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Shame, Shame on Kyle and Jackie! It is wrong what you did to this young girl! You should be taken off radio!
By Arjun Ramachandran, July 30, 2009
Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O opened their radio show this morning acknowledging yesterday’s controversial segment - in which a 14-year-old girl strapped to a lie detector revealed she had been raped - was "weird".
Sphere: Related Content
A year later, witnesses and victim's family still shaken by grisly bus beheading, July 29, 2009, By Chinta Puxley, THE CANADIAN PRESS
WINNIPEG - A year ago, Kayli Shaw boarded a Greyhound bus for a long cross-country journey from Edmonton to her home in Ontario.
She was looking forward to seeing her boyfriend and took a seat four rows behind the driver.
The sun was setting as the bus travelled along the straight, flat Trans-Canada Highway that carves across Manitoba.
She and the other passengers settled in to watch the movie "Mask of Zorro." She worried about making her connection in Winnipeg since the bus was running behind schedule.
All of a sudden a passenger rushed past her yelling for the bus driver to stop. Someone was being stabbed.
"I thought it was just a joke," said Shaw, speaking publicly about her ordeal for the first time from London, Ont.
She quickly realized it was anything but. She looked behind her and saw Vince Li stabbing Tim McLean repeatedly.
"I just freaked out," said Shaw, who left all her things on the bus and clamoured for the door. "I just wanted to get out of there as fast as possible."
That unfolding nightmare haunts Shaw to this day.
She, like others who witnessed the horror that July night, can't get the bloody images out of her head.
Li stabbed the 22-year-old carnival worker dozens of times, carving up his body and scattering it around the bus. Part of McLean's heart and his eyes were never found.
When she closes her eyes, Shaw sees Li holding up McLean's head, "taunting police" from inside the locked bus. She sees police standing outside the bus and firefighters leaning up against emergency vehicles as Li continues defiling McLean inside.
"It's been hell," said the 23-year-old. "If someone drops a pencil, I'll jump. I'm afraid to get on buses. I have nightmares every night. I can't sleep through the night at all. I barricade myself into my apartment."
Shaw, who has been trying to get her high school diploma, had a few free sessions with a therapist, but can't afford to continue. Her purse and identification which she had left on the bus were returned to her, but she can't bear to look at them.
"It's all in a storage facility. I can't even touch it."
Li was found not criminally responsible for his actions at a short trial in March. A judge found Li suffered from untreated schizophrenia and did not realize that killing McLean was wrong. His case will be reviewed every year to determine if he is well enough to be released.
Li is now locked up in an institution where doctors say he is making progress - taking his medication, watching movies, playing cards and reading a Chinese edition of the Bible.
But scars remain for the witnesses to what he did and for those who knew McLean.
Jennifer Ashley Ptashnik, one of McLean's cousins, said her family hasn't begun to recover.
She remembers McLean as a generous soul who used to horde sweets collected during one of his gran's "candy scrambles." He would then distribute them to the smaller grandchildren who were at a disadvantage in the game.
"Timothy was an amazing beautiful person who loved us all more than anything," Ptashnik said. "Our whole family is very close and still extremely affected by this tragedy every day. We all miss him more than any of us could begin to describe. There are 15 of us grandkids and we are all within 15 years of each other. You can imagine the devastation."
McLean's mother, Carol deDelley, says she wished she had died the night she found out it was her son brutally murdered on that bus heading toward Winnipeg.
In a victim impact statement read out at Li's Criminal Code review board hearing, deDelley said she can't sleep, can't eat and can no longer earn a living driving a school bus. There is a Greyhound stop in her hometown of Elie, Man., that is an inescapable reminder of her son's murder.
She is now pouring her energy into fighting for changes so people who are found not criminally responsible for a crime still serve time in jail.
But her crusade can't erase what happened, and every time she looks at her son's picture, she has visions of his decapitation.
So does Greyhound bus driver Bruce Martin.
"Anywhere from five to 50 times a day I think about what I saw at the back of the bus - a body lying on the floor and Vince Li thrusting his knife into the limp body over and over again," the driver wrote in his victim impact statement.
"Sometimes I can over-ride those visions in my mind and go on with my day. Many other times, I feel numb all over. At times, I feel a lot of anger over a person taking the life of another. Other times, I cry as I envision Tim McLean - a young man who had his whole life ahead of him and had it snuffed out."
McLean's death is being marked by a vigil at Manitoba's legislature on Thursday. It is one of several that have been held in the past year.
His father, Tim McLean Sr., says he won't be there and declined to say how he will be marking the anniversary of his son's death. DeDelley also plans to grieve in private.
As family and friends of McLean continue to grapple with their loss, some say the voices of the silent victims - McLean's fellow passengers - will now come to the fore.
Winnipeg lawyer Jay Prober is preparing to file a class-action lawsuit against Greyhound on behalf of passengers. Prober, who is also fighting a lawsuit on behalf of the McLean family, alleges the bus company didn't do enough to protect the safety of its ridership.
Greyhound has said Li was solely responsible, but the bus line has introduced greater security measures. Passengers boarding in major cities must now pass through metal detectors and are required to check their luggage rather than carrying it on board.
While Li is in a mental institution getting the counselling he needs, passengers have been left to grapple with their nightmares virtually on their own, Prober said.
"It's had a severe impact emotionally on the passengers, some of whom can't sleep, they can't eat and at least one of them suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome," he said.
"There are some serious issues."
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CHECK OUT THIS POWERFUL WEBSITE! THE PERSONAL STORIES OF ABUSED WOMEN! Women in California Institution for Women!
Inside the California Institution for Women, the first inmate initiated and led group in U.S. prison history, shatters the misconceptions of domestic violence.
Convicted Women Against Abuse (CWAA) was created in 1989 to help women inside prison break the silence about abuse and learn more about what they needed to do to help others stop the cycle of violence.
http://www.sinbysilence.com/
This from Holly/Admin,
Another sentence that is shameful in Canada!
A 42-year-old Maple Ridge man who sexually assaulted his stepdaughter at least 50 times has been sentenced to two years in a federal prison.
Read the story online at The Province!
Posted By NICKI CRUICKSHANK
A Barrie woman remains hospitalized after being brutally beaten and sexually assaulted on the night of July 14.
The 42-year-old suffered a fractured skull, several broken bones and teeth at the hands of her attacker. Christopher David McDonald, 35, of Barrie is charged with aggravated sexual assault and aggravated assault.
It's a story Kathy Willis has heard all too often, and it doesn't get any easier for her.
"For sure it's hard to hear. The trauma and brutality of the attack is horrible," said Willis, of Athena's Sexual Assault Counselling and Advocacy Centre in Barrie. "It's just so unfair for her, and there's no excuse for that to happen. I really feel for that woman."
Willis said the victim's story and that of 45-year-old Pauline Cole, who was mugged along the Northshore Trail on July 2, don't paint a very safe picture of Barrie. She said it's a shame some women must live in fear in their own community.
Lynda Muir, executive director for the Women and Children's Shelter in Barrie, said her staff sees their share of bumps and bruises on clients.
"We see women who've been quite physically abused, and others who have been so psychologically battered they are afraid to even move," she said. "Women and children tend to be the more vulnerable members of our society."
Statistically speaking, on a national level, Willis said one in four women are likely to be sexually assaulted in their lives. And only about six per cent of rape victims report them.
"That being said, we could argue that the world isn't safe for women," Willis said. "Unfortunately, (sexual assault) is still an act of violence many men feel is OK to commit.
"We need to focus more on better educating young men about respecting women and not condoning these acts of violence," Willis added. "I don't think we've done a good job of that here."
Muir echoed these thoughts. "The more we can give women a voice and get them help the better," she said. "And not tolerating violence, sexual or non-sexual against women or men is another key.
"If men were told not to abuse women by other men, it might help more," Muir added. "If a man sees or hears of a friend of his verbally or physically abusing his wife, he should stand up and say something."
Willis said new reports of rape, sexual assault or assault tend to dredge up bad memories for her clients, and even staff.
"I'd say any time we hear of an assault like this, it reminds us, as women, we aren't really safe in our community," she said. "We need to be thinking honestly of how that could have been anyone of us."
Muir said news of attacks on women will often bother her clients, too.
"What's more of a trigger for a lot of women is reports of spousal abuse or abuse by an ex-partner," she said. "But sexual assaults will often trigger women's memories, too."
When asked what women can do to protect themselves, Willis said there aren't many options.
"There are ways women can build their strength and confidence through (defense) training. But it might not be enough to keep them safe," she said. "The question should be how can society protect women? I don't think there's a simple answer.
"We need to stop objectifying women and stop allowing men to think that it's OK to treat women that way," she added.
Muir said she believes women should be taking self-defence classes or carrying a defense device with them for protection. She said anything you can do to help you stay safe is vital.
"Be perceptive and take in your surroundings when you're out anywhere," Muir said. "Take a defense course, and even carry a key in your hand as something to use against an attacker.
"Let's not teach people to be totally paranoid, but instead teach them to be aware of their surroundings and ways to keep themselves safer."
Article ID# 1664569
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Why would any state charge for evidence to be collected? It is wrong! North Carolina should reinburse those who paid! Published: Friday, July 24, 2009
North Carolina legislation that would end the practice of rape victims having to pay for evidence collected in their cases is headed to the governor's office.
If approved, the state would pay for the examinations, known as rape kits, that include a victim's account of the attack, samples of hair and body fluid, documentation of injuries, as well as clothing worn during the attack.
In addition, victims of sexual assault will not have to report the crime to police when they are treated at a hospital, but evidence will be collected in case they decide to pursue prosecution at a later date. Currently, law enforcement is typically contacted whenever a rape or sex assault occurs, especially if a victim goes to the hospital.
"Removing that requirement that they make a report to law enforcement allows them to come forward and get the medical treatment they need," said Julie Ozier, supervisor at the Rape Crisis Center of Coastal Horizons. "During that traumatic state when a rape occurs, it's not the best time to decide if you want to press charges."
That said, waiting to contact law enforcement can have disadvantages. "There may be other evidence that's lost," Ozier said.
The requirement that law enforcement be contacted was removed so victims could "do it in their own time frame rather than being bombarded at the time of the trauma," said Monika Johnson-Hostler, executive director of the N.C. Coalition Against Sexual Assault. "In more cases than not, they want justice and want to be part of the process."
If the legislation is signed into law, the state would be in compliance with the federal Violence Against Women Act, meaning North Carolina would be eligible to receive $7 million in federal funds that are funneled to law enforcement, prosecutors, organizations that advocate for victims and local sex assault response teams.
Moreover, it would make North Carolina the last state to come into compliance with the federal act, Johnson-Hostler said. Texas was another state that recently came into compliance with the federal act by stopping medical providers from billing rape victims for their rape kits, she said.
N.C. Gov. Beverly Perdue's press secretary, Chrissy Pearson, said Thursday the governor is expected to sign the legislation.
The legislature last week gave final approval to HB 1342, which shifts the financial burden of a rape kit from the victim to the state. Last year, state legislators approved adding $1 million to a state program for victims of rape and sexual assault to pay for rape kits and related medical costs.
Without the law, hospitals were billing rape kits to victims' private insurance, Medicaid or Medicare, and in the case of college students who were on their parents' insurance, their privacy was not being protected. Those with insurance that required co-payments were essentially paying for the procedure.
The new law would eliminate that so hospitals would bill the state program directly and would cap the cost of the rape kits and ensuing medical costs to $800. That cost was calculated based on payments to the doctor or specialized nurse trained to collect the evidence and hospital fees.
The cost of those rape kits varied from hospital to hospital and could range from $800 to $2,400, Johnson-Hostler said.
"We as citizens don't pay for collection of any other evidence if we're the victim of a crime," she said.
Victims of sexual assaults and rape can call the Rape Crisis Center in New Hanover County at 392-7460 and in Brunswick at 754-7949. For Pender County, call 259-8989.
By Dan Ferguson - Surrey North Delta Leader, Updated: July 23, 2009 3:40 PM
A Surrey man who molested dozens of boys in the 1970s and 1980s has been granted parole.
The decision to release Ralph Rowe has drawn outrage from the 18 small First Nations communities in Ontario where the attacks took place.
Nishnawbe Aski Nation Deputy Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler said Rowe should have remained in prison because he was recently convicted of seven more sexual assaults that occurred during those years.
However, the Kenora, Ontario Superior Court judge who convicted Rowe decided he should not serve any more time in prison because the “serial prosecution” of the 69-year-old former priest amounted to a harsh punishment.
Rowe was released July 2, one day after he was convicted on the new charges – six counts of indecent assault and one count of sexual assault.
On Wednesday, Fiddler said the decision to free the convicted pedophile was an “insult” to the young men who testified against Rowe at his most recent trial.
Fiddler urged the Crown prosecutor’s office to appeal the decision.
“He is not rehabilitated,” Fiddler told The Leader, noting that Rowe failed to complete counselling courses for sex offenders while in jail.
“This [Rowe’s release] should be a concern to all the families where he might reside.”
Rowe has been convicted three times for molesting boys as young as six during the late 1970s and 1980s while he was working as a travelling minister to remote First Nations communities in Northern Ontario.
He came to live in Surrey after his first conviction in 1994.
The former Boy Scout leader had pleaded guilty to 39 counts of indecent assault and served four-and-a-half years of a six-year sentence.
At the time, one Crown prosecutor described Rowe as one of the most prolific pedophiles Canada has ever seen.
After he was granted parole, Rowe left his home in Thompson, Manitoba and went to live in Surrey, where his older brother Ernest “Art” Rowe, a retired minister from Fort. St. John worked as a fill-in minister at St. Michael’s Anglican church in Newton.
Members of the St. Michael’s congregation remember Ralph Rowe as a soft-spoken person who maintained a low profile until his brother’s death in 2003.
After that, they said Rowe began to take a more prominent role, singing with the church choir and occasionally delivering prayers from the front of the church, not as a minister but as a lay member of the church.
The congregation was never informed of Rowe’s criminal convictions.
At the time, Canadian police did not routinely notify communities about the presence of a potentially dangerous sexual offender.
Rowe’s past did not come to light until he was arrested in 2007 on new charges of forcible rape and attempted rape.
He was convicted and sentenced to another three years in jail.
Find this article at:
http://www.bclocalnews.com/surrey_area/surreyleader/news/51521157.html
The Women's International Perspective - Monterey,CA,USA
We have told the police, but the police say 'Stay in your tent and nothing will happen'.”—a refugee in Mille Camp, Chad These stories happen far too often, ...
http://thewip.net/contributors/2009/07/refugees_and_the_risk_of_rape.html
Tarek Fatah, National Post Published: Wednesday, July 22, 2009
When the Prague Spring failed in 1968, few people believed that the seeds of dissent that had been crushed under the weight of Soviet tanks would blossom 20 years later to bring about the demise of the U. S. S. R. itself. A similar summer of discontent and rebellion has blossomed in Tehran in 2009, and I would venture to say that, this time around, it will not take two decades for the ossified state structure to come crashing down.
This note from Holly/Admin,
The rape and murder of children/woman in the Iran. The hanging and stoning of children/woman in Iran is barbaric! That is my opinion. It should be protested by United Nations!
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1814569
LONDON, United Kingdom, 13 July 2009 — Starting today, MTV audiences around the world will see a new music video that aims to raise awareness about sex trafficking. Featuring the rock band The Killers, the video is an exclusive collaboration between UNICEF, MTV EXIT (End Exploitation and Trafficking) and the US Agency for International Development.
The track, Goodnight, Travel Well, is from the album Day & Age. The video is the second in a series of music video collaborations that highlight the danger and impact of human trafficking.
July 21, 2009, By THE CANADIAN PRESS
OTTAWA - A new study says police-reported crime continued to decline in 2008.
Statistics Canada reports that both the traditional crime rate and its Crime Severity Index fell five per cent last year. The agency says that means both the volume of police-reported crime and its severity decreased.
Violent crime also dropped, but to a lesser extent.
StatsCan says there were about 77,000 fewer reported crimes in 2008, including 28,000 fewer thefts of $5,000 and under, 22,000 fewer break-ins and 20,000 fewer motor-vehicle thefts.
Crime severity was down in virtually all provinces, with the largest decline reported in Manitoba.
The one notable exception was a seven per cent increase Prince Edward Island.
About one in five crimes reported to police is violent. There were 3,500 fewer reported violent incidents in 2008, including 2,000 fewer robberies.
Homicides, which make up less than one per cent of violent crime, were one of the few violent crimes to increase in 2008.
The police-reported crime rate for youth aged 12 to 17 fell five per cent in 2008, the fourth decline in five years. The youth violent crime rate, which declined three per cent, has been relatively stable since 2000.
July 21, 2009,By THE CANADIAN PRESS
OTTAWA - A new report says poverty and homelessness might help explain why native people land in jail at a sky-high rate.
Statistics Canada says aboriginal adults made up 22 per cent of those behind bars - even though they comprise just three per cent of the national population.
The report is based on rates of incarceration sampled on May 16, 2006 - the day the last census was taken.
For both native and non-native adults aged 20 to 34, incarceration rates dropped off as education and income levels improved.
But comparative decreases were greater for non-natives.
In Saskatchewan, aboriginal adults accounted for 81 per cent of those in jail - but just 11 per cent of the general population.
Julie Johnson Sacramento Bee, Sunday, Jul. 19, 2009
When Donald Carter was booked into the Sacramento County Main Jail in March for allegedly possessing cocaine, he submitted a saliva sample from inside his cheek along with his fingerprints. His charges were dismissed April 10, and he went to a court-ordered drug treatment program.
In accordance with a newly implemented law, Carter's saliva sample was sent to the Department of Justice forensics lab in Richmond. Since January, DNA swabs from everyone arrested on suspicion of a felony in California – not just those convicted of such crimes – have been sent there.
DNA in Carter's swab matched DNA evidence collected 20 years ago at a Sacramento home where 80-year-old Sophia McAllister was murdered. On June 7, Carter was charged with her killing and special circumstances including burglary, robbery and rape.
Since voters in 2004 approved Proposition 69, allowing authorities to collect DNA from people who have been arrested for crimes, the state's library of DNA samples – and the potential to match suspects to specific crimes – has grown exponentially.
But as cases involving DNA matches increase, so does scrutiny of what defines a match.
"If it's a nice clean profile, then the numbers are pretty incredible," indicating it's a probable match, said Ruth Ballard, DNA/biology adviser for the UC Davis Forensic Science Graduate Program and a professor in biology at California State University, Sacramento.
But many experts agree that a partial DNA profile is much harder to evaluate.
"It's those kind of samples that really end up being argued in court," said Ballard, who has served as an expert witness for prosecutors and defense attorneys on DNA evidence. "It's a rational disagreement; it's an area where experts can't decide yet."
DNA holds billions of genetic markers that determine every aspect of a person, from hair color to whether they think brussels sprouts taste good or bad. Criminologists look at only 15 markers to show the molecular difference from one person to the next. They then create a statistic that shows how likely it is that someone else might have the same DNA profile.
"If you have a full profile, and you're looking at all 15 of these markers, when you run the numbers on that, they are so incredibly low, the probability of another person having the same markers as you do is so unlikely, the crime labs are reporting it as a match," Ballard said.
Evidence from cold case homicides, especially those like McAllister's from decades ago, may be degraded. Sometimes only a partial DNA profile can be pieced together, which means that fewer than those 15 points are found.
In these cases, a partial match will pop up in the database, and the standards for how many points must match vary. In California, someone might match with only seven of the points flagged in the database. The FBI flags DNA when at least 10 markers match up.
In other cases, a sample from the victim may contain mixed DNA, and it can be a challenge to determine which DNA belongs to whom.
On May 23, 1989, police responded to a call from a Meals on Wheels volunteer concerned that McAllister hadn't touched the previous day's delivery to her home. According to police reports, court documents and newspaper accounts, police found the elderly woman dead in her home. She had been beaten and raped; her home ransacked. Investigators found more than 500 fingerprints from a suspect at the scene.
"The original detectives went out and did a neighborhood canvass trying to locate a possible suspect," said Detective Pat Keller, a lead investigator on the case for the Sacramento Police Department. "They interviewed 20 to 30 people in the case trying to identify a suspect and there was absolute nothing."
Without leads, the case sat untouched for years.
Criminologist Devan Johnson, who works in Sacramento County's crime lab, remembers when she dug back into the evidence box around 2005 to look for traces of DNA on items left from the McAllister crime scene. DNA has only recently become a standard crime-solving tool, and counties like Sacramento have received grants to revisit evidence from unsolved murders. Johnson said she found some blood and semen, and uploaded a suspect's DNA profile into state and national databases.
It's unlikely – but possible – that people would share the same DNA profile, which is a reading of just a small number of the billions of pieces of information in DNA. But that probability changes for siblings and people with very rare or very common genes. Criminologists like Johnson calculate a statistic to go with their analysis of a DNA profile match.
"Let's say they have a 15-marker profile," said Johnson, who refers to these markers by their scientific name, alleles. "And at one of those locations, the alleles are very rare, not seen in the population, then the statistics are going to be higher. But if they have alleles that are very common, then the stats are going to be lower."
That's where the science can become less of a science and more of a judgment call.
"People think that if there's DNA evidence, it's a slam dunk and you're convicted, period," said Bob Blasier, a criminal defense attorney who specializes in DNA and forensics.
Blasier, who trains other lawyers in DNA forensics and served on O.J. Simpson's civil defense team, said having a broader database of DNA will ultimately help solve crimes and exonerate the innocent.
"On the other hand, juries now expect there will be persuasive DNA and if they don't see it, they're less likely to convict," Blasier said.
Another challenge facing law enforcement is how to investigate a crime that occurred decades earlier. Witnesses may have moved or died and memories faded.
"With cold-hit cases, the question is, is there anything else that links the accused to the offense?" said Carter's attorney, Linda Parisi.
The facts of Carter's case may be an example of how DNA is used to enhance or refute other evidence. Police are waiting for results to see if Carter's prints match those recorded at the scene. Carter lived about 1.5 blocks from McAllister, a fact that on its own couldn't convict a person but may bolster other evidence.
"Just to convict only on DNA evidence isn't what we go for," Keller said. "We aim to get corroborating evidence."
Six months before she was killed, Evairene Flores wrote her entire family in case she died: "Many will miss me, many will cry, but it was because of Matthew that I had to die."
Married for 20 years to an abusive husband, Flores divorced Matthew O'Connor and turned to the San Antonio courts for a protective order to keep him away.
When O'Connor continued to threaten her, a district court ordered him to wear an electronic monitor, court documents show. But that didn't stop O'Connor from kicking in the door of Flores' apartment and shooting her more than 20 times on Aug. 23, 2006. O'Connor then shot himself.
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=6921102&rss=rss-ktrk-article-6921102
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A jury has convicted an imprisoned sex offender of murder in the 1975 strangulation death of a Girl Scout in Tennessee.
Nine-year-old Marcia Trimble disappeared while delivering Girl Scout cookies in her Nashville neighborhood, and her body was found near her home 33 days later.
A jury on Saturday convicted 62-year-old Jerome Barrett of two counts of second-degree murder. He faces 44 years in prison on each count in this case. Barrett is currently serving a life sentence for the 1975 rape and murder of a Vanderbilt University student.
The Girl Scout killing is considered Nashville's most notorious crime in decades. Barrett became a suspect in the girl's death more than a year ago as a result of DNA testing. The jury took about eight hours to deliberate.
The Associated Press.
This from Holly/Admin,
Article from DigitalJournal.com - Toronto,Ontario,Canada
In an effort to do more to help fight violence against women, Vice President Joe Biden recently announced the first advisor to the White House.
The effort to "shine a light" on the problem is being seen as a momentous occasion in American history.
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/276104
A group representing survivors of sexual violence says it agrees with prominent barrister Nigel Hampton QC that the Court of Appeal has become too mathematical in its judgements on appeals.
The court has reduced the sentences of three sex offenders in the past two weeks.
One of them was Liam Reid, whose 26-year minimum non-parole period for the rape and murder of deaf woman Emma Agnew in November 2007 was cut to 23 years. Reid also raped and attempted to murder a 21-year-old Dunedin woman nine days after killing Agnew.
This week, Christchurch man Gary Shane Ian Nicholas, 29, had a nine year prison sentence for raping a teenager last year reduced to eight years, while former Child, Youth and Family (CYF) worker Ralph Lindsay Brunie, 40, had one year taken off his seven-year term for having sex with a 15-year-old girl in his care.
Hampton, of Christchurch, told The Press newspaper the Court of Appeal works on the principle of sentence parity and if there was "manifest" or "obvious disparity", a sentence should be reduced or increased to correspond.
But he thought appeal court judges were struggling to achieve parity between sentences and it had become an "academic, mathematical exercise rather than...a balancing of human factors."
Kim McGregor, director of Rape Prevention Education, agreed.
McGregor chairs the Tauiwi caucus of Te Ohaakii a Hine - National Network Ending Sexual Violence Together (Toah-nnest), which aims to provide one voice for the sector that responds to sexual violence.
"We would support Nigel Hampton's view of the Court of Appeal - that it has a mechanical and mathematical approach to the length of sentences for sexual offences," Dr McGregor said.
"We are already frequently disappointed in the length of sentences for sexual violence. Sentences do not appear to be in line with the severity of the crime - especially in contrast to the severe sentences given for crimes regarding the drug P."
Sensible Sentencing Trust spokesman Garth McVicar has also been critical of the court, saying the trend coming from was "disturbing."
McGregor says survivors of crimes of sexual violence are often less concerned about whether the sentence was eight or nine years and are more interested in the offender acknowledging his or her crime, realising the impact of the crime, and getting treatment so that others are not similarly harmed.
Toah-nnest wants communities safe from those who commit crimes of sexual violence and successfully asked the last government to set up a taskforce for action on sexual violence.
The taskforce is reviewing the effectiveness of the justice system's response to sexual offending and improving outcomes for victims
Justice Minister Simon Power told The Press he had confidence in the Court of Appeal and people are entitled to appeal.
July 17, 2009, By THE CANADIAN PRESS
EDMONTON - An Alberta judge says first-time federal inmates should be given instruction on the "con code" to help reduce the number of violent assaults and deaths in Canada's prisons.
Provincial court Judge Frank Maloney makes the recommendation in a fatality inquiry report into the 2001 stabbing of Jarrett Jabs during a riot at Drumheller Institution in southern Alberta.
Jabs' parents say he would still be alive if he had been allowed to enter protective custody after being victimized by older inmates, who had labelled him a "rat", or prison informer.
Jabs, 21, locked himself in his cell during the riot, but inmates tore open the lock, dragged him from his cell and stabbed him several times in the neck.
The judge says Jabs was viewed as weak and displayed child-like behaviour that annoyed other prisoners, who candidly told the inquiry that his actions breached what was known as the "con code".
The report is sharply critical of the prison system, noting that Correctional Services Canada "seems to be almost resigned to the level of violence" and that recommended changes to reduce assaults and deaths are often ignored.
Nomthandazo Radebe, 20, in downtown Durban, South Africa, where she moved from her hometown to escape the taunts of the man who raped her.
The man was recently sentenced to 13 years in jail, a rare lengthy sentence in South Africa where a recent study found that 28 percent of men had admitted to rape.
In a country where 28 per cent of men admit to committing rape, women are succeeding in demanding prosecution!
by Geoffrey York
Lusikisiki, South Africa — From Friday's Globe and Mail, Jul. 17, 2009
When the rapist's aunt tried to settle the matter in the traditional way by offering two cows to the victim's mother, it was already too late to stop the women activists of Lusikisiki.
They had mobilized, and they were hunting for justice. They took to the streets with loudspeakers, placards and pamphlets. They went to the police station, the hospital, the courtrooms and the school.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/s-african-women-bring-rapists-to-justice/article1221556/
VILLE-MARIE, QC, July 16 /CNW Telbec
The Government of Canada is pleased to support a project that aims to overcome violence against women during recreational and tourist events, such as festivals, in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region, by providing education and support services to victims as well as women at risk as well of sexual assault. The project by the Comité de la condition féminine au Témiscamingue is entitled De la méfiance à la vigilance: pour que "party" rime avec sécurité (From Mistrustful to Watchful: Where "Party" Rhymes with Security).
"Our Government is committed to ending violence against women," said the Honourable Helena Guergis, Minister of State (Status of Women). "We are proud to support this project of the Comité de la condition féminine au Témiscamingue, which will provide women and girls with the information they need to identify and avoid situations that put them at risk of sexual assault."
"This project aims to make women and girls as well as officials in Témiscamingue aware of and prepared to handle issues of sexual assault related to public events," explained Annie Larivière, Project Coordinator for the Comité de la condition féminine au Témiscamingue. "This project responds to a need expressed by women and girls who have themselves been sexually assaulted during tourist events in the region."
The Comité will receive $159,074 toward the De la méfiance à la vigilance: pour que "party" rime avec sécurité project from the Women's Community Fund of the Women's Program of Status of Women Canada. These funds help eligible organizations carry out projects at the local, regional and national levels.
The project will allow 250 girls and 250 boys from the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region to develop a better understanding of sexual assault. In addition, 30 women and girls will help raise awareness in their community through discussion groups and safety patrols at recreational and tourism events.
The mandate of the Comité is to improve living conditions for women in Témiscamingue by eliminating poverty and violence, and by offering women a home, an alternative to isolation, and a network for education and action.
Status of Women Canada is a federal government agency working to promote equality for women and their full participation in the economic, social and democratic life of Canada.
For news releases and information on Status of Women Canada, go to
www.cfc-swc.gc.ca.
For further information: Sherine Mansour, Director of Communications,
Office of the Minister of State (Status of Women), (819) 956-4000; Nanci-Jean
Waugh, Director General, Communications and Strategic Planning, Status of
Women Canada, (613) 995-7839
July 14, 2009 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Sex Crimes in California
Article provided by Law Offices of Elliott Kanter, A P.C.
Visit us at www.elliottnkanter.com
There are few things that inspire public concern like the abduction of a young child. People become riveted by the reports on the crime. If the outcome is that the child was sexually abused or raped, the concern turns to outrage. Constituents demand that lawmakers ensure that it never happens again. In response to this kind of pressure, legislators have criminalized more activities and increased the penalties. They have also imposed requirements on sex offenders that extend beyond the completion of a jail sentence and into the future (indefinitely).
In 2006, California voters took matters into their own hands and passed Proposition 83, imposing new restrictions and requirements on sex offenders.
Crimes and the Penalties
Sexual intercourse without the consent of the other party may be considered rape under California law. The punishment for rape can range from three to eight years in state prison. It is considered statutory rape if the other person involved in the sexual intercourse is less than 18 years old. If there is less than three years between the two parties, it is a misdemeanor. If the defendant is more than three years older, the possible punishment includes one year in county jail or three years in state prison. When the defendant is over 21 and the victim is under the age of 16, the punishment may include one year in county jail or up to four years in state prison.
Sexual battery is a crime that involves touching an intimate part of another person if that person is restrained by either the person doing the touching or an accomplice. For this crime, imprisonment may be from one year in county jail up to four years in state prison and a fine may be imposed up to $10,000.
The crimes of oral copulation, sodomy or penetration by a foreign object are only crimes when there is an age discrepancy between the sexual partners. If the victim is less than 18 years old, the penalty can be up to one year in county jail or state prison. If the defendant is over 21 and the victim is less than 16, it is a felony that can be punished by three to eight years in state prison.
Another area of sex crimes involves the use of computers and the internet. It is considered sexual exploitation of a child to exchange or distribute images on a computer of a child, less than 18 years old, engaged in sexual conduct. Conviction of this crime can carry a fine of up to $2,000 and/or a sentence in state prison.
A single act may lead to a defendant being charged with more than one of the sex crimes, therefore, the penalties could be cumulative.
Sex Offender Registry
California was the first state in the country to require the registration of sex offenders and has had registration since 1947. Anyone who has been convicted of specified sexual offenses must register as a sex offender. This is a lifetime requirement. The sex offenses that require registration include all the sex crimes listed above and many more.
When a convicted sex offender moves, he or she must register with the authorities within five working days. Someone who fails to meet the requirements of registering as a sex offender may be charged with a separate offense, simply for failing to register.
This information is made available to the public through the internet. This type of information may follow a person for the rest of his or her life and have devastating effects on many areas, including, being admitted to college, getting a job or even making friends or dating.
If you are in a situation where you have been charged with a sex offense, the punishment and consequences may seem onerous and overwhelming. However, it is important to know that there are often good defenses to many of these crimes. For example, for the crime of rape, consent is sometimes a valid defense. For other offenses, mistaken identity or misinformation about the age of the other party is critical evidence in a defense case. That is why it is crucial that if you are facing prosecution, you consult an attorney with experience in this area who can help you to present the most effective case, explain your rights and answer any questions you may have.
South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com on July 14, 2009
It is time for South Florida to get real about sex offenders, and where they can live.
Right now, with restrictions in place in so many cities, they basically can live nowhere.
Actually, that's not true. They can live under a bridge in a tent. Or they can be homeless. Or they can, like Broward's Raphael Marquez, choose to go back to jail after finding there is no place to live.
You don't have to feel sorry for sex offenders in order to realize the restrictions on where they can live have gone too far. Remember, these are people who have served their time, paid their debt to society.
They have to live somewhere. We have drug addicts and murders and rapists among us, if the justice system says they have done their time. Sex offenders should be in the same category.
But it makes society feel so good to put tremendous restrictions on where sex offenders can live, and how many feet they have to live from a park or a school. Essentially, we've said they can live anywhere in South Florida. Hence, the tent cities under bridges, the homeless sex offenders walking the street, and people who have done their time still preferring jail to the streets. Tell me how this helps cure the problem.
Remember, not all sex offenders are alike. Some get the label because they had a girl friend who was too young. They are restricted, too.
Tracking sex offenders is fine. Cracking down doubly hard on repeat offenders is fine. Turning people who have done their time into gypsies with overly restrictive guidelines isn't fine.
And it isn't fine when you get this kind of comment from politicians like Oakland Park commissioner Suzanne Boisvenue, explaining why she doesn't buy the idea of restrictive rules promoting homelessness:
"I think it's a matter of them not wanting to work or pay for a place to live," she told the Sun Sentinel. "There are plenty of lawns to mow."
Nice grip on reality, commissioner. You know, there are some politicians I wouldn't want living in my neighborhood.
Stefanie's mother reveals her deep sorrow, TheStar.com - GTA - Stefanie's mother reveals her deep sorrow
At times pausing to compose herself yesterday, Toronto police Const. Patricia Hung read out her victim-impact statement at the sentencing hearing of the girl who engineered the murder of her daughter, Stefanie Rengel.
In March a jury found M.T., 17, guilty of first-degree murder for pressuring her boyfriend D.B. into killing Stefanie, a girl she had never met but whom she regarded with jealousy. D.B., now 19, has admitted to luring the 14-year-old schoolgirl from her family's Northdale Blvd. home on New Year's Day 2008, then stabbing her six times just steps from her front door.
Here is the full text of the victim-impact statement that Stefanie's mother read in court yesterday:
"Your Honour,
There are many moral lessons we learn growing up, but none is more primordial than knowing that killing is wrong. If by 15 years old, that basic moral principle has not been learned, and something as transient and fickle as teenage jealousy can elicit murder, as though this were a crime of little consequence, then no amount of maturing or rehabilitation is going to instill that principle.
I find myself trying to put into words the impact of losing my only daughter to murder. For us of course, no punishment would ever be severe enough, but we are not blind to the issues at hand and do not envy the court's position. The local and national media coverage will not only call attention to the court's decision but also focus its eye on my very painful and private feelings. Many of my internal battles and fears embarrass and shame me, which makes publicizing my private hell so difficult and goes against the very nature of my being. Writing this has been an almost insurmountable task.
This is the very last thing that I can do for my daughter, but my ability and need to impress upon the court how utterly devastating it is to lose a child to murder eludes me. There simply are no words to accurately describe the pain and heartache associated with the loss of a child.
To face my child's death is one thing but to have to live with the memory of the violence associated with it is unbearable and ever present. Stefanie left the safety of our home in happy innocence, completely oblivious to the danger that awaited her. She ran outside for what she told her brother would just be a minute, without a coat, on one of the coldest days of the winter, with four-foot-high snowbanks and slippery ice underfoot. At the slightest chill, I am instantly reminded and imagine, over and over, her last moments. Freezing, in an agony of pain, shock and terror, bleeding from six separate stab wounds, drowning in her own blood as her lungs filled up, suffocating, gasping for air with no one but a stranger to offer her what help he could. She died with no one she loved to hold her, reassure her, comfort her. She would have been so scared and desperate to get to her home that she could see just steps away, but despite her best efforts, she collapsed in a snowbank, growing colder by the second, unable to call for help. Memories of how she died haunt me every day and those memories are engraved on my soul and will be with me forever until I am blissfully no more.
Losing a child, at any age, is unnatural. They are supposed to outlive us. But losing a teenager has to be one of the hardest times. It is the most challenging time for parents, when saying "no" seems to be a big part of most discussions, at least for those of us who truly care. The natural separation of parent and child (especially a first child) for me was heart-wrenching enough and I longed for her to be a bit older and having that love grow into friendship on an adult level. Stefanie was such an awesome person. I looked forward to the day when I could enjoy her adult company, relieved of my parental responsibilities, to just enjoy her as a person. She was so smart and so funny, and now that's been stolen from me.
Also stolen from me is my ability to remember her the way I should be able to. If I let myself remember her smile or the way she came into my room and said "I'm home" after being dropped off from babysitting late at night, or the way she played with her brothers and her natural infectious laugh, or her ability to banter back and forth with the wittiest of people and hold her ground – breaks my heart. I just can't go there. I can't watch videos of her or even speak about her in any depth for fear I will lose control of myself and tumble so far down into the depths of despair I won't be able to pull myself out.
I have wanted so many times to not be alive, to stab myself and feel exactly what she felt, an incomprehensible need to experience her pain. But we have other children and other responsibilities, and so I go on. I work so hard to keep life happy and normal for our three sons, but the scars are forever etched in their lives. Ian, now 13, had begun his own metamorphosis into adulthood and misses his big sister more than ever. Ian should be able to share his secrets with her and have support through the trials and tribulations of adolescence as he fully expected to have. He has distanced himself from me, afraid to show me his grief for fear I'll be unable to be strong for him. It's embarrassing and uncomfortable for him to see his mother in a weak and emotional state and I know this because I have the same feelings with my own mother. She and I both need our children to lean on us, but as children, both Ian and I want to protect our parents because they have already suffered enough. Such a difficult balance to manage as an adult, never mind as a teenager.
Each night, as a family, we give thanks for one thing that has happened in that day. Inevitably, my 6-year-old is "thankful that we all made it safely through the day." He is plagued by night terrors and worries about all of us, a sad situation for an otherwise delightful 6-year-old boy.
As for me, I am afraid. That may sound simple and even reasonable considering the trauma we've suffered, but in fact it's multifaceted and devastating. I am forever changed. It's embarrassing to admit that at times I'm paralyzed with fear. I wake each night, at least once, in the most indescribable state of terror, which emanates from my chest to my limbs and into every one of my nerve endings. I have constant nightmares of horrible acts committed against Stefanie and the boys. I am unable to sleep properly and too scared to take medication to sleep for fear someone will break into our house and I'll be too medicated to protect my family. I have lost my general sense of security on a daily basis, I worry each time I am separated from them and prepare mentally for the worst. I am unable to go out at night alone and force myself to walk unaccompanied in my own neighbourhood. Television has become a minefield, where even the most seemingly innocent of programs can suddenly have a knife scene that rips at my fragile composure.
How could I ever explain the ramifications of this on my career? Simply, I don't have one and that has also been stolen from me. I used to love my job and was proud of my work, and now I don't know how I'm going to ever do it again, because simply, I'm afraid.
Knowing that I did not do enough to protect Stefanie from these monsters eats at my sanity every waking moment. I can't forgive myself for not doing more and don't know how to live with it. I can't relax when the boys are away from me, and I panic at the slightest hint of danger.
I used to feel real joy in even the most banal occasions, as when the six of us were driving to my parents' farm, and now I only feel relief that we are together, momentarily safe and deeply sad because Stefanie is missing. The joy is gone.
The senseless murder of a beautiful and innocent young girl brings with it more than just grief and devastation, it steals one's anonymity and re-victimizes a family. The trial process has been unbelievably difficult, an emotional rollercoaster that has yet to end. And to make matters worse, I was subjected to the unbelievable insensitivity of a defence attorney who boasted about "just loving an audience" when I was on the stand waiting for the jury to come in and cross-examination to begin. As if sitting only feet away from the person who killed my daughter and having to be civilized wasn't asking enough, I guess he thought he would have a little fun at my expense.
The rage that burns inside me is a formidable opponent I battle every day. I want to scream at the top of my lungs, want to stop pretending all the time, stop having to just get by, and I want to know happiness again. I want to stop over-reacting when I feel like an injustice has been committed against anyone I care about. I want inner peace, which is believed to come from forgiveness, but I am unable to forgive someone who has shown no remorse. (M.T.) insists that she didn't think that (D.B.) would actually kill Stefanie but instead of being horrified when he did, she asked him to re-enact the crime, then have a little sex and then call her mummy for a celebratory latte. This is the most revealing glimpse into who she is and the danger she poses. How does one forgive that?
I honestly believe that Stefanie's death, this trial and the conviction has saved other unsuspecting families the brutal reality that is now ours, at least for a little while.
I am so proud of who Stefanie was. Strong, honest, warm, kind and generous, she was a young lady who knew right from wrong. She would have been a productive, caring member of society with so much to offer. Not only have we lost our daughter, but society has lost all the good that she would have done in her lifetime.
All that's left for us is to find a way to go on."
By Joel Kom, Calgary Herald July 14, 2009
CALGARY - There are only 30 payphones on public property left in Calgary's inner city, but concerns over the phones being used for drug deals is prompting the city to try scaring criminals away from them.
The city will launch what it's calling Operation Sentinel on Wednesday, an initiative that will see warning stickers put on the 30 phones.
Those stickers warn callers that the phone number, date and time of the call could be sought by police for an investigation into illegal activities.
That in itself is not new; what is new is the sticker warning. Ald. John Mar, who's helped spearhead the initiative, said problems have cropped up around inner city payphones and hopes the warning will discourage criminals from using them.
"We want to to show Calgary is being aggressive and moving forward and taking away the tools used by criminals," he said.
City sex assault rate second highest in Canada, Written by Bernice Trick Citizen staff, Thursday, 09 July 2009
Prince George has been rated as the second most dangerous city in Canada for sexual assault according to Maclean's Magazine survey of national crime ratings published in 2009.
In the survey of 100 cities, Prince George, with a population number of 73,911, was ranked at 93.45 per cent when compared to the national sexual assault average rate. The only city in Canada that ranked higher than Prince George in the survey was Saint John, N.B. where the rate was 130.53 per cent compared to the national sexual assault rate.
Amanda Alexander, services manager of women's and children's services with Elizabeth Fry Society, pointed out the rankings come from "those sexual assaults reported which we know is a gross underestimate of the real numbers out there."
Alexander said although she is a bit surprised "that Prince George is ranked second, the numbers of women and children who access Elizabeth Fry services are high." "We can't keep up," said Alexander.
Elizabeth Fry operates a 17-bed transition house in Prince George for women and children needing safety due to physical, emotional and sexual violence in their lives.
"Our facility is in high demand, housing more than 550 women and children every year, and turning away more than 500 women due to lack of space or specialized services."
She said she has particularly seen increases in numbers of women seeking safety and shelter during the past five or six years, and attributes some of the increase to Prince George being the "urban centre of the North" and to changes in the legal system.
"It's now next to impossible to qualify for legal aid because the eligibility criteria has changed dramatically. One woman who tried to get social assistance funding to relocate from an unsafe situation had to prove the offender was still in Prince George -- even though he had a history, had broken a peace bond and she feared for her life.
"The end result was that an outreach worker, after doing a lot of digging, discovered the offender had accessed social assistance in Prince George, so in the end she was given the help she needed," said Alexander.
But in the case of a landed immigrant woman from India who ran into even greater barriers in seeking safety from violence there was no satisfactory end result. "She took her own life," said Alexander.
Elizabeth Fry Society is holding a campaign in July, in partnership with both Boston Pizza outlets in Prince George, to raise funds to fix the roof and leaks in the local shelter and also to help establish a safe haven in Sangise, India for women and children needing safe shelter.
Funds from The Adopt A Shelter campaign will be split 50-50 between the local transition house and the house in India where the fastest growing crime is violence, said Alexander.
"A recent study in that country shows every 34 minutes a sexual assault takes place, and every 26 minutes a woman is molested.
Motivated by the story of the woman who committed suicide "our transition house is adopting an organization in Sangise, a feminist, grass-roots organization called Jagruti Seva Sanstha which is in the process of of building a safe haven for women and children needing a safe place to stay," said Alexander.
During the campaign, customers at Boston Pizza can purchase a symbolic house for $2 of which $1 will support the local Elizabeth Fry transition house and $1 will support the transition house in India.
In 2007, the Elizabeth Fry transition house had an occupancy rate 91 per cent for the year, being full or above capacity for 261 days of the year.
Other B.C. cities above the national average in the Maclean's rating survey for sexual assault include Kamloops in 10th spot at 41.73 per cent, Kelowna ranking 13th at 35.92 percent, Victoria ranks 16th at 32.04 per cent and Surrey is in 28th spot at 4.44 per cent .
The survey shows more than 60 Canadian cities fall below the national average for sexual assault
The B.C. city with the lowest rate of sexual assault compared to the national average is North Vancouver in 99th spot with a rate of -69.54 per cent.
In doing the survey, Maclean's considers the cities populations on a per capita basis and calculates the results compared to the national average.
This from Holly/Admin,
Unique article by E. Sue Blume....check it out!
“POST-INCEST SYNDROME” IN WOMEN:
THE INCEST SURVIVORS’ AFTER EFFECTS CHECKLIST
by E. Sue Blume, C.S.W., Diplomate in Clinical Social Work
INCEST is such a traumatic violation that its victims often forget that it even occurred. But the emotional scars live on, confusing in their seeming meaninglessness. Ongoing problems with relationships, sex, trust, touch, addictions, paralyzing depression and guilt can, when the cause is unknown, feel crazy and out of control.
This checklist can be used as a guide to help adult survivors identify themselves and know that there are real reasons for their unrelenting difficulties—that, in fact, these “problems” are actually healthy attempts to cope with an impossible situation.
Incest has traditionally been defined as sex and/or marriage between close relatives. But incest, the most common form of child sexual abuse, is, above all, child abuse—abuse of the child's personal and sexual boundaries by the very person(s) entrusted with her care. And sexual violation can occur through the way a child is talked to or looked at, even when there is no touching at all.
Incest, then, is any use of a minor child to meet the sexual or sexual/emotional needs of one or more persons whose authority is derived through ongoing emotional bonding with that child (parents, step-parents, babysitter, sibling, mother's boyfriend, teacher, priest, family doctor). Note that incest is an abuse of a power relationship, not a blood relationship; it is the violation of trust that damages the child.
Incest is especially common in alcoholic families. On the alcoholic's part this is due to damaged judgment, a need to control others (momentarily satisfied through playing out dominant/submissive gender roles), and inability to identify with other human beings (to care about the damage he does to others). Often the alcoholic does not remember the experience(s), or, applying the same defenses that surround alcoholic drinking and other alcoholic behaviors, he denies, minimizes, projects blame.
But these defenses are not exclusive to perpetrators who are alcoholic—and not all alcohol-related incest is attributable to the disease of alcoholism. Also, families where there is incest, like alcoholic families, have denial systems, and both experience total confusion of boundaries and disregard for the legitimately dependent developing child. As you will see from this list, children of alcoholics and incest survivors share many other characteristics, along with other adults who endured such childhood trauma as battering, etc.
Do you find that you have the majority of items on this list? If so, you could be a survivor of incest. However separate from people that might make you feel, you are not alone. Healing is possible; with help, you can break from self-blame, isolation, and the entrapment of Post-Incest Syndrome.
This list is based on observation and interviews with incest survivors as well as work done by New York Women Against Rape. To all those who contributed to this fact sheet, thank you; your generous sharing of your pain and experiences is a gift to all survivors.
1. Fear of being alone in the dark, of sleeping alone; nightmares (especially of rape, pursuit, threat, entrapment, blood), night terrors
2. Swallowing and gagging sensitivity; repugnance to water on face when bathing or swimming (suffocation feelings)
3. Alienation from body—not at home in own body; failure to heed signals of body or take care of it; poor body image; manipulating body size to avoid sexual attention; compulsive cleanliness, incl. bathing in scalding water; or, total inattention to personal appearance or hygiene
4. Gastrointestinal problems; GYN disorders (including spontaneous vaginal infections); vaginal/internal scarring; headaches; arthritis or joint pain; aversion to doctors (esp. gynecologists, dentists)
5. Wearing a lot of clothing, even in summer; baggy clothes; failure to remove clothing even when appropriate to do so (while swimming, bathing, sleeping); extreme requirement for privacy when using bathroom
6. Eating disorders, drug/alcohol abuse (or total abstinence); other addictions; compulsive behaviors (including compulsive busyness)
7. Self-injury (cutting, burning, etc.) (physical pain is manageable) (this is an addictive pattern); self-destructiveness
8. Phobias, panic
9. Need to be invisible, perfect, or perfectly bad
10. Suicidal thoughts, attempts, obsession (including “passive suicide”)
11. Depression (sometimes paralyzing); seemingly baseless crying
12. Anger issues: inability to recognize, own or express anger; fear of actual or imagined rage; constant anger; intense hostility toward entire gender or ethnic group (“race”) of the perpetrator
13. Dissociation (“splitting”), depersonalization; going into shock, shutdown in crisis (stressful situation always is crisis); psychic numbing; physical pain or numbness associated with particular memory, emotion (e.g. anger) or situation (e.g. sex)
14. Rigid control of thought process; humorlessness or extreme solemnity
15. Childhood hiding, hanging on, cowering in corners (security-seeking behaviors); adult nervousness over being watched or surprised; feeling watched; startle response; hypervigilance
16. Trust issues: inability to trust (trust is not safe); absolute trust that turns to rage when disappointed; trusting indiscriminately
17. High risk taking (“daring the fates”); inability to take risks
EDMONTON — The Supreme Court of Canada will hear an appeal involving an Alberta woman convicted of manslaughter in the sexual assault and murder of 13-year-old Nina Courtepatte.
Stephanie Bird, now 21, was convicted of kidnapping, rape and manslaughter, and was sentenced to 12 years in prison. The verdict was upheld by Alberta's appeal court, but the Crown believed she should have been convicted of first-degree murder.
A three-judge panel agreed Thursday it would grant the appeal by the Crown. The judges who granted leave to appeal gave no reasons for their decision.
The Supreme Court case will be heard on Dec. 11.
On April 3, 2005, a group of people lured Courtepatte and a friend away from the West Edmonton Mall to a golf course outside the city, on the promise of a party.
The group walked Courtepatte to a fairway, where she was smashed and choked with a wrench, beaten with a sledgehammer and stabbed with throwing knives before being raped by two males in the group.
Courtepatte died on the golf course and was discovered by a groundskeeper the next morning.
All five people, including Bird, who were with Courtepatte that night, have faced trials, appeals and lengthy legal proceedings.
One teen girl, nicknamed Buffy, was sentenced to four years in jail and three years of supervision for second-degree murder, the maximum sentence for a youth. The Crown has also appealed that verdict, again looking for a first-degree murder conviction.
Joseph Laboucan, then 19, and Michael Williams, then 17, were both found guilty of murder and are in prison. However, Laboucan has been granted a new trial. Williams' sentence was upheld on appeal.
Michael Briscoe, then 33, was acquitted of murder, but a new trial was granted on appeal.
With files from Canwest News Service
CORNWALL — A public inquiry in eastern Ontario examining institutional responses to sex abuse allegations is asking for more time to complete its report.
The three-year, $40-million Cornwall inquiry heard much testimony about allegations that a pedophile clan operated and public officials covered it up.
Many of the closing submissions focused on urging Commissioner G. Normand Glaude to finally debunk the theory years after rumours spread through the community.
Many suggest the blame for the sensational story, of which provincial police found no evidence, could be placed on former Cornwall police officer Perry Dunlop.
Testimony wrapped in late February and the report was due July 31, but the commission is now requesting an extension until the late fall.
A statement says the report is “substantially completed,” but more time is required for editing, translating and typesetting.
One of the few voices making sense on the drug-clinic issue is a 32-year-old morphine addict who just wants to stay clean...
It takes the honesty of a 32-year-old morphine addict named Jim to make sense of it all.
In just a few minutes standing outside the soon-to-close Braeside methadone clinic, Jim clarifies what politicians, lawyers and doctors have clouded with fear and anger.
For Jim, there are only facts: He alternates down-to-earth observations with long drags off a home-rolled cigarette.
Like his cigarette, his wisdom is basic and to-the-point.
"I think it's all ridiculous," says Jim. "People obviously don't realize that most of the people who come to this clinic are totally clean from drugs and using and so forth."
If he wasn't smoking on the steps of the clinic, you'd never guess Jim was a morphine addict, clean for seven months -- he's healthy, tanned and dressed for work.
Only a few metres away, blue-collar workers dressed much the same buy Slurpees and chips from the convenience store.
Jim's here for the methadone, and though it's a long bus ride into southwest Calgary, he says a quiet community is better for recovering addicts.
"It's good that it's a hard place to get to -- the clinic they had downtown was surrounded by dealers asking if you're looking for dope, while you're on the way to get methadone," he laughs.
He also chuckles at the image of the twitching, desperate addict looking for a free fix at the clinic -- Jim says most people on a methadone program are sober, with homes, jobs and a motivation to stay straight.
Methadone, he says, is what keeps them that way.
"You have to come here to keep from using -- it's like an alcoholic going to AA meetings years after their last drink," he says.
"Once you're an addict, you're an addict for life, and the methadone basically sustains you from using street drugs."
The only patients connected to drugs are those just starting to clean up, says Jim.
"People think we'll come to their community, start committing crimes and dealing drugs, and that's not the case, not at all -- it's absolutely not in our interest to cause trouble," he says.
"The new clients are fresh off the drug scene and they're still using for the first month or so, but then they're clean off drugs.
"Within a month or two they're into their own places, back at work. They're here to change their lives around."
His smoke nearly done, Jim says the real fear for those trying to clean up is the imminent closure of Second Chance Recovery, as announced yesterday.
Jim says addicts who can't get methadone aren't going to stay clean for long.
"If this clinic closes down and AADAC doesn't accept most of the patients, you'll have a lot of addicts going back to the streets doing crime to get their drugs again."
His last statement is said without threat or drama -- it's just a matter-of-fact reality.
And so a 32-year-old former morphine user provides useful information, rather than rhetoric and fear.
If only the same could be said for the two sides in the clinic debate, who seem unable to grasp that it's not methadone being opposed, but methadone clinics in inappropriate locations.
The southwest community of Braeside is the latest villain, with officials at the Second Chance Recovery blaming the community for not wanting 500 addicts near their homes.
For Braeside, the guilt's probably there somewhere, but the shame is hidden behind a smile.
It must to be a massive relief, to be told the methadone clinic in their midst will close as quickly as it opened -- property values are safe, and so are residents, even if the danger was dubious to begin with.
You might ask why Braeside is so selfish, but the real question is why the city is so useless on this issue?
How is it a medical service so necessary, yet so damaging to property values and community morale, isn't covered by a policy which would prevent such hot-potato silliness as the Braeside debacle?
Ald. Brian Pincott hopes to fix later this month.
He wants to make methadone a special service covered by its own land-use policy -- the result will hopefully place clinics in areas such as industrial parks, where property value isn't threatened. It's a sensible policy for those who want to help addicts and for those who love their homes.
For addicts like Jim, it just makes sense.
by Obusitse Kologwe, 07.07.2009
In a case in which a female Zimbabwean national was allegedly raped by his employer, the accused man, Patson Amos, on Friday pleaded not guilty before Francistown Principal Magistrate, Peggy Mandume, citing the court as unfair and irregular in its proceedings.
Amos demanded the court to use the medical report as evidence in his case because he believed it would prove he was innocent and it was of great value to the case.
The magistrate informed Amos that, despite the fact that medical report examination would be of value to the evidence, the court and the prosecution had also not received the medical reports. The magistrate further told the accused that the court would also not rely on the evidence in the medical report as it was not in their possession.
Amos projected before court that the medical report was of greater value to prove his innocence because, during the medical examination, he was told that the results would prove he had sexual contact if it happened three or two days before, which he said he never did.
Amos further blamed the complainant for giving contradicting stories to the police and the evidence she led in court. He asserted that the complainant had informed the police in her statement that the man had sex with her three times during the same day, but she told the court a different story, that he raped her four times.
According to the submission from the prosecution, the incident happened on the 4th January 2008 in Selepa location in Francistown, where Amos is alleged to have raped the woman he had hired as his babysitter.
Amos is alleged to have threatened the complainant with sticks and drove her to his bedroom where he raped her.
Giving evidence in court, Amos pointed out that he never raped the complainant, but had simply hired the woman who later could not perform her duties as they had initially agreed. He pointed out that the feud started after realizing that his children were being neglected and had questioned the complainant who later formed a story against him and reported to the police.
The state brought before court that it found no reason for the complainant to make up a story against the accused over a conflict of not taking care of the children.
It also brought to the court’s attention that the accused’s story was nothing but an afterthought.
The case continues…
PETITION to implement the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
We the undersigned citizens hereby state:
THAT in 1948, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
THAT there are now 192 member countries to the United Nations.
THEREFORE, we urge all member countries to follow the wishes of the General Assembly and cause the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to be disseminated, displayed, read and expounded principally in schools and other educational institutions, without distinction based on the political status of countries or territories.
http://www.youthforhumanrights.org/getactive/petition.html
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran hanged 20 drug traffickers on Saturday, official media reported, days after putting to death 12 other convicted criminals.
The traffickers were executed in a prison in the city of Karaj west of Tehran after being convicted for buying, selling and possessing various drugs, IRNA news agency said.
A total of 700 kg of heroin, cocaine and opium had been seized from the convicted traffickers, who were between 35 and 48 years old, IRNA said.
Murder, adultery, rape, armed robbery, apostasy and drug trafficking are all punishable by death in the Islamic Republic.
The human rights group Amnesty International has listed Iran as the world's second most prolific executioner in 2008 after China, and says Iran executed at least 346 people last year.
This article can be found at http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-40808120090704
BBQ held to mark fifth anniversary of Regina girl who vanished from her home
July 4, 2009, By THE CANADIAN PRESS
REGINA - The posters of a little Saskatchewan girl who disappeared from her home five years ago might be fading, but there's still hope that Tamra Keepness will be found.
A barbecue will be held in Regina on Sunday to remember the smiling five-year-old who was last seen when she went to bed at about 11 p.m. on July 5, 2004. It wasn't until noon the next day that someone noticed she was missing and called police.
Her disappearance sparked one of the largest searches in Regina's history and authorities say they haven't given up.
"I would say there were certainly points along the way where we thought we were close," says Regina police spokeswoman Elizabeth Popowich.
"Yet the fact is (that it's been) five years now and we still don't know exactly how or why Tamra Keepness disappeared and we've not found evidence enough to be able to lay any criminal charges in connection with her disappearance."
Her mother, Lorena Keepness, has maintained her belief that Tamra was snatched by some random deviant, but police have not found any evidence to support that.
Police issued a chronology of the investigation on Friday, hoping to put the case back in the public eye. They say they've probed more than 1,500 tips and have spent thousands of hours investigating the case. The board of police commissioners has also extended the offer of a $25,000 reward for information that would solve the case.
Officials have repeatedly said there are people out there who know what happened, and hope renewed publicity about the anniversary of the girl's disappearance will result in new information.
For now, the matter rests with the historical case unit, but Popowich says that doesn't mean it's gathering dust on a shelf.
"It's still very much an open investigation. "
"Part of the challenge now is that information will come to us - we just can't say when, we don't have control over that part. But we need to be able to recognize its importance and know how it connects with the rest of the case."
Popowich remains optimistic. She said there are cases that are solved "because time changes things."
"Sometimes time gives people the ability to speak about something that they couldn't speak about years before," she said.
"We think that somewhere, someone out there has information that can help conclude this case."
This from Holly/Admin,
Unique article by NP Editor David Kilgour
Among many e-messages coming from Iran in recent days, I found one from a woman especially moving: "... this is the most authentic, grassroots and beautiful movement from the people, by the people and for the people."
Iranians have spoken. Hundreds of thousands have participated in defiant demonstrations in Iran. There have also been rallies around the world, including one last weekend near Paris that drew 90,000 protesters against widespread election fraud and the fist of a regime unleashing terror.
Read the entire article here... http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2009/07/02/david-kilgour-how-canada-can-help-in-iran.aspx
This from Holly/Admin,
I left a very abusive friendship because of his hidden anger. It is too bad that no one is helping him today. It is sad to know he knows his anger problem interferes in his daily life activities. He does know and chooses not to recognize it. At times it felt very abusive, I could not even watch a television show! He debated me about politics and my faith.
When one person does not believe, they do not have the right to tell me what to believe in....it truly was a horrible experience.
I am actually glad the friendship is over!!
I do not have to justify my beliefs.
People like this truly need professional help to really move on.
Thank goodness for people like Dianne Lancaster her writing great information...
1. Love is the emotion that manages anger. It is our emotional response when our needs are met.
2. Love is the creative emotion. In an ideal world, we would all experience sufficient love to create a meaningful, fulfilling, prosperous life. Then anger would not be necessary. As it is, when love has not created the conditions we need, we have that additional, extra-effort emotional tool -- anger -- to interact with those conditions and, ideally, make them better.
3. Because managing anger is an emotional responsibility, the more love we have inside us, the greater our capacity to manage anger.
Self-love is the love we have inside. Adding to our supply of self-love is not self-ish. It is essential to our emotional security and well-being. S elf-love is the source of love from which we experience and express love ... for our children, our family, our intimate relationships, our friends and co-workers, neighbors and community.
4. Efforts to manage anger -- like counting to 10, meditation, working out, getting a massage, wringing a towel, hitting a pillow -- these may help to change the patterns of uncontrolled anger ... but to truly change emotional patterns, emotional options have to be put in place. To truly change the automatic anger-based patterns, loving emotional responses have to be learned.
5. Anger is our emotional response when our needs are not met. If our anger is out of control, then we are continually making choices in our life that disregard certain basic needs. As a parent, we may be trying to give too much to our children or our family without resupplying our own needs. The longer we continue this pattern, the greater the continual buildup of anger.
6. To add to our supply of love so that we have more emotional capacity to manage anger, we must make choices that meet our needs (because love is our emotional response when our needs are met). Time alone, music, art, writing, meditation, sports, time with friends, reading, exercise, being out of doors, better food choices, time management, better financial decisions, keeping the house in order, quality time for the children ... the more of these we experience, the greater our capacity to manage our anger.
7. If our anger is out of control, we lose self-trust and self-respect. We say things we don't mean; do things we regret; and react in ways we can't love. When we promise loved ones we "won't do that again," but then we do, that is because the reservoir of anger inside is so huge and intense it is, literally, uncontrollable.
To reverse this, it is essential to make changes that meet our needs. Anger strips away the capacity to enjoy life. Making small changes that begin to restore hope and joy gives us some sense of control. For example, getting up 10 minutes earlier in the morning so that we don't start every day by frantically rushing to get to work on time.
8. Stopping powerful patterns is difficult. Stopping them when they are already engaged is almost impossible. The patterns must be addressed before they are fully engaged. Building up more love inside (by making changes that meet our needs) is part of the process for reversing uncontrolled anger. Asking loved ones to help at those times can also add to our motivation and capacity to change. We can ask our child to say to us, "I don't feel your love right now." Or, "I need to feel your love right now." Or, "I need you to stop yelling at me and say things in a loving way."
These agreements with our loved ones will give them some power. At those out-of-control times, hearing them say they need to experience our love can help us reconnect with love. Although it is not their responsibility -- it is ours -- to change our unloving emotional behavior, asking them to participate is one change that can help.
9. The purpose of anger is to produce change. Its purposefully disruptive properties are designed to interact in a situation that does not meet our needs, and rearrange the situation so that it does meet our needs. If the intensity of our anger is not sufficient to create the changes we need, then our anger is telling us we either need to change situations -- or we need to change our capacity to respond to the situation differently.
10. Anger is a normal, even appropriate response to certain every-day life events. Rage is an accumulation of unexpressed anger. Anger produces change. Rage destroys everything on its path.
11. Rage indicates the degree to which we feel powerless to create the conditions we need. Rage indicates the degree to which we desperately need to experience love. Rage indicates how desperately inadequate we feel in terms of connecting with the love we need.
12. In an angry exchange, a person may be very angry but still very in touch with love. When a person is angry but not in touch with love, that is rage. When we love what we are saying, love how we are saying it, and are in touch with love for the person we are angry with, that makes our anger safe. Any other conditions make our anger unsafe. Any anger expressed without love is anger turned into rage.
13. Although anger is more intense than love, love is more enduring. Therefore, anger does not displace love. But rage does. When disciplining a child, the child may not like the anger, but if it is expressed with love, the child can trust the anger. If the anger is not expressed with love, then the child learns to distrust anger -- ours and their own -- and that will result in cumulative emotional dysfunction. The child will be afraid to express anger and the unexpressed anger will eventually accumulate into rage.
14. Anger is a proportional emotion. As such, it can be trusted. Unlike rage, anger wells up inside us in proportion to the incident occasioning it. A minor incident will occasion a raised tone of voice. A deliberate abuse will activate a much more powerful response.
If we find ourself expressing more anger than the situation calls for, we are drawing from the reservoir of unexpressed anger -- the reservoir that accumulates into rage. When this happens, it is important to be able to stop the exchange the moment we recognize our response is out of balance. Even if we don't yet have another option developed inside, we can at least say, "I know what I usually say and do at this time and I really don't want to do that again -- but I don't know what else to do -- so I'm at least going to admit that right now, and I really need your help in getting through this moment differently."
15. The hidden message behind anger is, "I need to feel more love." Anger is often an effort to change something outside ourselves. Out-of-control anger is an indication of something needing to change inside. The more intense the anger, the more intense the need to feel love. Finding a way to break out of the out-of-control pattern will reinstate self-love. It will also tap love from the other person. At least by saying, "I'm really trying to do something different right now," the opportunity for accessing self-love is available -- and if the other person can help intercept and redirect the familiar, destructive pattern, new potential is created at that very moment.
16. Whereas love is the enduring emotion, anger is designed to be a non-enduring emotion. Its properties are purposefully uncomfortable so that we do not hold onto anger and allow it to accumulate into rage. If we tend to deny or hide our anger, thinking that doing so will somehow make us more appealing -- attract to us more love -- the absolute opposite is true.
Developing an internal inferno of old, unexpressed anger ensures we will be attracted to, and attractive to, people who have that same reservoir of rage. Emotionally healthy people will sense that rage and not want to risk being emotionally "singed." They may not recognize that it is the rage that keeps them at a distance. They will simply not return phone calls, or they will always be busy when we ask them to go to lunch or to a movie.
17. Unexpressed anger keeps us tied to the past. So long as it is stored up inside us, it keeps us remembering all the arguments. All the incidents. All the abuse, the blame, the times we felt criticized, ignored, lied to and shamed. All the times we were not understood, not valued, not nurtured, not supported, not given a chance, not treated fairly .. and mostly, not loved. Halting those memories as they come up, and directing our attention toward being productive in our life at present, will help diminish the power of the old anger. Making changes in our life so that we do have something we enjoy -- do have something to look forward to -- do have something that reinstates our self-worth and self-love ... these efforts will add to our capacities to change the automatic anger-based patterns that stream through our mind regularly. Indulging in the memories gives them power. Overriding them gives us hope.
18. Anger is to be expressed at the time and to the degree it is felt. Then it is released and the enduring emotion, love, returns. If we manipulate the anger, by denying or suppressing it, then our anger becomes manipulative. It loses its integrity. It becomes untrustworthy and unloving.
To reclaim our emotional integrity requires being honest about our anger, saying at the moment the anger comes up: "I'm feeling angry; this is what I'm angry about; and this is the change I need."
19. Expressing the anger and releasing it enables it to serve its purpose: to challenge a situation to rearrange so that it meets our needs.
20. Expressing the anger in a loving, proportional way ensures it cannot accumulate and become the uncontrolled, uncontrollable, destructive condition of rage.
Summary: If we have sufficient love in our life, we use love to create what we need. If we have sufficient love in our life, we use love to transform anger into patience, understanding, compassion and forgiveness.
If we increasingly experience anger, it is a message about love. To increase our experience of love, the message is about needs.
Managing anger is an emotional responsibility, and the emotion that manages anger is love. To feel more love in our life we must do things that are good for us; do things we enjoy; do things that meet our needs; and be the type of person we can respect and love.
1999 Dianne Lancaster
Very interesting site for learning online!
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary
Do not blame the survivor because no one chooses to be a victim of sexual violence
Believe the survivor
Tell the survivor you are sorry about what happened
Listen and validate
Acknowledge his/her feelings
Ask how you can help
Let him or her know how brave or courageous he/she is for disclosing
Ask if you could help him/her find support groups or therapy
Offer empathy and support
Ask if he/she feels safe
Offer medical attention and reassurance
