April 30, 2009 by Op-Ed Columnist NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
When a woman reports a rape, her body is a crime scene. She is typically asked to undress over a large sheet of white paper to collect hairs or fibers, and then her body is examined with an ultraviolet light, photographed and thoroughly swabbed for the rapist’s DNA.
It’s a grueling and invasive process that can last four to six hours and produces a “rape kit” — which, it turns out, often sits around for months or years, unopened and untested.
Stunningly often, the rape kit isn’t tested at all because it’s not deemed a priority. If it is tested, this happens at such a lackadaisical pace that it may be a year or more before there are results (if expedited, results are technically possible in a week).
So while we have breakthrough DNA technologies to find culprits and exculpate innocent suspects, we aren’t using them properly — and those who work in this field believe the reason is an underlying doubt about the seriousness of some rape cases. In short, this isn’t justice; it’s indifference.
Solomon Moore, a colleague of mine at The Times, last year wrote about a 43-year-old legal secretary who was raped repeatedly in her home in Los Angeles as her son slept in another room. The attacker forced the woman to clean herself in an attempt to destroy the evidence.
Tim Marcia, the detective on the case, thought this meant that the perpetrator was a habitual offender who would strike again. Mr. Marcia rushed the rape kit to the crime lab but was told to expect a delay of more than one year.
So Mr. Marcia personally drove the kit 350 miles to deliver it to the state lab in Sacramento. Even there, the backlog resulted in a four-month delay — but then it produced a “cold hit,” a match in a database of the DNA of previous offenders.
Yet in the months while the rape kit sat on a shelf, the suspect had allegedly struck twice more. Police said he broke into the homes of a pregnant woman and a 17-year-old girl, sexually assaulting each of them.
“The criminal justice system is still ill equipped to deal with rape and not that good at moving rape cases forward,” notes Sarah Tofte, who just wrote a devastating report for Human Rights Watch about the rape-kit backlog. The report found that in Los Angeles County, there were at last count 12,669 rape kits sitting in police storage facilities. More than 450 of these kits had sat around for more than 10 years, and in many cases, the statute of limitations had expired.
There are no good national figures, and one measure of the indifference is that no one even bothers to count the number of rape kits sitting around untested.
Why don’t police departments treat rape kits with urgency? One reason is probably expense — each kit can cost up to $1,500 to test — but there also seems to be a broad distaste for rape cases as murky, ambiguous and difficult to prosecute, particularly when they involve (as they often do) alcohol or acquaintance rape.
“They talk about the victims’ credibility in a way that they don’t talk about the credibility of victims of other crimes,” Ms. Tofte said.
Charlie Beck, a deputy police chief of Los Angeles, said that there was no excuse for the failure to test rape kits, but he noted that integrating a new technology into police work is complex and involves a learning curve. Since Human Rights Watch began its investigation, he said, the department had resolved to test rape kits routinely — and as a result, cold hits have doubled.
While the backlog and desultory handling of rape kits are nationwide problems, there is one shining exception: New York City has made a concerted effort over the last decade to test every kit that comes in. The result has been at least 2,000 cold hits in rape cases, and the arrest rate for reported cases of rape in New York City rose from 40 percent to 70 percent, according to Human Rights Watch.
Some Americans used to argue that it was impossible to rape an unwilling woman. Few people say that today, or say publicly that a woman “asked for it” if she wore a short skirt. But the refusal to test rape kits seems a throwback to the same antediluvian skepticism about rape as a traumatic crime.
“If you’ve got stacks of physical evidence of a crime, and you’re not doing everything you can with the evidence, then you must be making a decision that this isn’t a very serious crime,” notes Polly Poskin, executive director of the Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault.
It’s what we might expect in Afghanistan, not in the United States.
Is Rape Serious? By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Sex Crimes On the Rise in Australia
There has been a drastic increase in the number of sex crimes Down Under, according to a new report.
The recent police figures on pub and club offences have revealed that there were 61 sexual attacks in Victorian licensed premises last financial year including 22 rapes and 39 sexual assaults.
According to the police and rape support groups, drunk and drug-affected women in bars were easy targets of sex predators.
Most rapes took place in toilets, private rooms, alcoves and offices and sexual assaults happened anywhere from beer gardens to dance floors.
The police said that real number of sex crimes would be even higher as they were "notoriously unreported".
"In the majority of cases the victim has been drinking heavily and these predators have preyed upon them in a vulnerable state," the Herald Sun quoted Sexual Crime Squad Det Acting Insp Robert Ridley as saying.
"These people are going out there and finding people vulnerable and taking advantage of them. They are sexual predators picking an easy target," he added.
CASA spokeswoman Karen Hogan said sex crime was a "huge problem" in pubs and clubs.
"We see it every week - repeated rape, attempted rape and sexual assault," she said.
A government spokeswoman said a taskforce established to tackle city crime including police, government and liquor licensing would investigate the problem.
She said licensees had legal and social obligations to minimise the risk of harm to patrons and their communities.
Source-ANI
Native Women's Association of Canada says 520 girls and women have disappeared or been killed
Ottawa must act to end epidemic of missing, murdered aboriginal women: report By Mia Rabson, Winnipeg Free Press April 30, 2009
OTTAWA — Canadian society seems ready to disregard missing and murdered aboriginal women as “garbage,” and only action from the federal government will stem the growing number of disturbing cases, the head of the Native Women’s Association of Canada said Thursday.
Beverley Jacobs fought off tears throughout a news conference on Parliament Hill as she released the second report of the Sisters in Spirit initiative, which shows that 520 aboriginal women have been murdered or have gone missing in Canada since 1970.
More than half of the cases have occurred since 2000.
More than two-thirds of the total number of women have been found dead, while about 25 per cent are still missing.
In 45 per cent of the cases where women were found dead, no one has been charged.
“This issue has been one of the most detrimental since colonization,” Jacobs said.
The report tells the stories of many of the women and the common threads between them, in particular the struggles their families had getting anyone to care when their daughters, sisters, mothers or friends disappeared.
Jacobs said it’s as if society is ready to disregard the missing women as “garbage.”
“We know they’re not garbage,” she said.
Sisters in Spirit was given a five-year mandate in 2005 and $5 million in funding from the federal government to research, document and publicize the issue of missing and murdered aboriginal women in Canada.
Jacobs said since Sisters in Spirit began its work, there have been some marginal improvements to the treatment of the issue by police, the media and the public.
She said it is obvious how different the response is when a non-aboriginal person goes missing.
She cited the case of Brandon Crisp, 15, who ran away from his home in Barrie, Ont., last fall after a fight with his parents about his video games. The response from police, volunteers and the media was intense.
“It was plastered across the national and international pages,” Jacobs said.
The boy was later found dead in a wooded area.
Two months earlier, Maisy Odjick, 16, and Shannon Alexander, 17, disappeared from the Maniwaki, Que., area just north of Ottawa.
Jacobs said Odjick’s mother was floored by the response to Brandon Crisp’s disappearance when her family could get very little coverage from the media on her daughter’s case.
The girls have not been found.
“It’s societal indifference,” Jacobs said. “We’re still dealing with racism.”
The only way to change that, said Jacobs, is for the federal government to become more engaged.
If the minister of public safety does not do something, more women will continue to go missing, Jacobs said. “This government needs to take it seriously, and so does society.”
She said the ministers of justice and public safety need to establish national policies for how missing persons’ cases are handled and to educate police officers about the issues facing aboriginal women and about aboriginal culture in general.
“These are the basics even front-line officers need to understand when they are dealing our people,” Jacobs said.
A spokesman for Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan passed a request for comment over to Helena Guergis, the minister of state for the status of women.
Her spokeswoman was unable to provide a response by deadline.
Jacobs said she personally believes there is a connection between many of the missing women, human trafficking and the international sex trade. But she said the initiative did not have the resources to investigate that issue.
Pope says he's sorry for abuse at church-run native Canadian schools
April 29, 2009, By Nicole Winfield, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict apologized Wednesday for the abuse and "deplorable conduct" of some church members at church-run Canadian schools that aboriginals were forced to attend.
The pontiff expressed his sorrow during a meeting with former students and representatives of the native Canadians, telling them acts of abuse can never be tolerated by society.
From the 19th century until the 1970s, more than 150,000 native children in Canada were made to attend state-funded Christian schools as an effort to assimilate them into Canadian society. Nearly three-quarters of the 130 schools were run by Catholic missionary congregations.
"What we wanted the Pope to say to us was that he was sorry and ... that he deeply felt for us," said Phil Fontaine, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations. "We heard that very clearly today."
The Canadian government has admitted that physical and sexual abuse in the schools was rampant, and has apologized and offered compensation.
On Wednesday, a group of victims attended the Pope's general audience in St. Peter's Square and later met with him privately to share their stories and concerns, the Vatican said in a statement.
"Given the sufferings that some indigenous children experienced in the Canadian residential school system, the Holy Father expressed his sorrow at the anguish caused by the deplorable conduct of some members of the church and he offered his sympathy and prayerful solidarity," the statement said.
"His Holiness emphasized that acts of abuse cannot be tolerated in society," it said, adding that the Pope was praying that the victims would heal and move forward "with renewed hope."
"The coming to Rome was a high point" on the road to reconciliation said Archbishop of Winnipeg James Weisgerber, the head of Canada's bishops' conference. "It's a long journey and the church is commited to be with the" native Canadians.
Out of a delegation of 40, five native and five church representatives met privately with the Pope, who addressed them with off-the-cuff remarks in Italian and English, Weisgerber said at a news conference.
Fontaine, who himself suffered abuse at one of the schools, related that the Pope said the situation had caused him "personal anguish" - an expression of suffering that "gives us the comfort we are seeking."
The native Canadians brought blankets, pipes, moccasins and a gift of an eagle feather, one of the highest honours in aboriginal culture. Some of the items were left at the Vatican while others were returned after being blessed by the pontiff.
The aim of the residential school system was to isolate the native Canadians from the influence of their homes and culture, which the government at the time considered inferior to mainstream Canadian society.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued a formal apology in Parliament last year, calling the treatment of children at the schools a sad chapter in the country's history. He said the policy of forced assimilation was wrong, had caused great harm and had no place in the country.
Canada has also offered compensation, part of a lawsuit settlement between the government, churches and the approximately 90,000 surviving students that amounted to billions of dollars being transferred to aboriginal communities.
The Catholic Church alone paid some $79 million, the Canadian bishops' conference said.
The United, Presbyterian and Anglican churches have already apologized for their roles in the abuse.
Appeal heard in rape case against Halliburton, KBR
By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN Associated Press Writer April 27, 2009
NEW ORLEANS — A Texas woman who claims she was raped by co-workers while working for a military contractor in Iraq asked a federal appeals court Monday to let a jury hear part of her case.
A judge ruled last year that some of Jamie Leigh Jones' claims against Halliburton Co. and several former subsidiaries can be tried in open court, but the companies say she signed an agreement that requires all of her claims against the companies to be resolved privately through arbitration.
A three-judge panel that heard the companies' appeal Monday didn't immediately rule.
Jones, a Kellogg Brown & Root employee who was a clerical worker at a Halliburton office in Baghdad's "Green Zone," claims she was drugged and "gang-raped" by several Halliburton firefighters in her company barracks bedroom after they had been drinking.
Jones also claims she was placed under armed guard and held in a "prison-like container" for hours after she reported the alleged rape. KBR and Halliburton, which split in 2007, have disputed Jones' account of how the companies responded to her allegations.
The Associated Press usually does not identify people alleging sexual assault, but Jones' face and name have been broadcast in media reports and on her own Web site. She also described her allegations in testimony before a congressional subcommittee.
U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison ordered Jones to arbitrate some of her claims, including fraud, negligence and sexual harassment. But he ruled that her claims of assault and battery, emotional distress and false imprisonment fall outside the scope of her employment agreement. Ellison ruled that Jones can't pursue the latter claims before the others are arbitrated.
Carl Jordan, a lawyer for the companies, argued that all of Jones' claims are subject to binding arbitration under Halliburton's "dispute resolution program."
"The arbitration clause in this case is quite broad," he said.
John Vail, one of Jones' lawyers, said the employment agreement his client signed doesn't govern any claims stemming from her alleged rape.
"And a rape in her bedroom did not occur in the workplace," he added.
Alcohol was banned in "non-workplace" areas of Camp Hope in Iraq after Jones' alleged rape, according to Vail.
"That is very powerful evidence that this was not in the workplace," he said
This from Holly/Admin,
We wish Jamie all the best in this fight for justice! Here is the link to Jamie Leigh Jones' Website, http://www.jamiesfoundation.com/index.htm
Social workers protest perceived role in children's deaths
Fourteen children died last year from abuse or neglect while on social workers' watch. The county workers say huge caseloads are to blame. By Molly Hennessy-Fiske on April 28, 2009
Nearly a hundred L.A. County social workers quietly protested in front of the downtown Los Angeles county building at the start of this morning's supervisors' meeting, saying they were being unfairly blamed in the deaths last year of 14 children whom they had been charged with tracking.
The deaths, all stemming from abuse or neglect, were first publicly reported in The Times last week.
Though supervisors had been informed previously of the deaths one by one, the public tally caused some to express shock and outrage. Supervisor Gloria Molina faulted social workers, and Supervisor Michael Antonovich demanded an investigation.
The Times also reported that the problem of such deaths among children on social workers' watch was not isolated to 2008. In 2007, there were 12 such deaths reported; in 2006, 14. Records show the causes of death were similar to those reported last year.
Shortly after the 2008 deaths were publicly reported, Trish Ploehn, director of the Department of Children's and Family Services, launched investigations into 10 of the cases that are likely to result in disciplinary action. She assigned the 53 social workers involved in those cases to desk jobs, where they remained this week, a union spokeswoman said.
This morning, social workers said that blaming them was unfair. The problem, they argued, was outdated technology and under-staffing, leading to unmanageable caseloads. Ploehn cited the same problems last week when she appeared before supervisors.
"We are tired of being blamed for a system that is broken and over which we have no control," said Tony Bravo, a supervising children's social worker in Commerce who has worked for the department for 28 years. "We want to be part of the healing process. We know what it takes to keep children safe."
Bravo and other social workers concede that the circumstances of many of the 2008 deaths were shocking, indicative of "systemic problems" in the way the department monitors and protects children. An independent monitor is supposed to identify systemic problems in the department, but supervisors have left the position vacant for more than a year.
The 14 deaths reported included:
* A 1-year-old girl left alone with her mother last March, despite a court order requiring monitored visits. Child welfare records show the mother had a history of neglect.
* Another 1-year-old girl who died May 8 after a baby sitter allegedly punished her for jumping on the bed. Family Services had received 11 complaints to the child abuse hotline related to the baby's family.
* A 2-year-old Pomona girl who weighed only 18 pounds, 7 ounces when she died of "severe nutritional neglect" on May 19. She had been returned to her parents from foster care in the summer of 2007 and was frequently visited by a child social worker.
* A 2-year-old girl who died on Sept. 20 after 12 days in a coma. Her family was the subject of eight previous calls to the child abuse hotline. Records show that social workers did not follow up on inconsistencies in the family's explanations for previous burn marks on the child's arms, nose and face.
David Green, a social worker in Pasadena for nine years, said that for social workers to better monitor such cases, they need better computers and background-check programs similar to those used by police.
Green and Bravo serve on the executive board of the union that represents most county social workers, Service Employees International Union Local 721, which sent a busload of social workers to this morning's meeting. They and other union leaders met with supervisors' deputies Monday and urged them not to bench social workers at a time when caseloads are nearly double what's recommended, about 30 cases per worker.
Social workers also complained about being placed on desk duty after the fact -- only after the information became public.
They said deputies seemed receptive.
"We really don't have up-to-date technology," Bravo said. Social workers need such technology "to access information and act on it immediately."
As they prepared to enter this morning's meeting, social workers gathered around a podium with hand-made signs, describing past cases they championed.
"We care about the children we serve! Who cares?" Green shouted.
"We care!" the crowd shouted back.
"We're united as social workers," Green said, "And we're going to go in there to send a message."
National register to track domestic violence orders
Patricia Karvelas | April 29, 2009 The Australian
A NATIONAL register of domestic and family violence orders is the centrepiece of the Rudd Government's plan to reduce violence against women, to be unveiled today.
The national register will allow orders to be enforced across state and territory borders.
It comes as research by KPMG, commissioned by the Government, reveals that each year violence against women costs the nation $13.6billion, and the figure is expected to rise to $15.6 billion by 2021.
Kevin Rudd will invest $12.5 million on a new national telephone and online crisis service. The service will be run by professional staff and make referrals to follow-up services, operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
A further $26 million will go towards prevention, including $9 million to improve the quality and uptake of "respectful relationships" programs for teenagers, $17 million for a public information campaign focused on changing attitudes. And a further $3million will support research on perpetrator treatment and nationally consistent laws.
Attorney-General Robert McClelland said there were "huge advantages" in having a central system where information about domestic and family violence orders could be accessed by law-enforcement agencies. "This would eliminate uncertainty and enable responses to be taken more quickly and on the basis of the best information available."
Under the plan to reduce violence, the Australian Law Reform Commission will work with state and territory law reform commissions to examine the interrelationship of laws relating to the safety of women and children.
The Government has also vowed to improve the uptake of domestic violence coronial recommendations and identify the best ways to prosecute sexual assault cases.
The Government has agreed to fund healing centres for indigenous communities and allow remote communities to set up places where men go, or are taken, at the first signs of violent behaviour.
Nearly one in three Australian women suffer physical violence and almost one in five experience sexual violence over their lifetime.
Manitoba chiefs get $100K to fight human trafficking By: Mia Rabson
OTTAWA -- The federal government is putting money on the table to help keep vulnerable young aboriginal women from falling victim to human trafficking. The $100,000 contribution to the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs will be used to develop education and awareness programs for Manitoba First Nations communities.
It is the first time Ottawa has spent anything to combat human trafficking, a growing problem in Canada that many believe is behind the significant number of missing aboriginal women in this country.
Since 2000, 49 aboriginal women have disappeared without a trace, according to a research project by the Native Women's Association of Canada. Most of them are under the age of 30. In Manitoba, 69 aboriginal women have gone missing or have been murdered since 1980, according to the report.
A 2007 article on domestic trafficking in Canada found evidence young aboriginal girls were being recruited or sold into the sex trade by family members, gangs or even other young girls, who were themselves the victims of trafficking. The high prevalence of poverty, violence, substance abuse and family breakdown in aboriginal families make many young aboriginal girls most vulnerable.
Once lured in, the girls are moved around in a sophisticated circuit between major cities in Canada and, it's believed, likely internationally as well.
Because most people assume a sex-trade worker chose that life, society doesn't easily recognize them as sex slaves who are unable to escape, reports suggest.
But Manitoba Conservative MP Joy Smith said people need to take off their blinders.
"This is happening on reserves," said Smith, who made combating human trafficking her main mission as a politician after being exposed to the issue by her son, a police officer.
AMC Grand Chief Ron Evans said he first learned about the emerging issue last fall at a conference in Winnipeg and was shocked to find out how much it is likely affecting Manitoba aboriginal communities. "We need to get the warnings out so people know what to look for," Evans said.
The issue of human trafficking, often referred to as the modern-day slave trade, is relatively new in Canada and police forces and governments are still putting together the resources to address it. The U.S. State Department has identified Canada as a source and destination country for human traffickers.
Human Trafficking: the Modern-Day Slave Trade By Mariel Angus
This from Holly/Admin,
Unique article to read, link is below!
In 2008, a man named Imani Nakpangi was convicted of trafficking a 15-year-old girl. For over two years, Nakpangi sold her daily for sex and controlled her through beatings and threats of violence. By the time he was discovered by police, he had made a personal profit of over $360,000 from exploiting her.
http://www.cpj.ca/en/content/human-trafficking-modern-day-slave-trade
Houston Man Sentenced for Human Trafficking and Alien Smuggling Charges
WASHINGTON, April 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Acting Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Loretta King and Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas Tim Johnson announced that Maximino Mondragon, 57, was sentenced today for his role in a scheme to smuggle Central American women and girls into the United States and to hold them in a condition of forced labor in the Houston area. U.S. District Judge Vanessa D. Gilmore sentenced Mondragon to 156 months incarceration, three years post release supervision, $200 special assessment and further ordered that he, jointly with his co-defendants, pay $1,715,588.05 in restitution to the victims.
Maximino Mondragon is the last of eight defendants to be convicted and sentenced in connection with this scheme to compel the victims into service in restaurants, bars and cantinas, using threats to harm the victims and their families if they attempted to leave before paying off their smuggling debts.
Mondragon previously pleaded guilty to violations of conspiracy to hold persons in a condition of indentured servitude and to illegally and knowingly recruiting, harboring, transporting persons for labor and services, and conspiracy to bring, harbor, and transport known illegal aliens for purposes of commercial advantage and private financial gain.
The defendants lured Central American women to the United States with promises of good jobs. However, once the young women arrived, they were forced to work in the defendants' bars and cantinas selling high-priced drinks to male customers. The women were subjected to threats of harm to them and their families in order to compel their servitude.
"The defendant ruthlessly exploited these women's hopes for a better life through coercion, false promises and threats of harm. The victims were forced into modern day slavery," said Loretta King, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. "The Justice Department will devote its efforts to prosecuting those who commit such abhorrent and exploitative crimes."
"The victims in this case were subjected to horrible treatment at the hands of these defendants," said Tim Johnson, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Texas. "We will use every resource available to make certain that violations of this sort result in the maximum prison term available."
Co-defendants Oscar Mondragon and Walter Corea were also convicted of both conspiracy counts and each sentenced to prison terms of 180 months. Co-defendant Victor Omar Lopez was sentenced to 109 months in prison on both conspiracy counts. Co-defendant Olga Mondragon, who was convicted of multiple charges stemming from her involvement in these schemes to hold young Central American victims in a condition of forced labor and to smuggle the young women to the United States for financial gain, was sentenced to a prison term of 84 months. Co-defendant Maria Fuentes was convicted of harboring the young women for financial gain and sentenced to 30 months in prison. Co-defendant Lorenza Reyes-Nunez was convicted of obstruction of justice and has been sentenced to 19 months in prison. Co-defendant Kerin Silva was convicted of conspiracy to smuggle aliens and sentenced to 12 months' home detention followed by three years of probation.
In announcing the sentencing, Acting Assistant Attorney General King and Acting U.S. Attorney Johnson commended the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Texas Alcohol and Beverage Commission, the Harris County Constable Precinct Five Office, and the Human Trafficking Rescue Alliance, a federally funded multi-agency human trafficking task force, for their work on this cooperative investigation and prosecution.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ruben Perez and Joseph Magliolo and Civil Rights Division attorneys Jim Felte and Hilary Axam prosecuted this case for the government.
SOURCE U.S. Department of Justice
A Portrait of Human Trafficking by Titania Veda (Trigger Warning!)
There are countless heart-wrenching stories of human trafficking around the world, most of which are untold. In 2005, Unicef decided to take a creative approach to the problem in Indonesia and commissioned playwright Ratna Sarumpaet to create a work to raise awareness of the issue. To reach a larger audience, Ratna has adapted her play, “The Whore and the President,” into a film, retitled “Jamila dan Sang Presiden” (“Jamila and the President”).
The film centers around Jamila (Atiqah Hasiholan), a troubled woman who is a prostitute, murderer and an activist against human trafficking. Her wretched tale begins when a prominent political figure is found murdered and Jamila confesses to the crime.
Most of the film is set in jail, where Jamila is confronted with a stern prison warden, while outside, incessant religious fanatics demand she be sentenced to death.
A series of flashbacks explain Jamila’s sexually dark and troubled history, including how she became mired in the sex trade, being taken from her village and ending up in Jakarta, reminding the audience that human trafficking does not only occur between different countries; it occurs within Indonesia, between villages, cities and islands as well.
Through her flashbacks, the audience understands why Jamila is cynical of society and its mores. She reveals more in her conversations with the prison warden, played by veteran actress Christine Hakim.
Surya Saputra plays the prison guard, who finds a kindred spirit in the incarcerated Jamila. “My character is a very straight and narrow guy in a system that is crooked,” he said. “Jamila is a product of the crooked law, so we have that in common.”
To write the script of the original play, Ratna interviewed real-life sex-trade victims. Over six months, she visited sex workers in Surabaya, Garut, Surakarta in Java and also Kalimantan Island.
“You have to be around them to try and understand how someone could have the heart to sell their children, simply because they need money to buy food, and to imagine what it is like to be someone with no money.”
When the play was performed around the country in 2006 to rave reviews, Ratna realized she could use her story in a national campaign against human trafficking, and she began producing the screen adaptation two years ago.
The story on screen has a spartan feel, supported by the cinematography. The beautiful clean suburban and urban spaces where Jamila’s wealthy friend and past lovers live are juxtaposed with the grimy and austere prison quarters. Instead of forcing dramatic close-ups on the audience, Ratna lets the emotional gravity of highly charged scenes evoke emotion. The most powerful moment in the movie is filled with silence and long shadows.
The use of flashback helps avoid tedium, but the brevity with which the multitude of characters are introduced and their relationship with each other leaves the audience with unanswered questions.
Intertwined in the story are subplots of romance and scandal to appeal to a wide audience. The casting of well-known, attractive actors gives the film a commercial edge.
Overall, “Jamila dan Sang Presiden” is engaging because of its dramatic subject and well-measured pace. For the director, the movie has a sole criterion — to raise awareness of a subject seldom talked about.
Jamila dan Sang Presiden
Opens April 30
Blitz Megaplex and Cinema 21
English subtitles, 87 minutes
http://www.filmjamila.com/
Sex Tourism crackdown!
Connecticut authorities crack down on 'sex tourism' By AP | Apr 26, 2009
NEW HAVEN, Conn. - A vice president of a travel company is accused of plying a maid in Nicaragua who earned $32 per month with small gifts like a cell phone and a bottle of perfume so he could gain access to molest her 4-year-old daughter.
The allegations spelled out in an indictment filed in federal court in Bridgeport against Edgardo Sensi highlight what experts call a global problem of child sex tourism, in which predators try to exploit poverty and lax laws abroad. Advocates around the world are calling for tougher laws.
"Child sex tourism is one of the most heinous crimes and cannot be tolerated," Immigration and Customs Enforcement Special Agent Bruce Foucart said in a statement. "ICE along with law enforcement partners worldwide is working tirelessly to bring charges against those alleged to have committed such horrific crimes."
Sensi also gave the 23-year-old maid cash and a gold ring, took her to luxury hotels and promised her family he would marry her, according to prosecutors. He videotaped sex sessions with her daughter and repeatedly reminded the girl's mother he was a powerful man, prosecutors said.
Sensi is being prosecuted under a 2003 law that makes it easier to charge child abusers abroad in American courts and provided stiffer penalties. That law, which has led to about 70 prosecutions, has helped deter child abuse abroad that once was so flagrant some travel agencies would advertise packages with code language for pedophiles, said Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
"I don't think there is any question that what has been done has changed the whole dynamic," Allen said. "It is much more high risk. There have been significant numbers of prosecutions. It has gone much more underground."
Investigators have seen an increase in Americans and other westerners traveling to countries in Eastern Europe and South and Central America to abuse children, Foucart said.
"Unfortunately this is a systemic problem," Foucart said. "The government is doing all it can to combat the problem."
Sensi, 52, of Jensen Beach, Fla., was charged with engaging in illegal sexual contact and producing child pornography outside the United States. He faces up to life in prison if convicted.
Jason Wandner, Sensi's attorney, said he has been in contact with prosecutors "in hopes of resolving this matter amicably."
"If we are not able to do so, we believe there are numerous factual and legal defenses that we will vigorously assert on our client's behalf," Wandner said.
In 2004, Sensi traveled to Nicaragua with a charity organization and befriended the maid, authorities said. One time he allegedly became violent with the girl's mother.
Sensi has been detained without bond since his arrest last September by the Martin County, Fla. Sheriff's Office, on possession of child pornography charges.
In November, a U.N.-backed conference concluded that tourists who go abroad to abuse children should face the prospect of prosecution in their home countries if they are caught having sex with kids in nations with lax penalties. About 3,000 experts plus government representatives from 137 nations backed the concept at the Third World Congress against Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents in Rio de Janeiro.
Their final declaration called for nations to establish laws allowing stiffer prosecution of child sex cases for abusers who take trips to nations with few or no penalties because they know they'll face little if any retribution.
A recent U.N. survey estimated that 150 million girls and 73 million boys under age 18 were forced to have sexual intercourse or experienced other forms of sexual violence in 2002.
Studies show most sexual exploitation of children involves local abusers rather than foreigners, said Clara Sommarin, a child protection specialist with United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). But sexual abuse by foreigners is a problem, she said, noting that the tourism industry has developed rapidly in some countries.
Authorities in Central America and the tourism industry have taken steps in recent years to combat the problem, with stepped up training, codes of conduct at hotels and tougher laws, Sommarin said.
"This is a huge challenge. It's about changing attitudes and behavior," Sommarin said.
Prosecuting such cases also was difficult because the child sex trade is so intertwined in the economies of some countries, Allen said.
Lyes Kiared was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison Friday!
By TONY BLAIS, Court Bureau
A former DATS driver convicted of raping a “highly vulnerable” mentally disabled Edmonton woman was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison Friday.
Lyes Kiared, 41, who had denied committing the rape – claiming semen found on a sofa pillow was an accidentally spilled fertility sample – was also ordered to provide a DNA sample for the national DNA databank and placed on the national sex offender registry for 20 years.
“He took advantage of a trusting person who was vulnerable,” said Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Stephen Hillier.
The judge ruled it was aggravating Kiared had attacked the woman in her own home after gaining access through his capacity as a DATS driver, he used a belt buckle when he could not penetrate her, he has minimized his role in the “major sexual assault” and has limited remorse.
Hillier also said a message needed to be sent out to the public, including others in the transportation business, that “behaviour such as this simply will not be tolerated.”
Hillier described the 40-year-old victim as a “highly vulnerable” woman with the mental capacity of a pre-teen.
Regarding Kiared’s “unbelievable” story, the judge said it was so beyond belief that it wasn’t worth repeating.
The Algerian-born rapist, who is married with a new infant, declined Hillier’s invitation to say something and sat nervously in the prisoner’s box swallowing frequently.
Kiared was found guilty of sexual assault causing bodily harm on Dec. 17 after Hillier rejected his testimony as “incredible” and simply lacking “any credibility.”
Kiared was found not guilty of a second charge of sexual exploitation when the judge ruled he was not in a position of trust due to having only met the victim once before and the attack not happening while she was a passenger.
“Thus, while the accused’s acts can rightly be viewed as despicably exploitative of a disabled victim, in my view, the existence of a position of trust in this case has not been established,” said Hillier at the time.
Court heard Kiared first met the woman on Feb. 10, 2006, when he picked her up from an outing with her walking group and took her to her west-end condo.
The woman, who has had cerebral palsy since birth, testified he had a hand on her leg while driving her home and kissed her when he dropped her off.
Three days later, Kiared went to her residence and she buzzed him in, thinking he had come to visit her.
She testified he had her perform oral sex on him and then raped her despite her telling him no. She also said he cut her with a belt buckle when he could not penetrate her.
Court heard police were contacted by the woman after she first tearfully called the DATS complaint line.
A forensic search found semen present on a sofa pillow and a DNA expert determined it matched a blood sample obtained from Kiared, saying the chances of a random match were one in 49 trillion.
A sexual assault response team nurse examined the woman and determined the injuries to her private parts could only have come from significant blunt force trauma.
Kiared testified he went to the woman’s condo after she called him for a ride and denied having sex with her.
He then claimed he had an erectile dysfunction and the semen came from a sample he had in a small jar that he had been planning to take to a hospital for testing because he and his wife were trying to have a baby.
He testified the lid was not completely sealed and some spilled out when he sat on the sofa. As he tried to clean it up, he got some on his hand and shook it off on the pillow.
Kiared’s wife backed up her husband’s claim in her testimony, however Hillier said she was “similarly unreliable” while parroting the basics of his “semen jar story.”
Kiared was dismissed from his job as a DATS driver.
Prostitution - Feminist Perspectives
This book presents arguments in a vivid and individual style and aesthetic. But make no mistake. This is the particular singular voice speaking a truth and a warning of a wide and growing movement of feminists toward the abolition of prostitution." Lee Lakeman, representative for B.C. and the Yukon of the Canadian Association of Sexual Assault Centres and member of Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter (Vancouver).
In Canada, as elsewhere, there is a debate about whether all aspects of prostitution should be decriminalized through legislation. Doing so would impact society as a whole in order to meet the demands of a minority claiming that prostitution is a choice. Many feminist researchers from different perspectives and countries challenge the idea of such legislation, given that the majority of prostituted women do not see what they do as just another type of work and would escape prostitution if they could.
Élaine Audet, feminist poet, essayist and publisher, has long been engaged in the study of prostitution. She presents an overview of perspectives on prostitution, ranging from the immediate need for measures to combat poverty and violence affecting women to a longer-term questioning of the existing social, economic and sexual relationships of domination.
Relying on documented researches and testimonies, the author shows that decriminalizing prostitution will in no way fulfill the hopes of prostituted women looking for solutions to the problems they encounter related to health, violence, stigmatization and security. She analyses the central role played by clients in perpetuating prostitution. At the root of all patriarchal societies throughout history, she points out, there is the fundamental proposition that a group of women must be constantly available to satisfy the sexual needs of men. Thus, the client has always remained anonymous and invisible. This paradigm denies that sexuality is socially and culturally constructed, which is the only perspective that will enable us to understand and influence it.
Élaine Audet also denounces the vast extent to which procurers have deeply penetrated our media, culture, politics and economies, as well as numerous NGOs. The sex industry could never function as profitably as it does were it not for the contracts given to pimps to break down, through violence and intimidation, the young women and children recruited for prostitution. Contrary to the claims of those who advocate “sex work,” traffickers and pimps have a stronger hold than ever on women in prostitution.
In her foreword, Lee Lakeman, representative for B.C. and the Yukon of the Canadian Association of Sexual Assault Centres, writes : "This book presents arguments in a vivid and individual style and aesthetic. But make no mistake. This is the particular singular voice speaking a truth and a warning of a wide and growing movement of feminists toward the abolition of prostitution."
Élaine Audet, Prostitution - Feminist Perspectives, Éditions Sisyphe, Coll. Contrepoint, Montreal, 2009, 136 pages, 12$ + 2$ for postal charges = 14$. Foreword : Lee Lakeman. ISBN : 978-2-923456-11-9.
http://sisyphe.org/spip.php?article3250
National Victims of Crime Awareness Week April 26 to May 2, 2009
This from Holly's Fight for Justice and Holly's Fight to Stop Violence,
The theme for the National Victims of Crime Awareness Week is Supporting, Connecting, Evolving. I hope to take part in the events this coming year! Watch for more updates. Take a look at the website too for events in your area!
http://www.victimsweek.gc.ca/home-acceil.html
National Victims of Crime Awareness Week – being recognized across the country from April 26 to May 2, 2009 – is an opportunity to raise awareness about victim issues and about the programs, services and laws in place to help victims of crime and their families.
WE ARE THE WAVE!
This from Holly/Admin,
OVER AT A Blog called We are the Wave this very powerful poem!
We are an ever-changing and diverse group of Intro to Women's and Gender Studies students. We are trying to figure out third and fourth wave feminisms, how feminism fits into our lives, and how to make our mark.
http://wearethewave.blogspot.com/2009/04/dear-rapist.html
Donald Mumford found guilty!
HIV-infected pedophile assaulted boy, Offender with 29-year history said he would kill 7-year-old's mother on Apr 24, 2009 by Peter Small Courts Bureau
An HIV-infected repeat child molester who befriended a poor single mother to gain access to her 7-year-old son has been convicted of repeatedly sexually assaulting him.
RECORD OF A SEX OFFENDER
Mumford's prior sexual offence convictions:
1980, Winnipeg: Gross indecency and buggery of a boy, 13.
1985, Winnipeg: Sexual assault of a boy, 9.
1990, Winnipeg: Sexual interference of boy, 12.
1990, Winnipeg: Sexual assault of a boy, 14.
1997, Toronto: Sexual assault of a boy, 12.
FULL STORY AT http://www.thestar.com/GTA/Crime/article/623710
Harsha Walia and Andrea Pinochet: Election won’t change lives of Downtown Eastside women
By Harsha Walia and Andrea Pinochet
With provincial elections on the horizon, all candidates are paying lip-service to the “poverty problem”. While government officials make proclamations and entrepreneurs profit from innovating solutions to the homelessness crisis, the Downtown Eastside is home to an increasing number of poor women, homeless women, women at risk of violence, and women needing critical health and treatment services.
There are now 15,000 homeless across B.C., with 3,000 homeless in Metro Vancouver. A B.C. Housing report found that homeless shelters in Metro Vancouver turned away people more than 40,000 times—with 16,000 women and children turn-aways—during a nine-month period. Low-income housing in the DTES is of such sub-standard quality—no private kitchen or washroom, bedbug and rodent infestations, police searches without warrants, and illegal evictions—that many women prefer to sleep on the streets.
A June 2007 report by the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions found that two million people have been displaced over the past 20 years to clear space for the Olympics. The DTES is no different: over 1,200 low-income housing units have been lost in the neighbourhood since 2003, while a “condo tsunami” overruns the neighbourhood. According to long-time resident and DTES activist Joan Morelli, “The government should put the needs of ordinary people before corporate Olympic profits.”
While the solution to homelessness includes more affordable housing and the solution to poverty includes higher incomes and assistance rates, we cannot ignore the causes that force women into abject poverty or the societal dynamics that allows for such inhumane realities to persist. Common stereotypes depict women in the DTES as lazy, unable to care for their children, addicts, worthless prostitutes, disease-ridden, criminals, and a burden on taxpayers. Such labels rob these women of their basic dignity, while blaming poverty on the moral fabric and lack of capability of each woman.
In reality, systemic barriers including provincial cuts to income assistance, legal aid, childcare services, women’s centres, and support services totalling $2 billion; rising housing and living costs; and growing precarity in labour, including changes to the Employment Standards Act, have forced more women into poverty (and consequentially children—one in four children lives in poverty in B.C.). Since the 2002 amendments to social assistance and disability regulations, approximately 16,000 women have been removed from assistance in B.C.
The structures of capitalism and colonialism give rise to inequality and poverty all over the world. The poor in our province are products of a political system that creates cuts in public programs while prioritizing Olympic corporate bailouts; an economic system that exploits low-wage labour (mostly women of colour) in a corporatized economy that places basic necessities such as shelter onto the market; a colonial system that has stolen land and forced assimilation onto indigenous people; and a social system where families are predominantly headed by single mothers.
Anne-Marie Monks, a 60-year old homeless woman with disabilities, told us, “The government has the ability and the capacity—but not the political will—to ensure the elimination of poverty and affordable housing for all. I challenge any politician to switch places with me. Sleep in the alley, stand in a food line, and live off $6 a day; then perhaps you will understand our pain. We are all someone’s mother, daughter, and sister; why is it so hard to treat us as human beings?”
Politicians have also done little about the heinous violence that continues to take the lives of women in the DTES. Women are subject to extraordinarily high rates of violence especially as indigenous women, trans-identified women, homeless women susceptible on the streets, and women surviving the dangers of sex work and/or the drug trade. Organizations such as the Walk 4 Justice and Aboriginal Women’s Action Network have been calling for a provincial public inquiry into the lack of adequate police and government response in the DTES and along the “Highway of Tears” in northern B.C. According to community member Beatrice Starr, “We demand justice for the all the women—especially Native—whose murders in this province have become a closed chapter for the government.” In addition, family members have been demanding that the provincial attorney general’s office conduct a trial on the 20 outstanding charges against Robert Pickton.
If history serves as an indicator, regardless of who wins the provincial election, the women in the DTES will continue to be trapped amongst false promises and a labyrinth of services that only serve as Band-Aid solutions. As service providers, we watch the daily ritual from the streets to different agencies and back to the streets. And yet amongst the alienation, stigma, and an unflinching political and societal apparatus, the women in the DTES have created a community of dignity for themselves, where human solidarity is the norm and where possibilities rest for a transformative future.
Harsha Walia and Andrea Pinochet are local activists and are project and program coordinators at the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Power of Women Group at the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre has the following demands:
1. Safe, supported, and long-term affordable housing should be available immediately.
2. Women who are survivors of violence, especially those with children, should be given high priority for affordable housing.
3. No housing units, including supportive housing and special-needs residential facilities, should be exempt from the provincial Residential Tenancy Act.
4. An immediate moratorium on conversions of low-incomes housing to condominiums in the DTES.
5. Rent controls as well as price controls on foods and other basic necessities.
6. No one be forcibly evicted or displaced from the DTES or other urban, rural, and indigenous communities due to the Olympics.
7. Immediate withdrawal of the $1-million Project Civil City, which includes bylaws that prohibit camping on sidewalks, and an end to police ticketing and street checks.
8. Social assistance rates should be increased by 40 percent, and removal of barriers to accessing assistance such as the three-week wait, two-year independence test, two-year time limit, and single parent employability rules.
9. All women should have access to subsidized childcare instead of apprehending children due to women and child poverty.
10. A full provincial public inquiry into the ongoing tragedy of missing and murdered women.
11. Establish a living wage of at least $16 per hour (calculated by the Economic Security Project) and abolish the $6 training wage.
Union raises concerns over shelter working conditions By Colette Derworiz, Calgary Herald
Most of the counsellors who work with victims of domestic violence at the Calgary Women's Emergency Shelter have taken second jobs because they can't afford to live on their current salaries, their union said Tuesday.
Officials with the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 4731, which represents 49full-time and part-time employees, held a press conference Tuesday to raise concerns about the working conditions and salaries at the shelter.
"It's a stressful place to work, dealing with the issues of battered women and their children," said chief negotiator Beverley Norman, a national representative for CUPE.
The work stress is magnified because 79 per cent of the employees have had to take second jobs at other service agencies -- such as homeless shelters and outreach centres--to make ends meet, she said.
Workers, including counsellors and support staff, have been without a contract for nearly a year -- since April 30, 2008.
Mediated talks in recent months resulted in an offer of two per cent retroactive to last year and three per cent for each of the next two years, according to the union.
In a statement released late Tuesday, management at the shelter noted they've accepted a recommendation by the mediator.
"The Calgary Women's Emergency Shelter believes its position in collective bargaining has been fair and reasonable and is favourable as compared to other women's shelters in Alberta," said the statement.
But the union said its members earn less than other non-profit employees in Calgary, suggesting the shelter could afford better wages if it reduced the size of management.
"Forty-eight per cent of the shelter's wage bill goes to managers, not to front-line staff," said Lou Arab, spokesman for CUPE.
Wages for counsellors range between $19 and $24.53 an hour, Arab said.
Front-line workers are seeking five per cent for each year of a three-year contract, and have voted 88 per cent in favour of strike action.They can walk off the job with 72-hours' notice.
Although Arab said a strike would be a "last resort," he said the union will continue to ramp up its public relations campaign as it attempts to return to the bargaining table.
Another day of talks is now being scheduled by the mediator -- and could be held as early as April 30.
Update Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith
Filipino court overturns US Marine rape conviction By TERESA CEROJANO
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Philippine appeals court overturned the 2006 rape conviction of a U.S. Marine and ordered his immediate release Thursday, setting off protests from activists.
A suburban Manila court convicted Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith of raping a Filipino woman in the company of fellow Marines at the former U.S. Subic Bay Naval base three years ago and sentenced him to life in prison. The case has become a rallying point for anti-American protests in the country.
The Philippine Court of Appeals overturned the ruling, indicating the sexual act was consensual.
"No evidence was introduced to show force, threat and intimidation applied by the accused," the court said in its 71-page decision, which is final.
It ordered the immediate release of Smith, 23, of St. Louis, Missouri, from his detention at the U.S. Embassy in Manila.
Interior Undersecretary Marius Corpus said Smith could be released within days, as soon as the process of notifying him and the embassy of the court's decision is complete.
After Smith was convicted, he was initially taken to a Philippine jail, but the U.S. argued he should be kept in American custody, citing the Visiting Forces Agreement, a 1999 accord that allows U.S. forces to conduct war exercises in the Philippines.
Washington said the accord entitles any accused U.S. service member to remain in American hands until all judicial proceedings are exhausted.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo backed the U.S. position, but the Philippine Supreme Court ruled in February he should be serving his sentence in a Philippine prison and asked the government to negotiate his transfer with Washington. The negotiations were under way when the appeals court ruled Thursday.
Smith's lawyer Jose Justiniano said his client "got the justice that he deserved," but leftist groups condemned it, saying it was proof of Arroyo's subservience to America.
"We are outraged," said Renato Reyes of the prominent group Bayan.
"This denial of justice can only be blamed on Mrs. Arroyo, whose subservience to the U.S. and veneration of the VFA knows no bounds," Reyes said.
About 30 activists marched to the heavily guarded U.S. Embassy late Thursday but were stopped nearby by riot police. They held up posters that read, "Smith's acquittal, a Philippine-U.S. government connivance," then peacefully dispersed after an hour.
In March, the woman who accused Smith of rape altered her testimony and emigrated to the United States in a dramatic twist in the case, saying she was no longer certain that a crime took place.
But the court said its decision was not influenced by her action.
The woman initially said she and Smith were drinking, kissing and dancing at a Subic bar before moving to a van, where she originally told the court she was raped while she fell in and out of consciousness. Smith had insisted the sex was consensual.
The court said what happened "was the unfolding of a spontaneous, unplanned romantic episode with both parties carried away by their passions."
The woman's turnabout shocked her supporters. Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said she could be charged with perjury.
Associated Press writer Oliver Teves contributed to this report.
Phoenix Sinclair, whose death sparked a review of Manitoba's child welfare system....finally laid to rest!
Four years after her death, Manitoba girl finally laid to rest
April 23, 2009, EDT.By THE CANADIAN PRESS
WINNIPEG - The remains of a five-year-old Manitoba girl who was killed by her parents have finally been buried, almost four years after her murder.
Phoenix Sinclair, whose death sparked a review of Manitoba's child welfare system, was remembered as a bright, happy and caring girl who liked to share with others.
More than 200 people listened as the girl's foster mother, Kim Edwards, said she misses young Phoenix every day.
Phoenix's birth mother Samantha Kematch and Kematch's boyfriend, Karl McKay, were convicted last year of abusing and murdering the young girl.
Her remains were found in a shallow grave on the Fisher River reserve north of Winnipeg in 2006.
More than 10 per cent of Tasers used by police in Alberta failed tests
April 23, 2009, EDT.By THE CANADIAN PRESS
EDMONTON - Tests on Tasers used by Alberta police forces show that more than 10 per cent of the electronic stun guns failed to work properly.
Solicitor General Fred Lindsay says the government is pulling 50 Tasers from service for repair or to be destroyed. He says in a release that 412 stun guns were tested by an independent Ontario firm, and 50 were not operating within specifications.
He says another 735 Tasers will now be examined.
The government ordered regular Taser tests in January after a media-sponsored review found some older models were delivering larger shocks than specified.
Taser International, which manufactures the guns, disputed the findings and said the tests didn't follow the right procedure.
LETTERS FROM LITEIN opens April 24 at the Globe Cinema in Calgary.
LETTERS FROM LITEIN is an emotional, thought provoking, and inspiring cinema verite style feature documentary about a group of students, teachers, and parents, from a small school in Canada, reaching out from half way around the world, to touch the hearts of children in Africa, and as a result change their own hearts and world.
www.lettersfromlitein.com
http://www.lettersfromlitein.com/Letters_From_Litein/LFL_MAIN.html
Matt Palmer wants you to know Letters From Litein opens April 24 at the Globe Cinema in Calgary. Please check out website for more information!
Congratulations Matt on the opening of this thought provoking film!
Sphere: Related ContentHow GPS bracelets keep track of sex offenders...By Christine Clarridge.
This from Holly/Admin,
Interesting article about GPS monitoring of sex offenders at high risk.
Click the link below to read the entire article!
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
The state Department of Corrections uses GPS monitoring to keep track of sex offenders at high risk of reoffending. Ankle bracelets transmit signals via satellite when the offenders venture into places they're supposed to avoid. So long as they do only what they should, tracking them should be dull, say state authorities.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009098690_gps22m.html
National sex registry has not solved a single case: Police
Government proposing changes to 5-year-old database By Janice Tibbetts, Canwest News Service April 21, 2009
OTTAWA — Canada's national sex offender registry, created almost five years ago for police to track offenders after they leave jail, has not been responsible for solving a single sex crime, say police.
A House of Commons committee heard Tuesday the database — which keeps tabs on where offenders live and what they look like — is turning out to be a bust because it does not contain enough names nor pertinent information to make a difference in investigating new crimes.
"We're seeing a number of restrictions that need to be fixed," said Pierre Nezan, the RCMP officer in charge of the national registry. "It's not surprising to me that we haven't noticed results."
Registration is not automatic — the decision is up to a judge so the list does not include all or even most offenders, Nezan said. Sometimes prosecutors forget to ask for an offender to be included, or they trade it away as part of a plea bargain.
Also, police say they are not permitted to tap the registry to prevent crimes — only to solve ones that have already occurred.
For instance, a teacher phoned police with a complaint an unknown man was taking photos of children in a school yard and police were unable to use the registry to see if there were any known sex offenders living in the area that matched the man's description, Nezan said.
Officers are also powerless to chase leads arising from car descriptions because vehicle information is excluded from the database.
In another case, a seven-year-old and a nine-year-old were sexually abused and the only information they could provide to police was their abuser's vehicle description, said RCMP officer Leo O'Brien, in charge of the force's behavioural sciences branch.
There are 19,000 names in the database, more than 11,000 from Ontario, but police in the province don't bother with the national registry because Ontario has one of its own that is far superior, Nezan said.
The Commons public safety committee is reviewing the legislation that created the registry in December 2004, after years of lobbying from the provinces.
Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan said Tuesday the government is considering changes to make the registry more effective, including automatic inclusion.
"We've been consulting with the provinces, with police forces, with victims groups on how we can make it work better," he told Canwest News Service.
David Truax, an Ontario Provincial Police superintendent, estimated only 50 to 60 per cent of the province's sex criminals are put on the national list when they are released from incarceration.
Ontario, which created its own registry in 2001, has urged Ottawa to adopt its model so there would be a stronger registry nationwide. The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police has done the same, said spokeswoman Kate Lines, chief superintendent of the OPP.
The Ontario registry, among other things, requires automatic inclusion of all sex offenders. They must report to police before they move or go on vacation, and is accessible to prevent sex crimes as well as solve ones that have already occurred.
Offenders on the national registry, on the other hand, have 15 days after moving to notify police and they do not have to tell anyone if they go away for two weeks or less.
Police check the national registry only about 165 times a year because they have little faith in it, said Nezan.
"We still have a long way to go because there's a general lack of confidence in the system," he said.
Ontario's registry, by comparison, gets 475 hits daily, said Truax.
Justice John Hamilton he added "at most, he may be or probably is guilty."
This note from Holly/Admin,
Why did the Judge not convict D'Angelo? Even when this Judge makes comments
"likely "at most, he may be or probably is guilty." It happens more and more every day" !!!!!! Hello, when is the anger!
Acquittal for ex-beer mogul on sex charge but judge adds D'Angelo probably guilty....April 21, 2009, EDT.By Allison Jones, THE CANADIAN PRESS
TORONTO - A former beer magnate was acquitted Tuesday by a judge who said he is "probably" guilty of sexual assault but that conflicting and equally credible testimony left him with reasonable doubt.
The now 22-year-old woman accused Frank D'Angelo of grabbing her, stripping her and forcing her to have sex in a hotel room in June 2007.
D'Angelo, the former owner of Steelback Brewery who turns 50 this week, maintained the sex with his longtime friend's daughter was consensual.
On Tuesday, Justice John Hamilton said there was little evidence for him to consider other than the two stories.
"I am faced with one witness against another," he said in delivering his verdict.
While Hamilton said he found the evidence of both D'Angelo and his accuser credible, he added "at most, he may be or probably is guilty."
"But I am left with a reasonable doubt on the totality of the evidence and so he is acquitted," Hamilton said.
Outside court D'Angelo's lawyer, Gary Clewley, dismissed the judge's comment and stressed that his client had been acquitted.
"We're out here on the street... and that's what really matters," Clewley said. "A guy was found not guilty and in this country it means he didn't do it."
D'Angelo, who once employed disgraced Olympic sprinter Ben Johnson to pitch his juice company's brand of Cheetah energy drinks, said it had been a long two years.
"I'm sorry to everybody, that we all went through this and I'm glad that it's over and hopefully it's over for everybody," he told reporters outside court.
"I would appreciate you guys use a little decorum today, I'm a little emotional."
D'Angelo testified during the one-day trial that the sexual encounter with the woman less than half his age, and who he had known since she was a child, was the "biggest mistake" of his life.
"I told the truth and justice was served," D'Angelo said Tuesday.
Court heard that the woman from Aurora, Ont., met D'Angelo for lunch that day in hopes of landing a job as an events co-ordinator at the Steelback Grand Prix, which the brewery was sponsoring.
Both she and D'Angelo testified that after lunch they went up to his hotel room. She said she went into the bathroom and when she came out he was on the bed. She alleged he positioned himself on top of her and raped her, even as she was pleading with him to stop.
It lasted about an hour, she testified, and afterward he masturbated and took a shower while she remained in the room and got dressed.
The only injury she testified she received was a bump on the head from where D'Angelo allegedly pulled her hair.
D'Angelo, meanwhile, said the woman laid beside him on the bed and kissed him, then they had consensual sex. He testified he never forced her to have sex with him and didn't pull her hair.
D'Angelo has gained significant public exposure by appearing in ads for Steelback and D'Angelo Brands, a juice and energy drink maker. Johnson appeared in ads with D'Angelo for Cheetah Power Surge, proclaiming: "I Cheetah all the time."
D'Angelo sold his majority stake in both companies in November 2007, and both companies have sought protection from creditors.
In February 2008, a judge approved a deal whereby a numbered Ontario company owned by D'Angelo's family would purchase D'Angelo Brands.
Illegal Alien Sex Crimes, Guns & Anarcho-Tyranny Written by R. Cort Kirkwood
Tuesday, 21 April 2009
The horrific sex crimes perpetrated by illegal immigrants is just one reason so many Americans are riled up about the border with Mexico. Of course, the left has officially pronounced these sensible Americans as racist, one reason why President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama didn’t and won’t do anything about it. No matter. The crimes of illegals are reported every day. Americans know the truth. They understand, if only intuitively, what the late conservative columnist Sam Francis called the “anarcho-tyranny.”
The two latest grim stories come from Texas. In Weslaco, three illegals kidnapped and sexually assaulted a 23-year-old student at South Texas College. In Lubbock last week, a judge sentenced another illegal to 15 years in prison for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl.
To read the entire article go to the link
http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/crime/1024
1 in 4 girls Lynn Shield, Executive Director of Operation Care — Jackson
When little 8-year old Sandra Cantu was sexually assaulted, killed, and stuffed into a suitcase, it was almost unbearable to read and see on the news. Then when I found out the accused was the mother of one of her friends, and the granddaughter of a pastor, it really made me think of how vulnerable we all are, especially our children. According to The FBI and the Journal of Traumatic Stress 1 in 3 women, 1 in 4 girls, 1 in 6 boys, and 1 in 11 men will be victims of sexual assault at least once in their lives. We tend to say, "That doesn't happen here in our friendly little community." But it does. In Amador County alone, 29 rapes were reported to Law Enforcement in 2007. This does not account for the rapes that went unreported primarily due to the survivor's fear about what other people might think. We have 40 registered sex offenders in our county ( http://www.meganslaw.ca.gov/).
April is nationally recognized as Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and this year, it comes on a wave of publicity about Chris Brown and Rihanna, as well as the devastating story of little Sandra Cantu. It has brought the issue of abusive violence to the spotlight through shows like Oprah, Dr. Phil, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the millions of Google hits on their names. Thank you Media! Abuse is a crime. Shining the spotlight on domestic and sexual violence brings the issue to the forefront and gets people talking. We all need to break the silence, speak out, and do something about it.
What can you do?
Teach by example. If you are a wife, husband, father, mother, grandparent, coach, teacher, aunt or uncle, older brother or sister, friend or mentor, you can play a crucial role in someone's life by emulating positive relationships-teach others about respect, show them how to deal with conflict, and set an example of how to build healthy relationships.
Speak Out. By starting a conversation about relationship abuse and sexual violence, your actions demonstrate that these issues can be discussed thoughtfully and openly. Talk about healthy relationships, and say something when you see a 'red flag', such as put downs, threatening, physical abuse, excessive and abusive texting, controlling behaviors, and extreme jealousy. And in dating and intimate relationships, if your partner does not want to do something, respect his or her wishes. NO means NO.
Learn More: Go to www.Operationcare.org and click on the "Resources" link for tons of information.
Get Help: If you or someone you know needs help, call 911 or call Operation Care's 24-hour confidential crisis line at 223-2600 or 1-800-671-3392 to talk to a peer counselor. You may also call the National Sexual Assault Hotline 1.800.656.HOPE (4673), the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233), or the Teen Dating Abuse Helpline at 1-866-331-9474.
Operation Care is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization founded in 1980 providing domestic violence and sexual assault support services, crisis intervention and education to our community. For more information call (209) 223-2897 or www.operationcare.org.
Editor's Note: In addition to Sexual Assault Awareness, the month of April is also Child Abuse Prevention Month, and Crime Victim Rights Week is April 26th through May 2nd. The three awareness campaigns are all interrelated because sexual assault against a child is a form of child abuse, reportable to Law Enforcement and Child Protective Services, and Amador County's Victim Witness advocates help victims of all types of crimes, including victims of sexual assault and child abuse. For more information about Amador County's Victim Witness program, contact Harla Ward at (209) 223-6474, and for information on Amador County's Child Abuse Prevention Council, and related activities, contact Robin Valencia at (209) 223-5921. Operation Care's 24-hour crisis line for domestic violence and sexual assault services is (209) 223-2600, and for local Native American domestic violence and sexual assault services contact Kene Me Wu (800) 792-7776.
Boris Johnson vows to 'eradicate' violence against women in London
London mayor launches new strategy to combat violence but critics accuse him of failing to honour pledge to fund four rape crisis centres in the capital by Hélène Mulholland, guardian.co.uk
Boris Johnson, who said he had the 'political will' to revolutionise the way London responds to violence against woemn. Photo: Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images
Boris Johnson today vowed to "eradicate" violence against women in the capital as he outlined his domestic violence strategy.
The Conservative mayor promised to take a "united fight to end violence against women in London", including sex trafficking and the growing use of sexual violence as a weapon used by gangs in London.
His pledge coincided with the sentencing of John Worboys, the black-cab rapist who was found guilty of a string of attacks against women last month.
But critics accused the mayor of failing to honour a manifesto pledge to fund four rape crisis centres in the capital.
Johnson said he had the "political will" to revolutionise the way London responds to violence against women as he launched the strategy, The Way Forward – A Call for Action to End Violence Against Women, at a support centre for victims of violence in north London.
Scotland Yard is facing a crisis in public confidence after serious mistakes came to light relating to the respective investigations involving Worboys and Kirk Reid, a south London chef who raped and sexually assaulted more than 71 women over eight years.
The number of reported rapes in the capital increased by 14.5% last year, while domestic violence incidents rose by 4.4%. Yet only an estimated 10% of women who have been raped or sexually assaulted report it to the police and only 6% of all rape cases end in a conviction.
Johnson accused the government of a "piecemeal approach" to protecting women from violence.
The mayor, who is also chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority, said he wanted to hear about gaps in services. He said: "There are a significant number of women in London whose lives are blighted by the violence of men, something which is wholly unacceptable."
Johnson said last year in his mayoral manifesto that he would "act immediately" to provide long-term funding for four rape crisis centres in London. "We would provide funding for these centres by cutting the number of GLA [Greater London authority] spin doctors," he said at the time.
Basing his calculations on the cost of London's only rape crisis centre in Croydon, Johnson said last year that securing funding for this centre and three others would require ring-fencing of around £744,000 annually.
Johnson says he had allocated £380,000 for this year – just over half the promised funding – and was conducting a review to "establish where those rape crisis centres would be best situated and go forward". But opposition members of the London assembly insist that he has only budgeted £233,000.
Joanne McCartney, a Labour member of the London assembly, said: "The mayor is presenting himself as a defender of women's rights but the reality is he's betraying them by breaking another key promise. To be honest it was pretty cheap to suggest that London's urgent need for more rape crisis provision could be solved by sacking a few press officers.
"Boris needs to learn that when you make promises, Londoners expect you to keep them. We need to see action, not warm words and hot air."
Johnson said that rape support centres staffed by civilians were "invaluable" for victims who wanted long-term help and support.
But he added: "We can't immediately call into being three rape crisis centres in the way we want because we are not a funding agency," he said.
Plans outlined in the strategy include working closely with boroughs to "enhance" frontline service such as rape crisis centres, and working with the Met police to get tough on trafficking and the sexual exploitation of women.
Sir Paul Stephenson, the Metropolitan police commissioner, said: "With our partners, we remain committed to bringing all perpetrators of violence to justice and properly supporting those affected by such crime."
Norwalk taking a strong stand on Internet sex crimes
City among regional towns and cities fighting back By CHASE WRIGHT Hour Staff Writer
They come from all walks of life, are well-versed in the art of manipulation and are willing to travel great distances to get what they want.
In May 2007, John Boonstra, a former Hartford Advocate film critic, traveled an hour and a half from Plainville to Stamford to meet who he thought was a 14-year-old girl, who he had been having explicit conversations with online.
Instead, Boonstra was greeted by the Stamford-Norwalk area Internet Crimes against Children Task Force at an undisclosed location, arrested and later convicted of his charges.
The undercover efforts of the Stamford-based ICAC have led to the arrests of nearly 25 sexual predators like Boonstra since the task force formed two years ago, but there are many more suspects -- especially in this area -- that prey on children over the Internet every day, said Sgt. Joe Kennedy of the Stamford Police Department's juvenile unit.
The task force has made huge strides since its inception, said Kennedy, but Internet crime is something no department can take lightly -- not in the 21st century.
"This type of crime is constantly changing and evolving, and you have to keep on top of it because the criminals do," said Kennedy.
In response to the crisis, the cities and towns that comprise the Stamford-Norwalk Judicial District -- Stamford, Norwalk, Greenwich, New Canaan, Darien, Westport, Wilton and Weston -- formed the regional ICAC to locate, arrest and prosecute sex predators.
Due to the budget constraints faced by local municipalities, the task force has temporarily tabled its undercover operations, but grant money to prepare and train additional officers across the state continues to pour in.
Gov. M. Jodi Rell recently announced that Connecticut has applied for $584,975 in federal stimulus funds to support integrated efforts by state and local police to apprehend sex predators.
There's no word yet on how much the state stands to receive, but any of the grant money handed down under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 will be used to expand training, forensic analysis, community awareness programs and upgraded technology, Rell said.
"We will never waiver in our vigilance to bring these despicable individuals to justice," the governor said. "These stimulus funds will help ensure we have the best-trained investigators and technology we need to keep our children and communities safe."
The Department of Public Safety, the primary investigative and computer forensic agency in the state, has been swamped with Internet crime cases, said Lt. J. Paul Vance, a state police spokesman.
Connecticut's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force is comprised of 13 uniformed officers -- four specializing in investigations, the rest in forensics. The Department of Public Safety made 240 arrests in 2008, the vast majority having to do with Internet crimes against children, said Vance.
"Extending this training to local departments should help alleviate our case load and afford those departments the ability to do computer investigations on a local level," he said.
Before the Stamford-Norwalk area ICAC was formed, local departments were forced to send digital evidence, such as computer and cell phone hard drives, to the state for forensic examination.
"Now we can do all our own forensic examination right here," said Kennedy. In today's digital age, many criminal investigations cross over into the realm of computer crime, said Kennedy, meaning individual divisions within the department now use ICAC as a resource.
"That's how we envisioned the program evolving when it began," says Kennedy.
On a local level, the Stamford Police Department recently applied for its own federal grant and was successful in receiving $141,237 from the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, Child Sexual Predator Program.
Through the COPS grant, investigators from the regional task force have attended several advanced training seminars across the county and are currently in the process of purchasing computer equipment. Every police department connected to the regional task force will be outfitted with its own Forensic Recovery of Evidence Device, which is capable of duplicating computer hard drives for police examination.
Though not part of the grant, educating students on sexual predator and Internet safety is a primary concern for the task force.
Officers on the task force have visited a number of area schools and given presentations to students that include mug shots of convicted predators and the graphic stories behind the faces.
"It's not about scaring the kids into not going online," said Kennedy. "The best way to protect these kids is to show them what's out there and tell them what they can do to protect themselves."
Top court to rule on fourth trial in Virk killing
April 20, 2009, EDT.By Sue Bailey, THE CANADIAN PRESS
OTTAWA - It's now up to Canada's top court to decide whether Kelly Ellard should face a fourth trial in the vicious killing of B.C. teen Reena Virk.
A full panel of the nine Supreme Court of Canada judges heard arguments in the case Monday and reserved judgment. A ruling is not likely for several months.
"It's remarkable," prosecuting lawyer John Gordon said of the legal twists and turns that have put Ellard's fate - more than 11 years after Virk's death - into the high court's hands.
"Why should she go to trial for a fourth time? Well ... she's charged with a very serious offence," he said outside court. "And she has twice been found guilty by juries of that very serious offence."
Still, it could well be the end of the case if the top court finds that Ellard's third trial was irredeemably botched. It would be a rare legal odyssey that stretches to a fourth trial.
And Ellard, now 26, has already served almost seven years behind bars awaiting the outcome. She was denied bail pending the Supreme Court hearing.
Virk was 14 years old when she was swarmed by eight teens, beaten and later drowned in Victoria in 1997. She had been invited to "party" under the Craigflower Bridge when a dispute landed her at the centre of a punching and kicking frenzy.
After staggering away from the crowd, court heard that Virk was attacked a second time so savagely that her internal injuries were likened to being run over by a car. Head trauma likely would have killed her had she not been pushed or dragged into the Gorge - a tidal waterway that runs through Victoria.
Police divers found Virk eight days after she drowned on Nov. 14, 1997. The brutality of her death and what preceded it made headlines around the world.
Kelly Ellard, 15 when Virk was attacked, was one of two teens tried as adults in the case. She was convicted of second-degree murder in 2000 but the decision was set aside on appeal and a new trial ordered.
A second trial in 2004 ended in a hung jury, and a third ended in 2005 with another second-degree murder conviction.
That result was once again overturned when a majority of appeals court judges said the trial judge did not properly instruct the jury.
Ellard's defence lawyer tried to convince the top court Monday that her conviction was properly thrown out because the judge failed to thoroughly guide jurors on a key point of witness testimony.
Prosecutors countered that any errors were of such insignificance that they should not have any impact on the jury's finding of guilt.
At issue is testimony from Marissa Bowles, a teen who witnessed the swarming of Virk by seven young women and one 16-year-old male. She was not accused of taking part.
Bowles testified at Ellard's third trial that she saw Virk walk across the bridge after the initial beating, followed soon after by Ellard and Warren Glowatski who was convicted in 1999 of second-degree murder in Virk's death.
Glowatski was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for seven years and has since been released on parole.
A majority of the B.C. Court of Appeal pointed out that what Bowles said in court was different from the sworn statement she gave police 10 days after Virk's death.
At the time, she did not mention seeing Virk cross the bridge nor did she refer to Ellard or Glowatski following her.
Ellard's defence team now says the jury should have been specifically instructed that any reference to Bowles by the prosecution as a consistent witness on that key detail must be offset by her initial failure to mention it to police.
Ellard's lawyer, Peter Wilson, stressed that Bowles' testimony was pivotal in that it could be seen to bolster Glowatski's version of events - that Ellard crossed the bridge with him in pursuit of Virk.
Prosecuting lawyer Gordon confirmed outside court that Bowles "gave the only direct evidence" backing Glowatski on that point, but said several other pieces of circumstantial evidence also support the notion that Ellard went with him after Virk.
The pair were "identified, recognized, by two of the other girls coming back across the bridge ... shortly after 11 p.m. - we say, after the murder had been committed," he said outside court.
"And at the time, witnesses described Ellard as having wet clothes, wet pants, and a jacket is found in her home that she was wearing that night that has salt-water stains on it."
Wilson acknowledged before the high court judges that, despite now casting Bowles' reliability as a crucial issue, he did not ask the trial judge to specially instruct jurors on how much weight they could give her evidence.
"I concede there was no limiting instruction asked for," he said. "I can see that I should have. I can tell you it was not a tactical decision ... it was an oversight that I regret."
The consequences of that "failure" should not be suffered by Ellard, Wilson stressed.
"Our Strength is for Defending. Preventing Sexual Assault is Part of Our Duty."
This from Holly's Fight for Justice,
Read more about this unique campaign! The website is Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office (SAPRO).
SAPRO is the single point of accountability for Department of Defense (DoD) sexual assault policy. http://www.sapr.mil/
In support of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, the Department of Defense today launched a new informational campaign to encourage its members to take an active part in preventing the crime of sexual assault.
The theme of the campaign is "Our Strength is for Defending. Preventing Sexual Assault is Part of Our Duty."
The campaign emphasizes the importance of active bystander intervention, a form of prevention that encourages safely defusing situations that might lead to a sexual assault.
Special events will be held throughout the month by all of the Military Services in an effort to promote awareness of the Department's sexual assault prevention and response program, the informational campaign, and the important role that Service members play in preventing sexual assault.
Dr. Kaye Whitley, director of the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office for the Department of Defense said,
"Our goal is to empower Service members to identify and safely intervene in circumstances that put our people at risk for sexual assault." "We want to capitalize on the strength of our men and women in uniform to do and say the right thing at the right time," said Whitley. "We are working to ensure that every soldier, sailor, airman, and marine knows how to use their strength, their courage, and their commitment to duty to prevent this horrible crime."
Third Annual Indian Law Symposium and Workshop June 7-9, 2009
This from
http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/clinic_prof/2008/12/save-the-date-t.html
Sponsors
Southwest Indian Law Clinic,
UNM School of Law
University of Denver Sturm College of Law
Contributors
The Tribal Law Practice Clinic
Washburn University School of Law
Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law
Where: Isleta Casino & Resort, Pueblo of Isleta (located just south of Albuquerque, New Mexico)
For: Professors, Directors, Clinicians and Staff of Indian Law, Poverty Law, Economic Justice and Community Lawyering Clinics and those interested in carefully considering their work with Communities through the provision of legal representation.
Goal: To dedicate time and space for Indian law clinics and other clinicians working with minority populations to work in solidarity on Poverty Law and Community Lawyering issues, to discuss our shared mission and differing perspectives, and to support new ideas
Watch for more program details coming soon.
Contacts:
Professor Christine Zuni Cruz
Professor Barbara Creel
Southwest Indian Law Clinic
UNM School of Law 505-277-5265
Professor Aliza Organick
Washburn University School of Law
Tribal Law Practice Clinic 785-670-1664
For registration information contact:
Mitzi Vigil
(505) 277-0405
http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/clinic_prof/2008/12/save-the-date-t.html
