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Archives > Volume 7 Issue 66 - November 10, 2009 Women now account for 25% of UK child sex abuse reports...The number of children reporting sexual abuse by women to ChildLine has more than doubled over the past five years, the British charity said. AFP article here 
ChildLine said there has been a 132 percent rise in complaints of female sexual abuse, compared with a 27 percent increase in reports of sexual abuse by men.
In the past year, 2,142 children told the charity that they have been sexually assaulted by a woman, while 6,000 said their abuser was a man. ChildLine said sexual abuse by women now accounts for nearly 25 percent of all calls to its helpline service where the offender's gender can be identified. The statistics follow the recent case of nursery worker Vanessa George who was a member of a pedophile ring. George is awaiting sentencing after pleaded guilty last month to seven sexual assaults and six counts of making and distributing indecent pictures of children. See more on that story at vol7_iss56. ChildLine president Esther Rantzen said the report "has shattered common myths about sexual abuse". "It does not only happen to girls, as many people believe. It happens to boys too," she said. The research showed that boys were more likely to say they had been abused by a woman (1,722 cases) than by a man (1,651). In contrast, girls were over 10 times likelier to report being abused by a male (4,972) than by a female (420). The report found that most children who disclosed sexual abuse to ChildLine were aged between 12-15, and most said they knew their attacker. "Mothers can sometimes sexually abuse their sons. And the report found that when girls are sexually abused, by far the most common perpetrator is not a stepfather, as many believe, but the biological father," said Rantzen. Previous research by the NSPCC suggested women may be responsible for about one in 20 sex offences committed against children. Stepfather convicted in "Baby Grace" murder... Two years after the remains of a toddler who came to be known as "Baby Grace" were dumped in Galveston Bay, the child's stepfather was convicted of capital murder in her beating death. AP News story here 
The remains of Riley Ann Sawyer - weighing 12 pounds and stuffed into a plastic container - remained unidentified for nearly a month after they were discovered October 2007. Investigators dubbed the child "Baby Grace."
Then Sheryl Sawyers of Mentor, Ohio, a Cleveland suburb, saw an artist's sketch and told Texas police she thought the child might be her missing granddaughter. "I wish I hadn't been right," Sheryl Sawyers said Friday. Riley's stepfather, Royce Clyde Zeigler II, was convicted of capital murder Friday and will receive an automatic life sentence without parole because prosecutors did not seek the death penalty. Jurors, who deliberated for 4 1/2 hours after an eight day trial, could have convicted Zeigler of a lesser charge of manslaughter. Riley's mother, Kimberly Trenor, was convicted of capital murder in February and is serving a life sentence. "The two people responsible for her murder have been convicted," Galveston County District Attorney Kurt Sistrunk said. "It's a good day for Riley." For more on this story, see vol5_iss72, vol5_iss77, vol5_iss78, and vol6_iss70. In other news... 
A seemingly divided Supreme Court wrestled Monday with whether teenagers can be locked away forever for their crimes. MSNBC News story here The question arose in two cases involving Florida men who are serving life prison terms with no chance of parole for crimes they committed as teenagers. Their lawyers argue that the sentences for people so young are cruel and unusual, in violation of the Constitution, because young people have greater capacity to change. Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the Supreme Court opinion four years ago that ruled out the death penalty for people under 18, judging them less responsible than adults. So most eyes were on him as the court considered whether to extend that rationale to life without parole sentences. But Kennedy offered little hint of his position, at one point suggesting it might be difficult to distinguish between juveniles and adults in cases that do not involve the death penalty. "Why does a juvenile have a constitutional right to hope, but an adult does not?" he asked. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg provided a possible answer, wondering whether teenagers can be accurately evaluated at the time they are sentenced. It may be possible that only after some years have passed that the state can determine, "Has this person overcome those youthful disabilities?" she said. On the other side of the issue, Justice Samuel Alito questioned whether every last juvenile offender had to be given a second chance. "Some of the actual cases in which this sentence has been imposed in Florida involve factual situations that are so horrible that I couldn't have imagined them if I hadn't actually seen them," Alito said, recounting two that involved the rape of children.
Conventional wisdom has always been that team sports build character, cooperation, and leadership skills. But new research suggests that being on the school football team may also be hurting your teen, especially boys. ABC News story here On a study presented Monday at the American Public Health Association's 137th Annual Meeting and Exposition in Philadelphia, teen sports may be associated with risky behavior. Researchers examined survey responses from 13,000 high school students concerning unhealthy behaviors such as engaging in violence, drinking and binge drinking as well as smoking. What they found was that the young men who participated in team sports were found more likely to participate in these risky behaviors compared to those who were not involved in sports. Conversely, young women participating in sports were found to have fewer rates of depression, marijuana use, and smoking. But some child development experts caution that the research does not prove that participation in organized sports causes risky behavior. George Scarlett, assistant professor of the Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development at Tufts University in Boston, explains, "[These] findings are based on correlations - and correlations never establish cause and effect. "The impression given is that sports somehow cause risky behavior, but the correlations do not say this," he continued. "They merely say the two co-occur."
Of all the sinister things that Internet viruses do, this might be the worst: They can make you an unsuspecting collector of child pornography. AP News story here Heinous pictures and videos can be deposited on computers by viruses - the malicious programs better known for swiping your credit card numbers. In this twist, it's your reputation that's stolen. Pedophiles can exploit virus-infected PCs to remotely store and view their stash without fear they'll get caught. Pranksters or someone trying to frame you can tap viruses to make it appear that you surf illegal Web sites. An Associated Press investigation found cases in which innocent people have been branded as pedophiles after their co-workers or loved ones stumbled upon child porn placed on a PC through a virus. It can cost victims hundreds of thousands of dollars to prove their innocence. Their situations are complicated by the fact that actual pedophiles often blame viruses - a defense rightfully viewed with skepticism by law enforcement. "It's an example of the old 'dog ate my homework' excuse," says Phil Malone, director of the Cyberlaw Clinic at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society. "The problem is, sometimes the dog does eat your homework."
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