The Child Protection eNewsletter

MySpace, Fox Launch Internet Safety Campaign… 
The parent company of MySpace.com and Fox is devoting millions of dollars in television air time and online ad space for a public service campaign on Internet safety.  http://www.newsmax.com  Central to News Corp.'s campaign, announced Thursday, is a spot featuring Kiefer Sutherland, who plays Jack Bauer on the Fox action drama "24."  "On TV Jack Bauer has 24 hours to make the world safe.  In real life it only takes a few minutes to do the same for our kids," Sutherland says.  "To protect them you don't need the latest state-of-the-art technology.  You just need a few simple tips:  Don't let them run into trouble on the Internet - use common sense."

The campaign comes as parents, schools and law-enforcement officials increasingly warn about the dangers of sexual predators at social-networking sites, which provide messaging and other tools to encourage users to expand their circles of friends.  http://public.findlaw.com  MySpace.com is the most visited website in the U.S.  vol4_iss29

Meanwhile, with heightened concerns over sexual predators lurking at so-called social-networking sites,  vol4_iss22 and vol4_iss19  state attorneys general have called for such communities, particularly MySpace, to improve age and identity checks.  http://www.cbsnews.com

Elizabeth Smart Champions New Sex Offender Registry Bill… 
Elizabeth Smart does not want others to experience the ordeal she endured when she was kidnapped in 2002.  That is why she is championing a national sex offender registry bill.  http://abcnews.go.com  The proposed bill would make it a crime for sex offenders not to register with their state and would require states to share information when an offender moved to a new state.  It passed the House on a voice vote in March and has broad support, but has been delayed because Democrats say it should include hate crimes legislation opposed by Republican leaders.  vol4_iss20 and vol4_iss11  Meanwhile, attorneys for the woman accused in the 2002 abduction of then-14-year-old Elizabeth Smart are seeking to appeal a ruling that she may be forcibly medicated in an attempt to restore her competency for trial.  http://hosted.ap.org

Va. Man Gets 150 Years for Child Porn… 
A Virginia man was sentenced to 150 years in prison for sexually exploiting minors and operating child pornography websites.  http://hosted.ap.org  Gregory John Mitchel, who previously had been convicted of child pornography crimes, pleaded guilty in January to the production, distribution, sale and possession of child pornography.  Mitchel was implicated by Justin Berry, 19, who for five years starred in his own Web cam child pornography business and has testified before Congress about Internet child pornography.  (see vol4_iss22,  vol4_iss17,  vol4_iss16  and  vol4_iss1)

In other news...  
Andrea Yates was so ashamed after drowning her five children in the bathtub that she avoided her distraught husband when he arrived home, just one of many signs that she knew the killings were wrong, a forensic psychiatrist testified Monday.  http://public.findlaw.com  Dr. Michael Welner, who evaluated Yates for two days in May, told jurors that Yates said she called 911 because she wanted police to arrive before her mother-in-law did so the older woman wouldn't see what she had done.  Yates said she also wanted officers to break the news to her husband - although she had called him and asked him to come home, Welner said.

A federal judge has blocked enforcement of Georgia law that prohibits sex offenders from living within 1000 feet of a school bus stop.  http://www.foxnews.com

A Dutch court said on Monday the Brotherly Love, Freedom and Diversity party (PNVD),  vol4_iss24  a political party formed by pedophiles, could not be banned as it had the same right to exist as any other party and was protected by democratic freedoms.  http://abcnews.go.com  The party’s treasurer was convicted in 1997 of molesting an 11 year old boy.

The judge halted jury selection Thursday in the trial of a sex offender accused of kidnapping 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford and burying her alive, saying it was difficult to find jurors who hadn’t been exposed to media reports or other discussions of the case.  msnbc.msn.com

A teenage girl reunited with her father last year after a decade in foster care is suing Los Angeles County for taking so long to bring them together.  http://hosted.ap.org  The lawsuit alleges that the Department of Children and Family Services failed to use "due diligence" to locate Thomas Smith.  It claims the agency never notified Smith, who had continued making child support payments, that his daughter was in foster care and never gave him a chance to claim her.

A sex offender who was sentenced to probation instead of prison partly because of his short stature was classified as a high risk to reoffend.  http://hosted.ap.org  Richard W. Thompson was rated Wednesday after assessment in 14 areas by the Nebraska State Patrol, said Dr. Shannon Black, clinical director of the patrol's Sex Offender Registry.


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