radio host Madden said, adding, “ I think the people who knew were the people who knew.”

Speculation has spread about potential civil suit against the university and its officials. Since the last allegation intertwining Penn State and Sandusky came at his retirement, which was over five years ago, it’s likely all criminal charges except those lodged against Sandusky, would fall beyond the statute of limitations.

Here’s a timeline composed by Sports-ology of the scandal with a link to obtain the full timeline at the Ology website:

Jan. 26, 1944: Gerald Arthur Sandusky born in Washington, PA.

1963-1965: Sandusky plays defensive end for Penn State. Joe Paterno​ is an assistant coach during these years.

1966: Serves as a graduate assistant on Penn State’s football staff in Paterno’s first year as head coach.

1967: Serves as an assistant coach at Juniata College, a Division III school in Huntingdon, PA.

1968: Sandusky becomes an assistant coach at Boston University.

1969: Rejoins Penn State as the defensive line coach. The Nittany Lions post their second consecutive perfect season and defeat Missouri in the Orange Bowl.

1970: Becomes linebackers coach and begins to build PSU’s reputation as “Linebacker U.” In 1973 Penn State would record their third perfect season under Joe Paterno, but the Nittany Lions have yet to win a National Championship.

1977: Sandusky is promoted to defensive coordinator. This is also the year he founds The Second Mile, a charity for at-risk children in State College, Penn. The charity will eventually serve youths across the state.

Jan. 1983: The AP selects Penn State as the 1982 national champion.

Jan. 1987: The AP selects Penn State as the 1986 national champion, the Nittany Lions’ second championship with Paterno as coach and Sandusky as defensive coordinator.

1994: Sandusky meets Victim 7 through The Second Mile. Sandusky allegedly touched Victim 7 in a manner that made the boy uncomfortable, and both Sandusky and Sandusky’s wife attempted to contact Victim 7 in the weeks leading up to his grand jury appearance.

1994-95: Sandusky meets Victim 6 through The Second Mile.

Jan. 1, 1995: Penn State finishes their sixth perfect season under Joe Paterno by beating Oregon in the Rose Bowl.

1995-96: Sandusky meets Victim 5 through The Second Mile. Victim 5 had limited contact with Sandusky after he spurned the coach’s advances.

1996-97: Sandusky singles out Victim 4, who is also a participant in The Second Mile. Victim 4 is subject to repeated episodes of abuse over a period of several years.

Jan. 1998: Victim 4 travels as a member of Sandusky’s party to the Outback Bowl. He shares accommodations with Sandusky and frequently spends the night with Sandusky outside of the bowl game.

1998: Victim 6 showers with Sandusky. The victim’s mother becomes suspicious and calls University Police, who open an investigation.

Jerry Sandusky Rumored Pimping Out Young Boys to Rich Donors

Child Rape Cover-Up at Penn State Marks “Greatest Fall From Grace in History of U.S. Sports”

Boy Scouts repeatedly covered up abuse by leader who raped at least 15 boys

‘It was easy’: Rick Turley told a reporter that he was surprised at how many times he got away with abusing boys

‘I was surprised how many times I got away with it’: Boy Scouts accused of repeatedly covering up abuse of leader who raped boys and even kidnapped one in stolen plane

The organisation had long recommended that troops kept abuse allegations a secret.

Daily Mail | Oct 30, 2011

By John Stevens

The Boy Scouts has been accused of covering up the abuses of a paedophile who was repeatedly allowed back as a leader despite admitting to abusing boys in his care.

Newly released documents show Boy Scouts of America officials didn’t call police after he admitted molesting three boys and welcomed him back as a leader even after he was kidnapped a boy in a stolen plane.

Turley, now 58, said he is surprised at how many times he got away with it.

An investigation has found that Rick Turley molested at least 15 children in Southern California and British Columbia over two decades, most of whom he met through American and Canadian Scouting.

‘It was easy,’ he told CBC News. He said that he thinks if the police had been called in 1979 when he confessed to abusing three boys it ‘probably would have put a stop to me years and years ago.’

Instead, he ‘went back to the Scouts again and again as a leader and offended against the boys,’ he told the station.

Related

• Records: Boy Scouts failed to report abuser
• Boy Scouts Refused to Report Serial Rapist
• Records shows Boy Scout officials failed to report leader who molested children in California

Turley is one of more than 5,000 suspected child molesters named in confidential files kept by the Boy Scouts of America.

The organisation had long recommended that troops kept abuse allegations a secret.

In Turley’s earlier known sexual abuse in 1971, he met a 10-year-old boy while working as a truck driver on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.

He offered to take Joey Day to cubs, but instead took him to a nearby lake where he coerced him into skinny dipping and molested him.

Over the next two years, instead of taking the boy to cub meetings, he took him to his apartment where he plied him alcohol, showed him pornography and abused him.

When the boy tried to tell his father about the abuse, he was beaten.

In January 1975, Turley visited a Scout troop in Orange County and asked if an 11-year-old boy could show him around, saying he was ‘one of Canada’s top Scout leaders.

He shared a sleeping bag with Eddy Iris in the mountains, before taking him to the airport where he stole a plane and after taking off reportedly told the boy: ‘You do realise you’ve been kidnapped, don’t you?’

When the plane ran out of fuel and made an emergency landing, Turley was arrested and pleaded guilty to child stealing.

He was committed to Patton State Hospital as a ‘mentally disordered sex offender.’

After 18 months he was released on probation and ordered to return to Canada, but he instead got a job at a Boy Scout camp close to the hospital and worked at camps in San Bernardino and San Diego counties for the next three summer.

By 1978 he had become a programme director at a Scout Camp in San Diego County. He persuaded the leader of a troop to let his son and two other boys stay at the camp for an extra night.

When they went home they reported that they had been arrested. Turley admitted the offences but officials decided not to report them to police.

‘We were following exactly the national recommendations of the Boy Scouts of America and its board who set up the rules,’ Buford Hill, a former Orange County Scouting official told the LA Times.

‘You do not want to broadcast to the entire population that these things happen. You take care of it quietly and make sure it never happens again.’

Turley returned to British Columbia where he became a Scout Master again.

At least two Canadian Scout leaders reported that Turley had boys share his tent on trips.

In the mid 1980s officials decided rather than calling police or forcing Turley to step down that he should be transferred to another troop.

In 1995, Turley was arrested when his girlfriend told police that he was sexually attracted to children.

He was sentenced to seven years in prison, reduced to five on appeal, after he was convicted of five counts of molesting children.

In 2000, while out on parole he was caught trying to coerce two boys into a relationship and was sent back to prison for two years.

Turley now says that he is able to control his behaviour.

When questioned by CBC News at a motel in Alberta where he now works he said that ‘it’s hard to put a number’ on how many boys he abused.

Asked if he had a son, would he send him to Scouts, Turley said: ‘No, it’s still going on and will probably always go on.’

A Scouts spokesman told the LA Times: ‘The BSA has continued to enhance its youth protection efforts as society has increased its understanding of the dangers children face.’

Hague court urged to investigate Pope over child sex abuse

Reuters | Sep 13, 2011

By Aaron Gray-Block

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Victims of sexual abuse by the clergy want the International Criminal Court to investigate Pope Benedict and three Vatican officials, accusing them of allowing the rape and abuse of children.

The New York-based rights group Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and another group, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), filed a complaint with the ICC alleging that Vatican officials committed crimes against humanity because they tolerated and enabled sex crimes.

But it seems unlikely that the ICC, the world’s first permanent war crimes court, could take on such a case.

Many of the crimes occurred before 2002, when the ICC was set up, which puts them outside the court’s remit, while the Vatican itself has not signed up to the court’s jurisdiction.

“It will be very difficult to make an argument that the Church as an organized group committed a crime against humanity and it would be debatable whether that was based on a common plan,” said Andre de Hoogh, a senior lecturer in international law at Groningen University.

The Catholic Church has been rocked by a series of sexual abuse scandals and allegations of cover-up in Europe and the United States in recent years.

But this is the first time the sexual abuse scandal has been brought to an international jurisdiction, marking a new approach by victims and rights groups.

Victim support groups, which usually target church officials with their lawsuits, have increasingly sought to implicate the Vatican in their legal action.

In its filing with the ICC on Tuesday, rights group CCR alleged that sex abuse crimes were “widespread and systematic.”

“Crimes against tens of thousands of victims, most of them children, are being covered up by officials at the highest level of the Vatican. In this case, all roads really do lead to Rome,” CCR lawyer Pam Spees said.

A Vatican spokesman said there would be no immediate comment.

“The Office of the Prosecutor has received the documents,” spokeswoman Florence Olara said, adding the prosecutor’s office “will analyze … and make a decision in due course.”

EVIDENCE

While the Vatican has not signed up to the ICC, countries such as Italy, the Netherlands and Germany have done so, which means that their citizens are subject to ICC jurisdiction.

Pope Benedict is German-born and because a pope retains his nationality when he also takes on Vatican nationality this could potentially expose him to ICC prosecution.

“It is a very slim avenue, but it’s an avenue nonetheless,” said Lorraine Smith at the International Bar Association, which monitors the ICC. “But there is still the issue of the timing of the offences.”

Alongside a filing of more than 80 pages, CCR said it had lodged more than 20,000 pages of supporting material including reports, policy papers and evidence of crimes by Catholic clergy committed against children and vulnerable adults.

SNAP members from Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and the United States travelled to The Hague to file the request.

It names Pope Benedict, former Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano, current Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone and Cardinal William Levada, the top doctrinal official.

Vienna Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn publicly accused Sodano last year of blocking a Church inquiry into his predecessor, Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer, who stepped down in 1995 after being accused of sexually abusing young student priests.

The ICC has investigated crimes including genocide, murder, conscription of child soldiers and rape, mostly in Africa. In June, it issued an arrest warrant for Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi.

The prosecutor’s office has received more than 9,000 requests for investigations, but has said almost half of them were “manifestly outside” its jurisdiction.

In June, Syrian human rights groups called on the court to investigate the killing of civilians in Syria, but the court lacks jurisdiction there because Syria is not an ICC member.

The Rome Statute that set up the court also stipulates that the ICC should be used as a court of last resort only if national proceedings are not taking place.

The prosecutor must first seek approval from ICC judges before formally opening an investigation.

Catholic bishops gather in Seattle, amidst new sex abuse allegations

“This is criminal sexual abuse of children. If this were a plumber, he’d be locked up in a minute.”

mynorthwest.com | Jun 15, 2011

By Josh Kerns

Nearly 200 Catholic bishops gather in Seattle Wednesday for a three day conference, amidst new allegations of ongoing sexual abuse by priests.

The church leaders from all over the country will discuss potential changes to new rules put in place in 2002 aimed at curbing rampant sexual abuse spanning decades, resulting in thousands of complaints and over $2 billion in legal settlements.

“It’s little more than show. They’ve done virtually nothing to change things,” alleges John Shuster, director of Seattle’s Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

Shuster says the reforms are meaningless, because they don’t carry any real power to remove pedophile priests.

Shuster accuses the church of continuing to cover up ongoing abuses, and his group is calling on the church to open its records and subject guilty priests to criminal prosecution. “This is criminal sexual abuse of children,” he complains. “If this were a plumber, he’d be locked up in a minute.”

But Catholic Church leaders insist guidelines put in place the last decade have drastically curbed abuse cases and no further rules are needed.

The gathering comes just days after three men filed new lawsuits against the Seattle archdiocese, alleging rampant abuse and cover up in the 1960′s and 1970′s.

Prince Andrew should be questioned because he ‘knows the truth’ about billionaire U.S. paedophile, claims victim

Daily Mail | Jun 9, 2011

 

Insight: Prince Andrew should be questioned in the FBI investigation against Jeffrey Epstein, says Virginia Roberts

The Duke of York should be questioned over his knowledge of billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, one the American financier’s victims said today.

Virginia Roberts alleged that the Royal could give ‘valuable’ insight to the FBI investigation against Epstein, a convicted sex offender.

The Wall Street financier was jailed for 18 months in 2008 for soliciting a minor for prostitution.

Miss Roberts made the comments to lawyers in Florida and also said she is afraid to reveal too much information about Epstein’s ‘influential’ friends because they scare her.

Miss Roberts was one of at least 17 women who settled lawsuits with Epstein in 2005 after telling a criminal inquiry that he had abused them as under-age girls.

Related

Question Duke of York over sex abuser, says victim

Miss Roberts alleged that she was paid to massage Epstein and his ‘adult male peers, including royalty’ on flights around the world from the age of 15, and that she was sexually exploited during that time.

There is no suggestion whatsoever that Prince Andrew was involved in any wrongdoing.

Miss Roberts, 27, was interviewed last month by lawyers from a Florida law firm representing many of the women who have made allegations against Epstein, all of which he denies.

She was asked to examine a list of Epstein’s friends and identify any who would have significant information about his sexual exploitation of young girls if required to testify under oath.

Prince Andrew’s name was suggested by lawyer Jack Scarola and Miss Roberts replied: ‘Yes, he would know a lot of the truth,’ according to the Daily Telegraph.

Miss Roberts told the lawyer how she served Epstein and eight of his male friends sexually, but refused to name those eight men, saying, ‘Some of these people are really influential in power. I’m really scared of where this is gonna go.’

A source close to Prince Andrew told the Telegraph the Duke had ‘no knowledge whatsoever’ of any of Epstein’s activities until they were reported in the media.

The prince – nicknamed Air Miles Andy for his love of flying – has courted controversy over his friendship with Epstein, who is on the U.S. sex offenders’ register.

In February it emerged that Andrew had stayed with Mr Epstein during a private trip to New York.

Prince Andrew must quit over his friendship with sex offender Jeffey Epstein, says a former aid

Daily Mail | Jun 9, 2011

By Richard Kay

Time is up: Prince Andrew is facing calls for his resignation as Britain's global trade ambassador, with former supporter Lord (Digby) Jones believing the time is right

Four  years ago, he was brought in to over-haul Prince Andrew’s image, after doubts crept in about his suitability as Britain’s global trade ambassador.

Now, Lord (Digby) Jones, former director general of the CBI, believes the time is right for the Queen’s second son to stand down.

A staunch supporter, he stood by the Prince amid calls for him to be sacked from his role as special representative for UK Trade and Investment earlier this year, over his ill-judged friendship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and other dubious figures, including a convicted gun runner.

But Lord Jones says the time is right for Andrew to relinquish his international role.

‘The Prince has held this role for ten years,’ the former trade minister told me at a private ‘business with pleasure’ dinner at London’s Ivy restaurant for the Warwicks & Northants Air Ambulance.

‘What the public don’t understand are the pressures and problems that go with the job.’

And, in a thinly veiled criticism of his former protege, he adds: ‘He hasn’t helped himself by putting himself in positions which, frankly, he shouldn’t. In my view, ten years is enough.’

But the peer has not lost faith in the Prince. He says a new  role could be found for him, still on the business side, but based in Britain.

‘He takes a brief really well and is better informed and brighter than he is given credit for.

‘Therefore, he is of use to the nation and especially at the moment when the Royal Family has street cred around the world. I’d capitalise on that asset.

‘He could inspire youngsters to think they are fit to take on India and China. It would be difficult to criticise him if he did that.’

Last month, I revealed that government figures were working on plans for the Prince to stand aside in favour of heading training for apprenticeships.
MARRIAGE PUTS THE ARCHERS’ FEUD ON HOLD

Warring on The Archers continues, but for Charles Collingwood life off air is thankfully much rosier.

For his daughter Jane (left) is tying the knot tomorrow with Cokey Sulkin.

And Charles and his wife Judy, who play Brian Aldridge and Shula Hebden in the BBC radio series, are delighted.

‘Cokey is  a fantastic man,’ Sherbourne-educated Collingwood tells me. ‘I was touched he did it all properly, asking my permission.’

Cokey, 32, who runs the South London gastro-pub The Black Dog, proposed to  voice artist Jane, also 32, last year after seven years together.

Members of the Archers family, Jill, Elizabeth and David, will be among the 150 guests attending the church wedding, near the family’s Hampshire home.

‘There is obviously an on-air rift, but hopefully they’ll all be talking under my roof,’ jokes Charles.

Former Sixties pop star and family friend Peter Skellern will be on the organ for the service.

Mischievous Charles explains that, as the guests stand, Skellern will play the theme from Jaws.

Full Story

Belgium child sex victims sue Holy See

Police patrol outside the St. Rumbold’s Cathedral near the headquarters of the archdiocese of Brussels-Malines in Mechelen in 2010. Dozens of victims of a child sex scandal in the Belgian Catholic church on Wednesday announced the launch of legal action against the Holy See, the first such suit in Europe. (AFP/BELGA/File/Marc Gysens)

AFP | Jun 1, 2011

by Claire Rosemberg

GHENT, Belgium (AFP) – Dozens of victims of a child sex scandal in the Belgian Catholic church on Wednesday announced the launch of legal action against the Holy See, the first such suit in Europe.

Lawyers and victims said at a news conference a summons was on its way to Rome as well as to Belgian bishops to appear before a Belgian civil court for failing to stop sexual abuse by priests and church workers under their responsibility.

“The group of victims of sexual abuse in the church have summoned the Holy See, the Belgian bishops and superiors of religious orders and congregations in the Ghent Court of First Instance,” they said.

A 40-page summons is being translated into Italian before being served on the Vatican.

The group of some 80 plaintiffs, which lawyers said was growing by the day, said it was the first time in Europe that legal proceedings had been initiated against the church authorities.

“The Pope is the head of the Holy See,” said lawyer Walter Van Steenbrugge. “He is the appointer and authority over the bishops, which means that he can be liable for their errors. In addition, he can be held liable for his own faults.

“He neglected to intervene himself and to give instructions, which meant that abuse was liable to continue and the damage was able to increase.”

Belgium’s Catholics are reeling over revelations last year of nearly 500 cases of abuse by priests and church workers since the 1950s, including 13 known suicides among victims.

Among several victims who stood up to denounce the church’s failure to stem the sexual abuse — grey-haired men in their 50s and 60s — was journalist and author Roel Verschueren, abused by Jesuits from the age of 12 to 14 “just around the corner from here,” he said.

“We’ve all been living for years with a church which is in denial,” he told AFP. “Now we’re turning the situation around. We’re in charge, we’re choosing an independent judicial framework.”

Verschueren said the victims first and foremost wanted the church to admit its guilt and to pay for the trauma of lost childhoods and lost years.

“The victims of sexual abuse are often people who’ve lost their pride and self-dignity,” he said. “They need fast help. In the United States, people win compensation of 160 million dollars, here and elsewhere in Europe you’re offered 5,000 euros to shut up.”

Accused of showing little compassion for the victims as evidence of misconduct piled up in recent months, the Belgian church this week offered compensation via an as yet inexistent arbitration panel suggested by parliament.

One of the lawyers, Christine Mussche, said “this is a positive move by the church but for the moment it’s no more than words.”

Under the class action suit launched Wednesday, the Ghent Tribunal is expected to set hearings for the case in September, the lawyers said.

The scandal in the Belgian church surfaced last April with revelations that the bishop of Bruges, Roger Vangheluwe, had abused a nephew for 13 years.

He was exiled by the Vatican to a French monastery for spiritual reflection but while there confessed in an interview to abusing another nephew, and then went missing.

That development further angered victims of church sexual abuse and left left the Vatican “stupefied,” coming days after it sent him into exile.

Report blames society for sexually abusive priests

Sister Mary Ann Walsh, Karen Terry of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and Bishop Blase Cupich, from left, take part in a Washington news conference releasing the findings of a study on clergy sex abuse. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais, AP / May 19, 2011)

A study commissioned by Roman Catholic bishops ties abuse by Roman Catholic priests in the U.S. to the sexual revolution, not celibacy or homosexuality, and says it’s been largely resolved. The findings are already under attack.

While more boys than girls have been abused, the report said, that is probably because priests had greater access to boys.

Los Angeles Times | May 18, 2011

By Mitchell Landsberg

Sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests in the United States is a “historical problem” that has largely been resolved and that never had any significant correlation with either celibacy or homosexuality, according to an independent report commissioned by Catholic bishops — and subjected to fierce attack even before its release on Wednesday.

The report blamed the sexual revolution for a rise in sexual abuse by priests, saying that Catholic clerics were swept up by a tide of “deviant” behavior that became more socially acceptable in the 1960s and ’70s.

As that subsided, and as the church instituted reforms in the 1990s and 2000s, the problem of priests acting as sexual predators sharply declined, according to the study by John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.

“The abuse is a result of a complex interaction of factors,” said Karen Terry, a John Jay criminal justice professor who led the research team. One major factor, she said at a news conference in Washington, was social turmoil in the 1960s and ’70s that led some priests “who had some vulnerabilities” to commit child sexual abuse. She said Catholic seminaries had done a poor job of preparing priests “to live a life of chaste celibacy,” as their vows demanded.

The report found no evidence, however, that celibacy itself contributed to sexual abuse. “Given the continuous requirement of priestly celibacy over time, it is not clear why the commitment to or state of celibate chastity should be seen as a cause for the steady rise in incidence of sexual abuse between 1950 and 1980,” it said.

It also found no evidence that homosexuality was to blame. While more boys than girls have been abused, the report said, that is probably because priests had greater access to boys. In fact, it said, the incidence of sexual abuse in the priesthood began declining not long after a noticeable rise in the number of gay men entering Catholic seminaries in the 1970s.

News of the report’s findings leaked out late Tuesday with an account by Religion News Service, and reaction from critics was swift and harsh. Advocates for victims of child sexual abuse expressed outrage that the report emphasized social factors, which they saw as an attempt to shift blame. A conservative Catholic group objected to the report’s exoneration of homosexuality as a cause of the abuse.

William Donohue, the outspoken president of the conservative Catholic League, noted on the group’s website that the report found that 81% of abuse victims were male and 78% were beyond puberty. “Since 100% of the abusers were male, that’s called homosexuality, not pedophilia or heterosexuality,” he said.

Anne Barrett Doyle, co-founder of the website BishopAccountability.org, which chronicles abuse cases and acts as an advocate for victims, said the report failed to take the church hierarchy to task for the abuse crisis, and seemed intended “to decriminalize the bishops’ response to child molestation.”

“But I guess what is surprising me,” she said, “is the fact that they’re also chalking up the rape and abuse of tens of thousands of children to a vulnerable priesthood responding to social turmoil.”

Speakers at the Washington news conference, held by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said church leaders did not try to shape the research, and that the report did not let anyone off the hook.

“None of what is included in this report should be interpreted as making excuses for the terrible acts that occurred,” said Diane Knight, a Milwaukee social worker and chairwoman of the bishops’ National Review Board. “There are no excuses. There is much that the church has to learn from this report and much of it is difficult. The bottom line is that the church was wrong not to put children first for all those years, all those decades.”

David Finkelhor, a sociologist who directs the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire, said he briefly reviewed the report Wednesday morning and was largely impressed by the breadth and depth of research.

However, he said, “I do think they are unfortunately going to get lambasted on some things, and it may be more of a question of tone and emphasis than actual substance.” Chief among those things, he said, is the lack of emphasis on “the terrible mishandling of this whole phenomenon by the bishops and the church hierarchy.”

Finkelhor said he accepted the report’s finding that child sexual abuse by priests had dramatically declined in recent years. Some U.S. dioceses have done a good job of instituting programs to safeguard children, and society as a whole has gotten better at dealing with sexual abuse, he said.

While critics argue that the abuse being committed today simply hasn’t been reported yet, and might not be for decades, Finkelhor said he thought that was much less likely than in the past.

“I think frankly we’re much better now at flushing out abuse early on,” he said. “I think young people feel much more comfortable coming out and talking about it.”

Vatican stops short of handing over paedophile priests

The Vatican promised that the church would cooperate the police in any official inquiries  Photo: AFP

Victims of paedophile priests have reacted with dismay after new guidelines from the Vatican insisted that bishops, rather than the police, should deal with child abuse cases in the first instance.

Telegraph | May 16, 2011

By Nick Pisa in Rome

A five-page document drawn up by Cardinal William Levada, the head of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, concluded that the responsibility for dealing with any child abuse cases found within the Church “belongs in the first place to bishops”. In the past, there have been repeated accusations of cover-ups by the church and bishops have been found to have shielded child abusers.

The Vatican claimed the document, which will be circulated to all clergy worldwide, was “an important new step” to cleanse the Church of its recurring child abuse scandals and promised that the church would cooperate the police in any official inquiries.

“This document is simply meaningless words – they have been forced to act but it is not enough,” said Marco Lodi Rizzini, a spokesman for an Italian victim of abuse by priests group. “The Vatican has said it will cooperate with the authorities before, but only because they have been forced to.”

Mr Rizzini pointed to a case that has just emerged in the northern Italian city of Genoa where a 50-year-old priest has been arrested by police investigating a drugs and sex ring. Although Church leaders immediately suspended Father Riccardo Seppia, there were claims that the Vatican had been warned of his behaviour in the past. Piercarlo Casassa, a retired priest, said:”I told the Church authorities about him in 1994 but I was ignored. I told them he was not the right person to have around youngsters but no one listened to me”.

Maeve Lewis, of the One in Four support group in Dublin, said she welcomed the new universal guidelines but that bishops have little expertise or experience in recognising child abuse. “We have had several cases in Ireland where the Church was slow to respond hiding behind the data protection act and it is just not acceptable that reporting an allegation is at the discretion of a bishop,” she said.