The Child Protection eNewsletter

Wacko Jacko...
Michael Jackson is back in the headlines this week as a California judge refuses to lower his $3 million bail on child molestation charges. http://tinyurl.com/3v92n. The judge cited grand jury transcripts which indicated “detailed evidence” that Jackson planned to travel to Brazil with the accuser’s family, apparently against their will. NBC’s Dateline reported that another child had come forward in 1993 when Jackson was first publicly accused of child sexual abuse and was paid $2 million by Jackson. (http://tinyurl.com/6jqnq and http://tinyurl.com/5mnoq) Further, a new book, “All That Glitters: The Crime and the Cover-up” claims that Jackson paid $25 million to yet another boy. http://tinyurl.com/4a48a This book is written by the uncle of the boy in question. The author claims he will post the court documents related to this case on a website at http://www.atgbook.net/ this weekend. (We will report back next week on whether or not they appear.)

Sex, teens and television...
A new study by the Rand Corp. entitled “Does Watching Sex on Television Influence Teens’ Sexual Activity?” found that “teens who watch a lot of television with sexual content are more likely to initiate intercourse in the following year; that television in which characters talk about sex affects teens just as much as television that actually shows sexual activity; and shows that portray the risks of sex can help educate teens.” http://tinyurl.com/46fte The study appears in the September issue of Pediatrics. http://www.pediatrics.org

In other news...
A new survey last week indicates that a third of workers admit to passing pornography on to others at work and half of all workers say that they have been exposed to sexually explicit material by co-workers. http://tinyurl.com/465to Year after year surveys consistently show that about a third of all employees continue to view adult-related material at work. The American Management Associations says that 25% of U.S. companies have terminated an employee because of e-mail misbehavior, up from 22 percent last year and 17 percent in 2001.

Finally, Sunday, September 12 th is Grandparents Day. As we reported several weeks ago, 54% of grandmothers and 38% of grandfathers provide child care to their grandchildren who live nearby on a regular basis. http://www.childprotectionprogram.org/newsletter/vol2_iss29.html In fact, they spend an average of 23 hours a week doing so.


*for access to member only sites like the New York Times, use the ID "JohnDoeID" and the password "whatever". On sites asking for an email address, feel free to use "info@childprotectionprogram.org"