The Child Protection eNewsletter

N.Y. legislature eyes civil commitment for child sex offenders…
In the legal combat against sex offenders, local and state governments have done everything from using global tracking systems and banning released offenders from local parks to stopping them from working on ice cream trucks. http://www.nytimes.com Now, New York is preparing to go a big step further, with lawmakers passing bills that would allow for the civil commitment of some sex offenders after they are released from prison. And in his budget, Governor George E. Pataki included a $130 million plan to raze a prison north of Binghamton and replace it with a compound to house up to 500 sex offenders who have already served their sentences. More than a dozen other states have enacted civil commitment laws, which have been upheld by the United States Supreme Court.

Governor Pataki had ordered some sex offenders held beyond their release dates while the legislature balked at passing the civil commitment law. A judge has ordered hearings for a second group of convicted sex offenders who, under orders from the New York governor, are being held in a mental hospital after finishing their prison sentences. http://hosted.ap.org Justice Jacqueline Silbermann ruled that 10 inmates were denied due process when they were taken to Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Center after their sentences expired without mental health hearings. The judge in November found that 12 sex offenders -- known as "John Does" -- were held illegally after their sentences ended for crimes including sodomizing and raping children. To date, none has been released because a judge stayed the order after Pataki objected. vol3_iss62 and vol3_iss56

Olympic U. S. Flagbearer Chris Witty broke silence about sex abuse …
Speed skater Chris Witty remembers standing on the medals podium in the 1998 and 2002 Olympics -- remembers the crowd cheering, the anthem playing and the television lights glowing -- and wishing she could tell everyone what was "really going on in my head." http://www.sun-sentinel.com "How do I start? I had issues of child sex abuse from when I was a kid." Witty says she was sexually abused when she was about 4 by a neighbor. Witty has gone public with her story so that she can help bring awareness of and healing for a socially stigmatizing epidemic. http://www.earnedmedia.org

In other news…
Joseph P. Smith, the man convicted of raping and strangling an 11-year-old Florida girl, Carlie Brucia, tearfully apologized Tuesday for the pain his crime caused and asked a judge to spare his life for the sake of his own children. http://www.cnn.com The case drew national attention after a car wash security camera showed Carlie, who had been walking home from a friend's house, being led away by a man in a blue shirt. A jury convicted Smith, 39, in November and recommended 10-2 that he be put to death. The ultimate decision rests with Judge Owens.

Fifteen-year-old "Debbie" is the middle child in a close-knit Air Force family from suburban Phoenix, and a straight-A student -- the last person most of us would expect to be forced into the seamy world of sex trafficking. http://abcnews.go.com But Debbie, which is not her real name, is one of thousands of young American girls who authorities say have been abducted or lured from their normal lives and made into sex slaves. While many Americans have heard of human trafficking in other parts of the world -- Thailand, Cambodia, Latin America and Eastern Europe, for example -- few people know it happens here in the United States. The FBI estimates that well over 100,000 children and young women are trafficked in America today. They range in age from 9 to 19, with the average age being 11. For more on the Administration’s continuing war on trafficking in persons, we suggest you visit http://www.state.gov/g/tip/.

Of the nearly 250,000 kidnappings reported each year in the United States, more than three-quarters are perpetrated by someone the child knows, usually a parent, according to the Department of Justice. http://www.msnbc.msn.com While some parents flee with children to escape abuse, most do not have their child’s best interests in mind, said Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. “There are legitimate circumstances for taking a child, but 80 percent of cases involve children taken out of anger or vengeance against a spouse, not love for a child,” he said. The problem is that this could still leave thousands of cases where a protective parent has taken a child to save it from abuse. In either case, the abduction is traumatic for the child.

Youngsters who hit puberty earlier than their peers may have a higher risk of later being victimized, including being involved in physical fights or getting shot or stabbed, new study findings suggest. http://www.nlm.nih.gov

Pediatrics Magazine reports that a blood test may detect infant abuse. http://www.nlm.nih.gov Increased levels of certain proteins detectable in blood or cerebrospinal fluid may signal inflicted traumatic brain injury in well-appearing infants with vague, nonspecific symptoms, such as vomiting or fussiness, study findings suggest.



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