The Child Protection eNewsletter

Congress takes aim at child pornography…
A Russian girl who thought she was headed for a better life after being adopted by a Pittsburgh man described to Congress in written testimony the horrific pain of her experiences as a victim of online child pornography. abcnews.go.com The details were chilling. "You have to do something about the Internet," she wrote. "Matthew (Mancuso) found the adoption agency on the Internet. They let him look at my pictures from Russia on the Internet even though they didn't really know anything about him.” "Matthew put my pictures on the Internet after he got me. People are still downloading them even though he has been in prison for two years," Masha said. Mancuso was caught after an image of Masha taken at the Walt Disney World Resort sparked a hunt for the girl and her abuser. They were found in 2003, and a year later Mancuso received a 35-year prison sentence on federal pornography charges, with additional charges still pending.

CNN Headline News and Court TV journalist Nancy Grace also testified before Congress. As a former prosecutor in Atlanta, she worked on many child sex abuse cases and said putting the perpetrators in jail was like "putting a Band-Aid on a gaping wound that needed surgery." abcnews.go.com It is a cause she has embraced as a journalist. "We need to crack down on these perverts that are targeting our children online and who are peddling their images," Grace said on "Good Morning America." "Judges have to stop being lenient and start handing down hard sentences. We need more stings, more law enforcement officers on the job rounding up the pedophiles. There's just not enough being done." CNN has posted video of her testimony at www.cnn.com

At Congressional hearings last month, Justin Berry testified that 1500 leads he gave federal prosecutors were never prosecuted. vol4_iss17 and vol4_iss16

GPS enabled phones turn moms into secret agents…
While mobile technology certainly puts some children more at risk, vol4_iss20 it also offers new resources for parents. www.foxnews.com Donna Butler’s 18-year-old daughter hit the road with a friend for a trip that would take about two hours each way. With her daughter’s friend behind the wheel, Donna wasn’t exactly comfortable. But she had a secret weapon: global positioning system, or GPS, enabled in her daughter Danielle’s cell phone. “I told her to call me when she got there, and after three hours, I hadn’t heard from her, so I was concerned,” says Butler. “So I tried calling her first, and when she didn’t answer, I pulled her up on the computer. She was where she was supposed to be, but the car at that point was clocked at 90 mph.” That’s right: Through the GPS monitoring system, Donna could tell exactly where Danielle was, what direction she was going in, and exactly how fast.

In other news...
Twelve boys in the first and second grade at a St. Louis elementary school are accused of sexually assaulting a second-grade girl during recess, authorities said Tuesday. www.foxnews.com One teacher who was supposed to be supervising the recess has been fired, and another suspended with pay.

As the cost of clergy sex abuse surpasses $1.5 billion, some U.S. Roman Catholic leaders are taking an aggressive, public stand against attorneys who represent victims. hosted.ap.org The new development in the long-running clergy abuse crisis was partly triggered by proposals in several statehouses this year that would create a brief period when molestation claims could be filed even if the time limits for lawsuits had passed.

The Senate passed sweeping legislation to set mandatory minimum sentences for people convicted of sex crimes against children and set up a public database linking state lists of sex offenders. www.foxnews.com By voice vote, the Senate approved the bill, sponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. The House passed a similar measure in March as part of a broader crime bill. The bills, which differ on matters ranging from courthouse security to hate crimes to registration of juvenile sex offenders, must be reconciled by negotiators from each chamber before the legislation is sent to the White House for President Bush's signature.

After a pregnant 14-year-old from Nebraska drove to Kansas last year to marry her 22-year-old boyfriend (now serving time for having sex with the minor), Kansas lawmakers decided it was time to set a minimum marriage age. www.cnn.com The Kansas House vote 119-0 to approve a bill that would prohibit anyone under the age of 15 from marrying in Kansas and would set strict limits for would-be brides or grooms under the age of 18. The Senate approved it a day earlier, 36-4.


*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"