Issue 81 – July 2008

S M A R T
(Stop Mind control And Ritual abuse Today)
P. O Box 1295, Easthampton, MA 01027-1295 USA E-mail: SMARTNEWS@aol.com

The purpose of this newsletter is to help stop secretive organizations and groups from abusing others and to help those who allege they have been abused by such organizations and groups. This newsletter is not a substitute for other ways of recovering from ritual abuse. Readers should use caution while reading this newsletter. If necessary, make sure other support systems are available during and after reading this newsletter.

Important: The resources mentioned in this newsletter are for educational value only. Reading the books cited may or may not help your recovery process, so use caution when reading any book or contacting any resource mentioned in this newsletter. Some may have a religious or other agenda that may be separate from your own recovery process. Others may have valuable information on the Masons and other organizations, but have triggers or be somewhat sympathetic to those organizations. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, the views expressed in this newsletter constitute expressions of opinion, and readers are cautioned to form their own opinions and draw their own conclusions by consulting a variety of sources, including this newsletter. Resources listed, quoted and individual articles, etc. and their writers do not necessarily support all or any of the views mentioned in this newsletter. Also, the views, facts and opinions mentioned in this newsletter are solely the opinions of the authors and are not necessarily the opinions of this newsletter or its editor.

SMART wants to thank all those that have contributed resource information to the newsletter.

Information on next summer’s conference is available by writing us at the above address or by going to http://members.aol.com/smartnews/smart-2008-conference.htm

Information on last summer’s conference tapes is available by writing us at the above address or by going to http://members.aol.com/smartnews/smart-2007-conference.htm

Resources and Information

Please note: Listing of these resources does not necessarily constitute our endorsement of them. They are for educational value only and some may be heavy for survivors to read. Some of the conferences listed may not necessarily be safe for all survivors. S.M.A.R.T. recommends always bringing a support person to all conferences. If you are a survivor of mind control and/or ritual abuse, S.M.A.R.T. recommends that you try to bring a support person that is familiar with mind control techniques. LMS: article from ACHES-MC (Advocacy Committee for Human Experimentation Survivors – Mind Control) for unconsentually federally funded mind control as children or adults Canada contact Lynne Moss-Sharman, 230 Miles St. E. #3, Thunder Bay, Ont. P7C 1J6, lsharman@shaw.ca

Legal Information

from LMS – State removes 52 girls from polygamist ranch – CPS received a tip about sexual abuse in isolated religious sect by Janet Elliot 4/4/08 – Austin – Fifty-two girls, including 18 suspected abuse victims, were removed by state officials Friday from the West Texas compound where a religious sect kept them isolated from the outside world….The complex of dormitory-style buildings and a large temple was founded four years ago by polygamist leader Warren Jeffs, who was convicted last year in Utah of being an accomplice to the rape of a 14-year-old girl….The complex of dormitory-style buildings and a large temple was founded four years ago by polygamist leader Warren Jeffs, who was convicted last year in Utah of being an accomplice to the rape of a 14-year-old girl….The social workers spent Thursday night and Friday questioning people living at the complex. They determined that 18 girls, ranging in age from 6 months to 17 years, had been abused or were at immediate risk of future abuse….The sudden police invasion of the religious sect, which is not associated with the mainstream Mormon Church, reminded some of the deadly federal raid 15 years ago of the Branch Davidian complex near Waco….”There was reason to believe a girl had called in and said she was being raped,” Black said. “There also was reason to believe they were heavily armed out there.” Members of the sect from Utah, known as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, arrived in Texas in late 2003. They purchased the 1,700-acre ranch four miles outside of Eldorado, a town of 2,000, and began construction….Jeffs was convicted in September. A 14-year-old girl testified she was forced to wed her cousin. He was sentenced to two consecutive terms of five years to life. Testimony indicated he performed the ceremony and forced the girl to marry the 19-year-old man and have sex with him. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5676830.html

from LMS Over 400 Kids Taken From Polygamist Sect By Michelle Roberts, AP Writer 4/7/08 Eldorado, Texas (AP) – More than 400 children, mostly girls in pioneer dresses, were swept into state custody from a polygamist sect in what authorities described Monday as the largest child-welfare operation in Texas history. The days long raid on the sprawling compound built by now-jailed polygamist leader Warren Jeffs was sparked by a 16-year-old girl’s call to authorities that she was being abused and that girls as young as 14 and 15 were being forced into marriages with much older men. Dressed in home-sewn, ankle-length dresses with their hair pinned up in braids, some 133 women left the Yearning for Zion Ranch of their own volition along with the children. State troopers were holding an unknown number of men in the compound until investigators finished executing a house-to-house search of the 1,700-acre property, which includes a medical facility, a cheese-making plant, a cement plant, a school, numerous large housing units and an 80-foot white limestone temple that rises discordantly out of the brown scrub. “In my opinion, this is the largest endeavor we’ve ever been involved in in the state of Texas,” said Children’s Protective Services spokesman Marleigh Meisner, who said the agency was also involved in the 1993 siege of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco. The members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints spent their days raising numerous children, tilling small gardens and doing chores. But at least one former resident says life was not some idyllic replica of 19th-century life. “Once you go into the compound, you don’t ever leave it,” said Carolyn Jessop, one of the wives of the alleged leader of the Eldorado complex. Jessop left with her eight children before part of the sect moved to Texas. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/04/04/national/a132730D77.DTL

describes crimes – Woman describes ‘escape’ from polygamy – She left the same sect that 534 women, children were freed from in Texas – By Mike Celizic TODAYShow.com contributor – 4/8/08 – A polygamous community in Texas that follows the teaching of The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints practices pedophilia, torture and child abuse under the guise of a religion, according to a woman who escaped the sect with her eight children five years ago. “I think it’s a form of pedophilia hiding behind a religion as a protection,” Carolyn Jessop told TODAY’s Matt Lauer from Salt Lake City on Tuesday. “There’s just a desire to control and manipulate and torture people, and religion is just used as the cover.”….Police removed 401 children and 133 women from the compound on warrants issued by a judge, who deemed them to be under imminent danger of physical abuse….When Jessop was a member of the sect, it was centered in Colorado City, Ariz., on the Utah border. The 1,700-acre Texas compound was built after she left. The sect’s leader, Warren Jeffs, was sentenced to 10 years in prison last September after being found guilty of two counts of first-degree accomplice rape for sanctioning the forced marriage of a 14-year-old girl to her 19-year-old cousin….She has written a book about her experience entitled “Escape,” and in it, she talks about being totally cut off from the world and not being allowed to watch television or read newspapers or magazines. “Everything you did was monitored and controlled and everybody reported on everyone else,” she said. “It was a police state. You were not allowed to make decisions in your life. I had no power over my life or the lives of my children. It was a terrible way to live.” The alleged control began in infancy. “The method he would use with infants was a form of water torture,” Jessop said of her former husband. “He would spank the baby until it was screaming out of control, and then he would hold the baby face up under a tap of running water so it couldn’t breathe. He would do this repeatedly. Sometimes, it would go on for an hour, until the baby was so exhausted it couldn’t cry anymore. This method he called ‘breaking them.'” To a child, the abuse becomes normal, she said, and resistance becomes unthinkable to most. “With this level of mind control, it’s something you’re born into and it’s generational. The babies born into this, they don’t stand a chance from the beginning,” she said….The fundamentalist group claims to hold to the original teachings of Joseph Smith, who founded the Mormon religion in rural upstate New York in 1830. It is not recognized by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which renounced plural marriage in 1904 under pressure from the federal government. There are a number of fundamentalist branches with compounds in Utah, Arizona, Idaho, Mexico and Texas, according to Jon Krakauer’s book, “Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith.” http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24009286/

Woman Who Escaped Polygamous Sect Revisits Past – Laurene Jessop Confronts Husband Who Also Married Her Sister — Will She Forgive Him? 3/1/06 ‘Keep Sweet’ – When Laurene finally spoke up about her “sister wife,” Laurene said Jessop called the sect police, who forcibly removed Laurene from her home — she says for not following the law that says plural wives must obey their husband. “These are state-certified policemen who have been ordered by the prophet, or an elder, to come in there and arrest me,” Laurene said. She said she was handcuffed, put in a police car and taken to a mental institution in Flagstaff, Ariz., more than 200 miles away from her children. Laurene returned home and said she was sent to the institution three more times. She says she found it impossible to be the perfect servant to her husband’s every whim, even though it was the law of the land….Confronting Abuse – In Colorado City, Laurene says men wield absolute power over both wives and children. For Laurene, a much harsher indoctrination into the male-dominated culture began before she was even married. She said she was sexually abused by her father. “The sexual abuse started about the time I started developing,” she said. “There was no safe place to go. There would be several of us girls in the room, and he would come into the house and go around and put — kiss each one of the girls — put his hand down your blouse, say, ‘Oh, looks like you’re getting bigger, you know, you’re developing, you’re coming along very well here.'” Laurene and 12 of her sisters reported being molested, though they say the abuse stopped short of actual intercourse. In 1983 their father, Jack Cooke, pleaded guilty to sexual assault and went to prison for five years. http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/Story?id=1672757&page=1 (through 4)

40 more women in polygamy sect opt for shelters By Janet Elliot 4/25/08 Austin – Forty women opted Thursday to go to a family violence shelter rather than return to the West Texas ranch where authorities allege children are unsafe because of the polygamist group’s practice of “spiritually marrying” underage girls to older men. Seven of the women who had been staying with their children in public shelters for the past three weeks returned to the Yearning for Zion ranch near Eldorado. The number of women choosing to go to an undisclosed family violence shelter was a turnaround from last week, when six sought shelter and 51 returned to the isolated compound.http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5729490.html

Court orders return of sect children to parents – About 440 seized from polygamist compound; ruling shatters state’s case 5/29/08 The Texas Supreme Court decides children in polygamist custody case must be returned to their parents. NBC’s Pete Williams reports. MSNBC – SAN ANTONIO – In a crushing blow to the state’s massive seizure of children from a polygamist sect’s ranch, the Texas Supreme Court ruled Thursday that child welfare officials overstepped their authority and the children should go back to their parents. The high court affirmed a decision by an appellate court last week, saying Child Protective Services failed to show an immediate danger to the more than 400 children swept up from the Yearning For Zion Ranch nearly two months ago. “On the record before us, removal of the children was not warranted,” the justices said in their ruling issued in Austin…..Texas officials claimed at one point that there were 31 teenage girls at the ranch who were pregnant or had been pregnant, but later conceded that about half of those mothers, if not more, were adults. One was 27. Under Texas law, children can be taken from their parents if there’s a danger to their physical safety, an urgent need for protection and if officials made a reasonable effort to keep the children in their homes. The high court agreed with the appellate court that the seizures fell short of that standard. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24878696/

31 of 53 teen girls at FLDS ranch have been pregnant By Michelle Roberts AP Press Writer San Antonio – More than half the teen girls taken from a polygamist compound in west Texas either are pregnant or have children, state officials said Monday. A total of 53 girls between the ages of 14 and 17 are in state custody after a raid 3 1/2 weeks ago at the Yearning For Zion Ranch in Eldorado. Of those girls, 31 have children or are pregnant, said Child Protective Services spokesman Darrell Azar. “It shows you a pretty distinct pattern, that it was pretty pervasive,” he said. State officials took custody of all 463 children at the ranch controlled by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, saying a pattern of teen girls forced into underage “spiritual” marriages and sex with much older men created an unsafe environment for the sect’s children. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/5736597.html

A ‘village’ of child sexual abuse By Ellen Goodman 5/16/08 “In the world of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, “spiritual marriage” between older men and underage girls – what the law defines as rape – is given the stamp of religious approval. Of 53 girls believed to be between 14 and 17, more than 30 have children or are pregnant, including one who gave birth to her second child in custody. Among the boys, too, there is suspicion of widespread physical abuse….Nevertheless, what do we make of an entire sect that has sexual abuse at its very heart? That believes plural “marriages” between older men and underage women are not an aberration but a pathway to heaven? Nobody can prosecute the FLDS for what they believe, says Marci Hamilton, author of “God vs. the Gavel.” “They can stay together and believe what they want into eternity. What they can’t do is illegal action.” She compares their community to a crack house. “If you go into a drug den in a burnt-out rowhouse and all the adults are drug addicts, how can you leave the children there?” Hamilton calls this sect a “conspiracy of adults to commit systematic child sex abuse.”….Individual hearings will begin next week. I hope that the children and mothers will tell the truth rather than follow the admonition to “keep sweet.” I hope mothers will choose their children over obedience to their patriarchs. But in the end, what we have on that ranch in Eldorado is not a lifestyle. It’s a pedophile ring. If we cannot rescue children from that, we’ve already destroyed their village.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/05/16/a_village_of_child_sexual_abuse/

Polygamy and the Law – 400 Children Removed From Religious Sect’s Texas Ranch – Marci Hamilton 4/8/08 Marci Hamilton, a leading church/state expert who specializes on the issue of whether religious practices that violate the law should be accommodated, law professor at Princeton University and author of “God vs. the Gavel: Religion and the Rule of Law” and the upcoming “Justice Denied: What American Can Do To Protect Its Children,” was online Tuesday, April 8, at 2 p.m. ET to discuss the situation in Texas….What types of people join these organizations and agree to live their lives like this? Marci Hamilton: Most are born into the organization, so they do not make a conscious “choice” to join. A few escape, like the members of Tapestry, an organization of formerly polygamous wives in Utah, but most never do. They are not permitted to watch television or be exposed to the outside influences that might persuade them there is a better life than the one they are living. The FLDS’s “success” depends in no small part on its insularity. Annapolis, Md.: How restrictive are the churches on the movement of the people that live there? Are they ever able to leave the grounds? Do they truly believe that it is a religion and did they make the choice to join? Marci Hamilton: Every move is monitored. A number of boys are abandoned by the group to keep the numbers favorable to the men, and when they are dropped off on street corners in cities like Phoenix or Salt Lake City, it is often the first time they have ever been outside the group. They have been dubbed the “lost boys” for good reason….Washington, D.C.: Don’t blame “Big Love”! I love the TV show. Marci Hamilton: Sorry– the t.v. show is propaganda for an organization that engages in persistent child and spousal abuse….In the U.S., polygamy is usually portrayed as being in secluded, white communities in the western states. Is there any evidence of significant polygamous activity outside of that stereotype? Marci Hamilton: Polygamy has been a staple of Islamic culture around the world, and is still practiced in some countries. Your second point is accurate- it’s all about who has the power — the education, the wealth, and the physical capacity to insist on their way. That’s true in every abuse situation, sadly.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2008/04/08/DI2008040801532_pf.html

Former polygamist wife blasts court ruling on sect kids’ seizure 5/22/08 By Courtney Zubowski / 11 News – Houston – Carolyn Jessop, a 40-year-old mother of eight, lived on the FLDS compound ruled by Warren Jeffs in Arizona for most of her life. So when she heard about a court ruling Thursday that condemned the state’s seizure of hundreds of children from an FLDS ranch in West Texas, she was particularly upset. “Absolutely tragic. I am actually horrified a judge would make that decision,” Jessop said. Jessop said she saw a future for the children who were taken from the ranch, but the ruling was a huge blow to that hope. “Even the remote concept, the remote concept they could be handed back when this level of child abuse is being exposed, it’s unbelievable to me,” she said. Jessop was 18 when she married a 50-year-old man on the FLDS compound in Arizona. He had four wives and 34 kids. Five years ago, it just got to be too much for Jessop, and she left. http://www.khou.com/topstories/stories/khou080522_tnt_polygamistinsider.1c6a8038.html

Official: Sex abuse of boys in sect possible – Texas investigators give few details, cite journal entries, interviews 4/30/2008 Austin, Texas – Texas officials told legislators Wednesday that they’re investigating the possible sexual abuse of some young boys taken from a polygamist sect’s ranch, as well as broken bones among other children. The disclosures are the first suggestions that anyone other than teenage girls may have been sexually or physically abused at the ranch run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, a renegade Mormon sect. In written and oral testimony provided to lawmakers Wednesday, officials with the state Department of Family and Protective Services said interviews and journal entries suggested that boys may have been sexually abused. Earlier, the department’s commissioner, Carey Cockerell, told lawmakers that at least 41 children, some of them “very young,” have evidence of broken bones. The state has custody of 464 children from the Yearning For Zion Ranch in the west Texas prairie town of Eldorado, including a baby born to a teen mother Tuesday. On Monday, CPS announced that almost 60 percent of the underage girls living on the Eldorado ranch are pregnant or already have children. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24388249/

FLDS: Texas court fight heats up – State appeals Thursday’s ruling, releases Jeffs’ photos with a young girl as 12 FLDS children reunite with parents By Brooke Adams The Salt Lake Tribune 5/24/08 Photographs submitted into evidence in a Texas court hearing Friday showing FLDS leader Warren Jeffs with a young girl. The photos are dated July 27, 2006. The Salt Lake Tribune blurred the girl’s face. San Angelo, Texas – A single photograph introduced in court Friday could define Texas’ case against a polygamous sect: FLDS leader Warren S. Jeffs cradling a 12-year-old girl in his arms and kissing her, a state attorney said, “how a husband would kiss a wife.” The photo was introduced in a custody hearing for an infant born nearly two weeks ago to Louisa Bradshaw Jessop, whose two older children were taken into state care during an April raid on the sect’s YFZ Ranch in west Texas. The court-approved raid, which removed more than 450 children, was based on the state’s belief that young girls were being wed to older men and that boys were being groomed to continue the practice. The Texas Supreme Court is reviewing the Department of Family and Protective Services’ petition for a stay of an appellate court decision that found there was inadequate evidence for a trial judge to keep about 450 FLDS children in custody. http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_9361767

Abuse cases ‘slip under the rug’ ‘STATE OF DENIAL’ – Many educators who molest kids are allowed to quit, move on: experts 3/30/08 By Mike Thomas – Staff Reporter/mthomas@suntimes.com 4.5 million abused, study says – But according to experts, many such cases never come to the surface. “These cases tend to slip under the rug,” said Terri Miller, president of the national organization Stop Educator Sexual Abuse, Misconduct and Exploitation. “They let teachers quietly resign and move on.”….In 2004, Congress released the results of a report it had commissioned on teacher sexual misconduct. Compiled by Hofstra University Professor Charol Shakeshaft, it concluded that an estimated 4.5 million of 50 million students in American public schools “are subject to sexual misconduct by an employee of a school sometime between kindergarten and 12th grade.” http://www.suntimes.com/

Lost 400 children may have been trafficked into sex or drugs trade – Rise in foreign youngsters missing from care in UK – Government action plan ‘failing to protect victims’ Robert Booth The Guardian, 4/23/08 More than 400 foreign children, many suspected of being trafficked into the sex or drug trade in Britain, have gone missing from local authority care. Children from Africa, Asia and eastern Europe have disappeared from safe houses and foster homes around the country’s biggest ports and airports, figures released to the Guardian under the Freedom of Information Act have revealed. http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/apr/23/childprotection.immigrationandpublicservices

Curley family drops lawsuit vs. NAMBLA By O’Ryan Johnson 4/24/08 A federal civil lawsuit brought by the parents of a young boy killed 11 years ago, which attempted to punish members of the North American Man Boy Love Association for his excruciating final hours, was dropped yesterday, according to court records. The lawsuit was filed in 2000 by Robert and Barbara Curley, the parents of 10-year-old Jeffrey Curley of Cambridge, who was abducted, raped and murdered in October 1997. Charles Jaynes was convicted of the crime and is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. During his murder trial, evidence suggested Jaynes was mailed NAMBLA publications that were found in a New Hampshire apartment where the boy was held during his abduction.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/general/view.bg?articleid=1089285

Supreme Court upholds part of anti-child porn law 5/19/08 By Mark Sherman – Washington (AP) – The Supreme Court upheld criminal penalties Monday for promoting child pornography. The court, in a 7-2 decision, brushed aside concerns that the law could apply to mainstream movies that depict adolescent sex, classic literature or innocent e-mails that describe pictures of grandchildren. The ruling upheld part of a 2003 law that also prohibits possession of child porn. It replaced an earlier law against child pornography that the court struck down as unconstitutional. The law sets a five-year mandatory prison term for promoting, or pandering, child porn. It does not require that someone actually possess child pornography. Opponents have said the law could apply to movies like “Traffic” or “Titanic” that depict adolescent sex. But Justice Antonin Scalia, in his opinion for the court, said the law does not cover movie sex. there is no “possibility that virtual child pornography or sex between youthful-looking adult actors might be covered by the term ‘simulated sexual intercourse.'” Scalia said. Likewise, Scalia said, First Amendment protections do not apply to “offers to provide or requests to obtain child pornography.”….Authorities arrested Michael Williams in an undercover operation aimed at fighting child exploitation on the Internet. A Secret Service agent engaged Williams in an Internet chat room, where they swapped non-pornographic photographs. Williams advertised himself as “Dad of toddler has ‘good’ pics of her an me for swap of your toddler pics, or live cam.” After the initial photo exchange, Williams allegedly posted seven images of actual minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct. Agents who executed a search warrant found 22 child porn images on Williams’ home computer. Williams also was convicted of possession of child pornography. That conviction, and the resulting five-year prison term, was not challenged. The case is U.S. v. Williams, 06-694. http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080519/D90ORGEG2.html

Mueller: ‘We’re Losing’ the Child Porn War FBI Director Says Task Forces, More Record Retention Could Help Combat the Problem By Jason Ryan – Washington, 4/23/08 U.S. law enforcement is losing the battle to combat child pornography and child exploitation on the Internet, FBI Director Robert Mueller said today during a House Judiciary Committee hearing. FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III told members of Congress that, in the battle against the spread of child pornography, “We’re losing.”….”It is growing on the Internet, exponentially is probably too strong a term, but just about every crime there is has gravitated to the Internet, and in certain cases, the Internet has provided the vehicle for expansion that otherwise would not be there, and that’s certainly true with child pornography,” Mueller told Franks and the rest of the committee. Due to the growing use of the Internet, digital photography and encryption software, the problem has become more pervasive in recent years….According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), child pornography is a $20 billion-a-year black market industry that has been proliferating on the Internet….Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., questioned the FBI’s allocation of resources on the issue and told the Director, “I don’t think that the FBI is doing enough to pursue online child predators… There are about 500,000 known online child pornographers, people trading these images — these are depictions of sexual acts that are actually happening, crime scene photographs.” http://abcnews.go.com/TheLaw/FedCrimes/Story?id=4712725&page=1

Agencies see cases on luring kids rise by Linda Satter 5/25/08 A nationwide effort that has been afoot for two years to catch child predators who exploit children by either soliciting them for sex or distributing obscene images of them is just now making its presence felt in federal courtrooms across the country, including those in the Eastern and Western districts of Arkansas….”Statistics show that 85 percent of people we prosecute for child pornography are also child molesters, so these are not just people looking at photos,” Balfe (U. S. Attorney Bob Balfe) said. He said the proliferation of photographs involving children involved in sexually explicit conduct also “creates a market for people who exploit children.” “They feed off each other,” he said of molesters and pornographers. “One of the strongest reasons we go after this is that the child molester and the child pornographer are often one and the same person. There’s a reason they look at this stuff.” He noted that many people think of child pornography as photos of a 15-year-old girl in a skimpy bathing suit, but actually, “We’re talking about images of children in horrific activities.” Citing national statistics, he said that 83 percent of child-pornography cases involve children between the ages of 6 and 12, while 40 percent involve images of children ages 3 to 5, and 19 percent involve children ages 2 and younger. http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/226737/

Child abuse by aidworkers, peacekeepers rife: study – David Clarke – Reuters US Online Report World News 5/26/08 London (Reuters) – Sexual abuse of children by aid workers and peacekeepers is rife and efforts to protect young people are inadequate, said a report published on Tuesday. The study by charity Save the Children UK said there were significant levels of abuse in emergencies, much of it unreported and unless the silence ended, attempts to stamp out exploitation would “remain fundamentally flawed.”….Save the Children based its findings on visits last year to Haiti, Southern Sudan and Ivory Coast. It held 38 focus group discussions with 250 children and 90 adults, followed up by in-depth interviews with some and desk-based research. The study found a huge range of exploitation and abuse: children trading sex for food, forced sex, verbal sexual abuse, child prostitution, child pornography, sexual slavery, sexual assault and child trafficking. The focus groups identified children as young as six as having been abused, although most were aged 14 to 15. U.N. peacekeepers were identified as the most likely perpetrators by 20 of the 38 groups, although a total of 23 humanitarian, peacekeeping and security organizations were associated with sexual abuse in the three countries. http://www.rawstory.com/news/mochila/Child_abuse_by_aidworkers_peacekeep_05262008.html

Underage prostitutes marketed on Internet By Jocelyn Wiener – jwiener@sacbee.com 5/18/08 It is difficult to estimate just how many children are being pimped out, either locally or nationally. In 2003, the FBI reported about 1,400 juveniles were arrested nationally for prostitution. Most believe the problem is much larger than that number suggests. Estimates vary wildly and are considered, by law enforcement and other experts, to be based on shaky methodology. What Seyffert knows is this: In Sacramento, the trade in sex with underage girls is thriving. Between 2005 and 2007, her department picked up at least 65 girls, and she feels certain many more are out there. As prostitution increasingly moves to the Web, she says, the girls are just getting harder for police to find….What is it that lures a young girl to prostitution? For Jasmine, it started with a rape when she was 11. She was living in her grandparents’ North Sacramento home, attending elementary school. Her mother was addicted to drugs, she said. Her father was physically abusive. She said she confided to her mother about the attack, and her mother responded that it was the girl’s own fault. Jasmine ran then – first to the streets, then to a friend’s house. There, she met a man who told her all kinds of nice things – compliments she’d rarely heard. He also gave her physical affection. “In other words, sex,” she said recently, her big brown eyes unblinking as she sat in Seyffert’s office. Before long, the pimp taught Jasmine to sell her body, sometimes for $80, sometimes $300. He kept the profits, buying her cheeseburgers and sexy clothes. From him – and the other five pimps she worked for between ages 11 and 14 – she learned to keep her eyes trained on the ground, and to shut off her mind when johns climbed on top of her. http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/947617.html

Jersey police say bones may lead to murder investigation in child abuse case AP 5/21/08 London: Police on the island of Jersey say bone fragments found in a child abuse investigation may lead to a murder investigation. Deputy Police Chief Lenny Harper says there is no doubt that bones and teeth found at the Haut de la Garenne children’s home indicate that at least one child’s remains were left in the basement there. He says a decision on whether to open a murder investigation will depend on tests to determine the age of the bones. He says a murder probe will be likely if the bones date from the 1950s or later but are not practical if the bones come from an earlier era. Harper says there are roughly 70 suspects in the wide-ranging abuse case. Police have been digging through rubble at the former children’s home since February. http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/21/europe/EU-GEN-Britain-Jersey-Abuse.php

Jersey inquiry:’A child lies buried… I’m not going to walk away’ 5/23/08 The policeman at the centre of the Jersey inquiry tells Gordon Rayner he will not be cowed by threats Bent cops. Hostile politicians. Buried bodies. And at the centre of it, a maverick lawman who has received death threats for daring to uncover dark secrets from the past. ‘Doing what we have to do’: Deputy Chief Officer Lenny Harper was unprepared for the ‘venom’ directed against him Sounds familiar? It is, of course, a formula that has been endlessly revisited by film and television scriptwriters. But for Deputy Chief Officer Lenny Harper this is real life in the unlikely setting of Jersey, as he and his team try to discover the truth about appalling physical and sexual abuse allegedly meted out to more than 100 children in a former care home. Although Harper is considered a hero by those who trust him enough to reveal the details of their childhood at the Haut de la Garenne home, there are those on the island who see the Ulsterman as an enemy of the state, an “outsider” poking his nose in where it is not welcome. Since he became involved in the investigation, he has had more than 140 poison-pen letters – one even threatening to burn down his house and firebomb his car. ….Until now, Harper has refused to be drawn into a fight, but on Wednesday he could barely contain his anger as he faced the cameras to rebut suggestions that he had deliberately withheld a laboratory report that suggested a “skull fragment” found at the home might in fact be a piece of wood or coconut shell. Not only had he not seen the lab report, he said, but cuts on some of the 30 pieces of bone and seven milk teeth discovered so far by his team pointed to “a homicide or unexplained death”. He even produced one of the teeth to press home his point. His message was clear: no amount of criticism will prevent him from pursuing the truth.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/portal/main.jhtml?xml=/portal/2008/05/23/ftjersey123.xml

Beyond the pleasure beach – Blackpool has a terrible secret: shockingly high levels of child sex abuse. Julie Bindel reports how the disappearance of a teenage girl revealed a dark side of the holiday resort Julie Bindel The Guardian, 5/30/08 ….Seasonal employment in the town’s tourist industry and the large stock of low-cost, privately rented accommodation mean there is a constant flow of people moving into and out of Blackpool. Poverty levels are high: Blackpool is the 12th poorest area in the country. The number of children on Blackpool’s child protection register who are vulnerable to, or experiencing, sexual abuse is, at 16%, almost twice the national average, as is the number of children living in care homes or foster families. It is one of the only places in the country where girls do worse at school than boys. The suicide rate among the 15 to 19 age group in Blackpool is eight times higher than the UK average. Underage and unprotected sex is rife. HIV cases rose by 50% between 2001 and 2004; one in 12 girls is pregnant before the age of 18. A report published around the time of Charlene’s disappearance put this down to the resort’s “carnivalistic and hedonistic atmosphere”. Children are attracted to the bright lights of Blackpool, so the town receives its fair share of runaways. And there are always plenty of sexual predators waiting for them to arrive, knowing they will be cold, hungry and homeless; probably already victims of abuse. On average, two more young children are found to be homeless in Blackpool every month. There are approximately 800 convicted high-risk sex offenders living in Blackpool. Many choose to move there after their release from prison. “Why do so many child abusers want to live in Blackpool?” asks Wendy Shepherd from children’s charity Barnardos. “Alongside the increase in child sexual exploitation there is a marked increase in the sex industry in Blackpool, and sex tourism masquerading as stag weekends. Questions need to be asked about the links.” Recently the Coalition for the Removal of Pimping (Crop), a child protection charity based in West Yorkshire, warned that Blackpool is becoming one of the hotspots where children and young people are sold for sex to older men. “We know that young people from this area are being taken over to Blackpool,” said Aravinda Kosaraju, a researcher at Crop. “If you’re 13 or 14 and invited to come for a night out to a club in Blackpool, or have a holiday there, it may be hard to resist.” There is some evidence that disproportionate numbers of men from migrant communities are involved in the abuse of girls. Opportunism is one possible explanation, according to a police officer who worked on missing children cases. “A number of them work illegally in the takeaways, which is where a lot of the vulnerable girls either work for pocket money, or hang out.” http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/may/30/ukcrime.childprotection

Tyler man sentenced to life for running child-sex club AP 3/28/08 Tyler – A jury deliberated four minutes Thursday before convicting a Tyler man of aggravated sexual assault of a child in connection with his role in running a Mineola swingers club where several young children were forced to dance and perform sexual acts for an audience. The jury then deliberated two minutes before sentencing Jamie Pittman, 36, to life in prison and fining him $10,000, the Tyler Morning Telegraph reported in its online edition Thursday. The jury found Pittman guilty for causing two young siblings to have sex with each other in 2004. The charges against Pittman and six others came after a two-year investigation that began in March 2005 with Child Protective Services investigating allegations of neglect and child abuse. CPS found children suffering ongoing sexual abuse and exploitation. At the time, the siblings were a girl aged 7, her 6-year-old brother and 5-year-old sister. The newspaper said the children’s 6-year-old aunt also was forced to dance and have sex with the other children. The children testified Thursday about what they were forced to do and that they were fed drugs to help them perform. http://www.chron.com/

Mind Control and Experimentation

all accusations are alleged – In the United States District Court for the Southern District of California Amended Complaint – Diana Napolis Plaintiff V. Michael Aquino, Michelle Devereaux, Tanya Lysenko, Aka Tani Jantsang, Carol Hopkins, Dr. Elizabeth Loftus, Mark Sauer, David Copley, San Diego Union-tribune, a Business Entity, San Diego State University, and Does 1-100, Inclusive, Defendants Case No.: 08cv557 Wqhnls – Complaint For: 1. Negligence; 2. Defamation; 3. Violation of Plaintiff’s Right to Privacy; 4. False Light; 5. Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress; 6. Conspiracy to Violate Plaintiff’s Right to Privacy and First Ame Ndment Right to Free Speech; 7. Conspiracy GENERAL ALLEGATIONS 10. Plaintiff alleges that satanist Defendant Aquino and his associates conspired to violate Plaintiff’s Right to Privacy and First Amendment Rights to Free Speech on the internet between 1995-2000 after she proved the existence of the satanic ritual abuse of children under the pseudonyms “Curio” and “Karen Jones” which was contrary to their agenda. 11. Defendants and other Does proceeded to conspire with Defendant Devereaux and San Diego Union Tribune [SDUT] reporter Mark Sauer to identify Plaintiff after which Defendant Devereaux enlisted the aid of San Diego State University [SDSU] Campus police, by fraudulent misrepresentation, to identify Plaintiff in June 2000. Despite Plaintiff advising Defendant SDSU’s campus police that dangerous individuals were seeking her identity, the campus police proceeded to engage in reckless and outrageous conduct and subjected Plaintiff to invasion of privacy by negligently revealing her identity to SDUT reporter Mark Sauer after which he wrote an invasive and defamatory news article about Plaintiff titled, “A Web of Intrigue/The Search for Curio Leads Cybersleuths Down a Twisted Path” on September 24, 2000 which Defendant Copley negligently published. 12. After Defendant Mark Sauer’s defamatory news article was published, Plaintiff was subjected to further invasion of privacy after Defendant Devereaux and others accessed private information about Plaintiff’s family court case which forced Plaintiff to resign as visitation supervisor due to her concern for the safety of the party she was supervising and because she had become a “controversial figure.” After the publication of Mark Sauer’s news article Plaintiff was the subject of internet threats by Defendant Lysenko/Jantsang and further libel and defamation….BACKGROUND 20. Plaintiff was witness to a documented cover-up of the satanic ritual abuse of children while employed as a Court Intervention Social Worker for Child Protection Services [CPS] which was due to the efforts of a woman by the name of Defendant Carol Hopkins – a 1991-92 San Diego Grand Jury Foreman – a 1993-94 San Diego Grand Jury, the False Memory Syndrome Foundation, and two newspaper reporters, Jim Okerblom and Mark Sauer of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Plaintiff had researched and investigated the validity of ritual abuse and had handled several case assignments with negative occult themes within this agency. http://members.cox.net/legalfed/NapolisvAquino.pdf

Some of the following cases depict graphic, violent activity – Satanism and Ritual Abuse Archive…Diana Napolis M.A. The following cases describe legal proceedings held in Juvenile, Family, Civil and Criminal Courts around the world where there have been allegations of Satanism or the use of Ritual to abuse others….Some of the following cases depict graphic, violent activity….In the 1980’s adults and children came forward around the world disclosing that they were victims/perpetrators of satanic ritual abuse [SRA] and/or were witness to satanic ritual murders….Entire families have been implicated in the ritual abuse of children which proves the fact that generational Satanism exists. See the following legal cases: Parker (1995), Figured/Hill (1994), and Gallup (1991) Perpetrators have been found to be professionals who work in law enforcement, the military or daycare, and Christian fronts have been used in some instances as a means of hiding the satanic motivation of the perpetrators. See Cannaday (1994), Wright (1992), Gallup (1991) and Orr (1984). In several cases the perpetrators have confessed to the satanic element of the crime or participation in prior satanic offenses. See Helms (2006), Cala (2003), Smith (2003), Delaney (2002), Morris (2001), South (2000), Page (2000), T. Kokoraleis (1999), Bonacci (1999), Brooks (1996), Hughes (1996), Penick (1995), Alvarado (1995), Ingram (1992), Rogers (1992), and Fryman (1988). http://members.cox.net/dnap/srarchive.pdf

PEACEMAKING – Reflections of a Radical Criminologist Published by the University of Ottawa Press, 2006 – 542 King Edward Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5 press@uottawa.ca

– www.uopress.uottawa.ca I have mentioned that since 1993 I have come to know many people whom I believe to be genuine survivors of “ritual abuse.” These data came to me by way of parents facing loss of custody for asking that their children be protected from what they and medical professionals believed to be sexual assault while with their other parent. I have testified, borne silent witness in courtrooms, and borne vocal witness on the streets, in conferences, and in classes to countless—-to me credible—- accounts by those who have in the broadest category survived what in polite company we call “”incest.”” I have also encountered countless cases in which those who later reported having recovered repressed memories of one form or another of sexualized childhood violence have turned out to know things such as physical layouts of places where they were hurt that they otherwise could not have known. Add to this my learning from countless sources that “covert” or “emotional” incest, which might entail physical coldness and distance, could prove to be as debilitating to its survivors as the doing of anything even remotely illegal. Leave aside whether any of the stories I have heard of homicidal ceremonies is true. Effects of a problem characterized as “incest,” including the shame and fear of being trapped in “crimes,” dwarf the trauma represented by all the personal violence reported in victim surveys, which in turn far exceed police reports.

Journal Articles

Some of the journal abstract excerpts and quotes in this section of the newsletter came from the backlash_ology@yahoogroups.com listed as BO For info. write backlash_ology-owner@yahoogroups.com

Brown, D; Frischholz E; Scheflin A. ‘Iatrogenic dissociative identity disorder – an evaluation of the scientific evidence’ – The Journal of Psychiatry and Law vol XXVII No.3-4 Fall-Winter 1999 p. 549 – 637 ‘Conclusions…At present the scientific evidence is insufficient and inadequate to support plaintiffs’ complaints that suggestive influences allegedly operative in psychotherapy can create a major psychiatric disorder like MPD per se…there is virtually no support for the unique contribution of hypnosis to the alleged iatrogenic creation of MPD in appropriately controlled research.’ “The Spanos socio-cognitive model reduces MPD to socially constructed role enactments. In this model, the often severe psychopathology associated with clinical MPD is minimized. Very recent studies suggest a possible neurobiological basis to MPD in at least certain MPD patients….It is clear that Spanos et al.’s 1985 conclusion that MPD is a role enactment based on their observation of role-playing subjects is based on circular logic: You ask a subject to pretend that he has alters and he complies; then you conclude that having alters is the product of role playing….Spanos’s conclusion of the iatrogenic nature of MPD also suffers from an additional logical error. Even if it were true that MPD could be created iatrogenically, that does not prove that every case for noniatrogenic MPD cases….Thus the Spanos studies alone do not adequately define MPD for several reasons: Situationally bound enactment of predefined secondary-personality roles presumes sufficient executive control to do it. Genuine MPD is defined in DSM as the loss of executive control…Genuine DID was defined in DSM-IV as the loss of a unified identity…Presumably none of Spanos’s laboratory subjects suffered from a fundamental loss of a unified identity as a result of the experimental instructions….Genuine MPD is characterized by enduring alter-personality states that are defined by a relatively stable set of personality characteristics over time….The secondary-personality states reported by Spanos’s subjects in the laboratory were very temporary role enactments….Spanos has seriously overgeneralized from the data of his 1985, 1986 and 1991 laboratory experiments that multiple personalities can be created in the laboratory.’ The more conservative interpretation merited by these data is that certain individuals with certain personality characteristics in a particular social context report temporary role enactments of different identities that are limited to the context of the experiment….Overall the Spanos data offer no evidence that either stable alter personalities or the range of clinical features typically associated with MPD can be created in the laboratory, and the data certainly offer no support whatsoever that MPD per se can be created through suggestive influences. At best, these data support the view that certain individuals in a high-demand context, and/or under extreme interview conditions wherein misinformation is systematically supplied, report temporary secondary-personality states….Overall, these data offer little evidence that the disorder MPD per se can be created through suggestive influences.”

“The problem with McHugh’s publications on MPD/DID, like those of Merskey, is that they are mere speculation. From deposition testimony in several cases, McHugh has made it clear that other than an occasional consultation, he has very little actual clinical experience with the ongoing treatment of MPD/DID patients and is generally unfamiliar with both the clinical features of MPD/DID and with what usually occurs in their treatment. Thus McHugh’s opinion is informed neither by actual in-depth clinical experience with contemporary MPD/DID patients nor by any scientific research on MPD. Furthermore, with regard to McHugh’s main hypothesis that hysterical behavior is implicated in DID iatrogenesis, Gleaves has shown that such phenomena are no more prevalent in DID than in any other psychiatric condition” (p. 604-605) Iatrogenic dissociative identity disorder – an evaluation of the scientific evidence – Brown, D., Frischholz E., Scheflin A. – The Journal of Psychiatry and Law – volume XXVII No. 3-4, issue Fall-Winter 1999 pgs 549 – 637

What about Recovered Memories? Jennifer J. Freyd, University of Oregon – Short Definition – Sivers, Schooler, and Freyd (2002, p 169) define recovered memory as “The recollection of a memory that is perceived to have been unavailable for some period of time.” http://dynamic.uoregon.edu/~jjf/whatabout.html Memory on Trial – Research suggests that children’s memory may be more reliable than adults’ in court cases …3/6/08 The U.S. legal system has long assumed that all testimony is not equally credible, that some witnesses are more reliable than others. In tough cases with child witnesses, it assumes adult witnesses to be more reliable. But what if the legal system had it wrong? Researchers Valerie Reyna, human development professor, and Chuck Brainerd, human development and law school professor — both from Cornell University — argue that like the two-headed Roman god Janus, memory is of two minds — that is, memories are captured and recorded separately and differently in two distinct parts of the mind. They say children depend more heavily on a part of the mind that records, “what actually happened,” while adults depend more on another part of the mind that records, “the meaning of what happened.” As a result, they say, adults are more susceptible to false memories, which can be extremely problematic in court cases. Reyna’s and Brainerd’s research, funded by the National Science Foundation, Arlington, Va., sparked more than 30 follow-up memory studies, many of them also funded by NSF. The researchers review the follow-on studies in an upcoming issue of Psychological Bulletin….Reyna and Brainerd’s findings are summarized in a new book, The Science of False Memory, published by Oxford University Press. http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=111230&org=NSF&from=news?

Childhood Trauma, Adult Trauma, and Dissociation Michelle Lee Pearson, M .Sc. Dissociation. Vol . X . Nn.1, March 1991 p. 58 – 62 Abstract – This paper studies the relationship among childhood trauma, recent trauma, and dissociation. Literature has suggested that early trauma may lead to dissociation. It was hypothesized that dissociation, including symptoms associated with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), would be more prevalent in those survivors of childhood abuse who were later traumatized in adulthood . Seventy-five female subjects completed a survey protocol. Subjects who experienced both early and recent trauma were more dissociative and endorsed more symptoms consistent with DID. https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/dspace/bitstream/1794/1837/1/Diss_10_1_9_OCR.pdf

Health Care Utilization and Costs Associated with Childhood Abuse – Amy E. Bonomi, Melissa L. Anderson, Frederick P. Rivara, Elizabeth A. Cannon, Paul A. Fishman, David Carrell, Robert J. Reid and Robert S. Thompson – Journal of General Internal Medicine – 10.1007/s11606-008-0516-1 Abstract – Background – Physical and sexual childhood abuse is associated with poor health across the lifespan. However, the association between these types of abuse and actual health care use and costs over the long run has not been documented….Participants – Three thousand three hundred thirty-three women (mean age, 47 years) randomly selected from the membership files of a large integrated health care delivery system. Measurements – Automated annual health care utilization and costs were assembled over an average of 7.4 years for women with physical only, sexual only, or both physical and sexual childhood abuse (as reported in a telephone survey), and for women without these abuse histories (reference group). Results – Significantly higher annual health care use and costs were observed for women with a child abuse history compared to women without comparable abuse histories. The most pronounced use and costs were observed for women with a history of both physical and sexual child abuse….Total adjusted annual health care costs were 36% higher for women with both abuse types, 22% higher for women with physical abuse only, and 16% higher for women with sexual abuse only. Conclusions: Child abuse is associated with long-term elevated health care use and costs, particularly for women who suffer both physical and sexual abuse. http://www.springerlink.com/content/j54j767nx7026h66/fulltext.html

Iatrongenic Creation of New Alter Personalities Richard P. Kluft, M.D. Dissociation, Vol. II, No. 2: June 1989 “many clinicians and scientific investigators treating and studying multiple personality disorder (MPD) have taken great pains to emphasize that MPD is a naturally occurring mental disorder that cannot be induced by iatrogenesis or clever experimental manipulations….Two modern surveys (Putnam, Guroff, Silberman, Barhan & Post, 1986; Ross, Horton, & Fraser, 1989) have shown that hypnosis does not appear to alter the phenomena of MPD, that patients diagnosed and/or treated with hypnosis do not differ substantially from those who were never hypnotized….It would appear that the weight of available evidence, although far from conclusive, suggests quite strongly that the iatrogenesis of MPD de norm has yet to be demonstrated. Most of what would appear to be examples of the iatrogenic creation of new alters reflects the uncovering process of psychotherapy as it reaches already extant alters that were not immediately accessible for a variety of reasons, or the ongoing use by the patient of his or her characteristic ways of coping within the context of therapy.” https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/dspace/bitstream/1794/1428/1/Diss_2_2_6_OCR.pdf

Iatrophilia And Iatrophobia in The Diagnosis And Treatment of MPD Bennett G. Braun, M.d. – Dissociation, Vol. II, No. 2: June 1989 “The most convincing evidence that alters are not being iatrogenically induced comes with time,” Putnam writes, “Although new personalities may be created in therapy, the great majority will have a life history that predates therapy. This history, with sufficient documentation, will emerge as the therapist and patient reopen the past and make it clear. In the long run, the question of iatrogenesis becomes less urgent” (1989, p. 132). In this statement, an experienced MPD clinician and investigator erodes the myth that hypnosis can induce an alter personality that meets the criteria of DSM-III-R (1987) including an enduring pattern of perceiving, relating to and thinking about self and the environment….Hypnotizability, as a manifestation of the ability to dissociate, is not an indication that hypnosis can induce true alter personalities….other means is highly unlikely, given the DSM-III-R criteria for defining an alter. Fear of iatrogenesis may deter some therapists from making the diagnosis of MPD or undertaking therapy. https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/dspace/bitstream/1794/1425/1/Diss_2_2_3_OCR.pdf

A Prospective Investigation of Major Depressive Disorder and Comorbidity in Abused and Neglected Children Grown Up A Prospective Investigation of Major Depressive Disorder and Comorbidity in Abused and Neglected Children Grown Up – Cathy Spatz Widom, PhD; Kimberly DuMont, PhD; Sally J. Czaja, PhD – ARCH GEN PSYCHIATRY/VOL 64, JAN 2007 “Child abuse and neglect were associated with an increased risk for current MDD…Childhood sexual abuse was not associated with elevated risk of MDD….These results may not seem consistent with previous studies describing a relationship between childhood sexual abuse and depression, because we did not find evidence of elevated risk for lifetime or current MDD. However, childhood victims of sexual abuse reported significantly more depression symptoms than controls.” “IN 2002, 2.6 MILLION REFERRALS were made in the United States for possible child maltreatment and approximately 896,000 cases were substantiated after investigation.” http://archpsyc.ama-assn.org/cgi/reprint/64/1/49

Child Abuse And Neglect Associated With Increased Risk Of Depression Among Young Adults ScienceDaily 1/3/07 People who were abused and neglected during childhood have a higher risk of major depression when they become young adults, according to a report in the January issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Child abuse has been linked to depression in clinical populations and community surveys, according to background information in the article. But few prospective longitudinal studies have examined the relationship between abuse or neglect in childhood and depression in adulthood. Cathy Spatz Widom, Ph.D., then of the New Jersey Medical School, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Newark, and now of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York, and colleagues conducted a prospective study to determine whether abused and neglected children were at elevated risk of major depressive disorder (MDD) and psychiatric illness, compared with matched control subjects, when followed up into young adulthood. The study included 676 children with substantiated cases of physical and sexual abuse and neglect before the age of 11. They were matched based on age, race, sex, and approximate family social class with 520 non-abused and non-neglected children. All were followed up into young adulthood (average age: 28.7). “The current results show that childhood physical abuse was associated with increased risk for lifetime MDD,” the authors write. “We also provide new evidence that neglected children are at increased risk for depression as well.” Child abuse and neglect were associated with a 51 percent increased risk for current MDD in young adulthood. Children who were physically abused had a 59 percent increased risk of lifetime MDD. Those who experienced multiple types of abuse had a 75 percent increased risk of lifetime MDD. The risk of current MDD was 59 percent higher for those who were neglected. Childhood sexual abuse was not associated with an elevated risk of MDD. “However, childhood victims of sexual abuse reported significantly more depression symptoms than controls,” the authors point out. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/01/070102092229.htm

Ruling debunks custody diagnosis Tony Koch 4/07/08 Child custody determinations in scores of Family Court decisions could be challenged following a ruling debunking parental alienation syndrome, a controversial diagnosis of the effects on a child when one parent denigrates the other. The Psychologists Board of Queensland last month disciplined prominent Brisbane clinical psychologist William Wrigley, saying he had acted unprofessionally in giving evidence about parental alienation syndrome to the court. An investigation found that Dr Wrigley’s evidence three years ago, which had led to a mother losing custody of her two children, constituted “professional conduct that demonstrates incompetence or a lack of adequate knowledge, skill, judgment or care”. The Australian understands that Dr Wrigley has identified the syndrome as a factor in other cases to the Family Court. So have psychologists and psychiatrists throughout Australia….The complaint was lodged by the Brisbane mother who lost custody of her two children in 2005 when Family Court judge Neil Buckley determined, acknowledging the evidence of Dr Wrigley, that she had affected the children with the syndrome. Justice Buckley said Dr Wrigley’s reports provided a “comprehensive and balanced assessment” of all relevant issues. “It has to be said that in terms of objectivity, professionalism, fairness and balance, his reports are in stark contrast to those provided by (other professionals),” he said. The board advised Dr Wrigley on March 3 of its unanimous decision that he had “acted in a way that constituted unsatisfactory conduct” for “referring to an unrecognised syndrome in his reports”. “It was inappropriate for the registrant (Dr Wrigley) to either diagnose the children or state there was a likelihood the children could develop parental alienation syndrome, as it is not a recognised syndrome,” it said. “To diagnose a patient as suffering from or demonstrating a potential to develop an unrecognised syndrome is contrary to the code of ethics.” However, the board advised that details of the disciplinary action not be recorded on the public register because it was “not within the public interest”. The board told The Australian it was precluded by law from commenting on the disciplinary action taken against Dr Wrigley. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23495760-2702,00.html

Denial and silence allow abuse to continue – Child sexual abuse destroys lives of so many by Paula Barr and Teresa Ressel Daily Journal Staff Writers 1/13/2008 Denial and silence, however, allow the abuse to continue. Until the secrecy is eliminated, children will remain in danger, said Tammy Gwaltney, executive director of the Southeast Missouri Network Against Sexual Violence in Cape Girardeau. “We don’t talk about it. We want to shut everybody up or say they’re lying,” Gwaltney complained. “We want to bury our heads in the sand about this issue.” An estimated 300,000 children in this country are sexually abused each year, according to Crimes against Children Research Center (CCRC) at the University of New Hampshire. Of those, approximately 90 percent of victims already knew their abusers when the abuse began. A random sampling of 101 incarcerated child sex abuse cases done by the Missouri Department of Corrections indicated that only four of the abusers were strangers to their victims. Slightly more than half were acquaintances of the child before the abuse. The other 43 percent were family members. “About half the molestation that occurs is within the family,” said U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway of the Eastern District of Missouri. “We need to be honest about that and speak up about that.” The damages caused by child sex abuse make it imperative that society learns the facts and takes steps to stop it. That can only be done by dispelling myths, facing the truth and discussing the problem openly, therapists and law enforcement officials said. That means looking at more than “stranger danger.”….An estimated 39 million survivors of childhood sexual abuse exist in America. Many victims are adults before they disclose the abuse. A few adult survivors of child abuse were elderly before they finally opened up to Gwaltney. Some never tell at all. Stop It Now!, an organization that works to prevent child sexual abuse, estimates that 88 percent of sex offenders are never reported. No one is untouched by the crime, even those who believe there has been no abuse in their families,” Gwaltney contends. “Somebody in your family has been perpetrated upon,” she said. “They might not have told, or it might be the family secret. But research indicates that 25 percent of children are abused before the age of 18.”

http://www.mydjconnection.com/articles/2008/01/13/abuse/main/doc4787da1c5f657916881001.txt

Excerpt: ‘Breaking Free’ – Herschel Walker Pens Book About the Fight for His Mental Health 4/14/2008 Football Hall of Famer Herschel Walker is known nationally for his dominance on the gridiron, but the 1982 Heisman Trophy winner secretly battled inner demons throughout his life. In his new book, “Breaking Free: My Life with Dissociative Identity Disorder,” Walker makes a stunning revelation and discusses his multiple personality disorder. Walker also talks about how he approached his mental health. http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/TurningPoints/story?id=4643347&page=1

A Profile of Pedophilia: Definition, Characteristics of Offenders, Recidivism, Treatment Outcomes, and Forensic Issues Ryan C. W. Hall, MD, and Richard C. W. Hall, MD, PA Mayo Clin Proc. April 2007;82(4):457-471 http://www.mayoclinicproceedings.com/pdf%2F8204%2F8204sa.pdf

Why Emotional Memories Of Traumatic Life Events Are So Persistent ScienceDaily (May 11, 2008) — Emotional memories of traumatic life events such as accidents, war experiences or serious illnesses are stored in a particularly robust way by the brain. This renders effective treatment very difficult. Researchers at ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich have now successfully tracked down the molecular bases of these strong, very persistent memories. The expression “post-traumatic stress disorder” is once again constantly on everyone’s lips in relation to those returning from the Iraq war or survivors of catastrophes such as the tsunami. This is not a new development, since it always occurs when people experience extreme situations. It is known that emotional memories of both a positive and a negative kind are stored by our brain in a particularly robust way. Consequently they have a very large effect on our behaviour and, in the case of adverse memories, they can place considerable restrictions on the way we go about our lives. As a result, we avoid places, smells or objects that remind us of the traumatic experience, because they may trigger severe anxieties. Isabelle Mansuy, Professor of Cellular Neurobiology at ETH Zurich and of Molecular and Cognitive Neurosciences at the University of Zurich, and her research group have now shown that the enzyme calcineurin and the gene regulation factor Zif268 decisively determine the intensity of emotional memories. For the first time, this has enabled the regulatory processes at the synapse, which are important for emotional memories, to be linked to the processes in the cell nucleus….However, their aversion can be overcome slowly through intensive training. Mansuy explains that “Emotional memories are not simply erased. Oppressive negative memories need to be actively replaced by positive memories.” She says it is important at the same time to understand that the negative memories do not disappear, they merely slide down in a kind of priority list and are outweighed by the newly learned positive memories….Journal reference: Karsten Baumgärtel, David Genoux, Hans Welzl, Ry Y Tweedie-Cullen, Kyoko Koshibu, Magdalena Livingstone-Zatchej, Céline Mamie & Isabelle M Mansuy: Control of the establishment of aversive memory by calcineurin and Zif268. Nature Neuroscience 2008 May;11(5):572-8. Published on-line on 20 April 2008. doi: 10.1038/nn.2113 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080509152307.htm

“Forgetting and Recovering the Unforgettable.” Psychological Science – Volume 19, Number 5 – May 2008 Steven M. Smith & Sarah C. Moynan Some experiences, particularly those that are emotional and distinctive, may seem unforgettable. Can memories of emotional and distinctive events be blocked from consciousness, and if so, can those memories subsequently be recovered? Although there is considerable laboratory research demonstrating false memories, relatively few studies have examined blocked and recovered memories, as we did in the study reported in this article. As noted in reviews by Gleaves, Smith, Butler, and Spiegel (2004) and by Roediger and Bergman (1998), the false-memory debate must be informed by experimental laboratory research examining not only false memories, but also blocked and recovered memories….In the present study, we investigated whether interference can cause dramatic forgetting that is subsequently reversed when retrieval cues are provided. Using a combination of classic laboratory methods for manipulating interference and cuing, we repeatedly found high levels of blocked and recovered memories, even for materials that had sexually explicit and violent content. Correspondence about the article may be sent to Steven M. Smith, Department of Psychology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, e-mail: stevesmith@tamu.edu http://www.psychologicalscience.org/journals/ps/19_5.cfm

describes abuse – Sexual Child Abuse Knows No Boundaries 5/12/08 by Dorothy M. Neddermeyer, PhD.In her autobiography, “Home: A Memoir of My Early Years,” Julie Andrews reveals the all too often kept dark secret of sexual abuse….Not telling about the sexual abuse is a sad state of affairs, because it leaves the person, as well as others, vulnerable to being abused. Yet, this is a common response to this horrific experience. Girls are scripted and rewarded to not cause a scene and to be cute and demur. Boys are scripted and rewarded to be strong, and to exhibit bravery in every situation. The typical child sex offender molests an average of 117 children, most do not report the offense – National Institute of Mental Health. 1988 This statistic has remained consistent for many decades. Child sexual abuse is the greatest hidden epidemic in the world. U.S. statistics reveal as high as 62 percent of females and 31 percent of males will be sexually violated before age 18. “If a disease affected our children in these enormous numbers we would declare a national emergency. Monies for research to find a cure would be made available immediately.” http://www.evliving.com/wellness.php?action=fullnews&id=9903

Trauma and dissociation in children – A Video Series on Training for Child Protective Service Workers, Forensic Evaluators, and Prosecutors, in 3 parts – Abuse and neglect can have profound effects on children’s neurological development, and on their behaviors. The often devastating impacts of trauma – on children’s sense of self, on their ability to regulate their emotions, and on their capacity to talk about what has happened to them – can pose major challenges for child protective services workers, law enforcement investigators, forensic interviewers, and prosecutors. “In order to investigate a case of suspected child abuse or litigate that case, you have to not only understand the legal issues, which are complex enough, but one really has to understand something about child development, about the impact of traumatic experiences on children, in order to understand how they react to it and to understand how we react to them.” – John E.B. Myers, JD “[Traumatized children] have problems with their body where they can’t understand signals from their body and have a lot of somatic symptoms. They can’t integrate their memories. They have difficulty, of course, relating with other people. So there’s a whole array of biological and social and psychological disregulation that happens because secure attachment never gave them the foundation to learn those things.” – Kathy Steele, MN CS – International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation 8201 Greensboro Drive, Suite 300, McLean, VA 22102 Telephone: 703/610-9037 Fax: 703/610-9005 E-mail: info@isst-d.org http://www.isst-d.org/store/trauma-and-dissociation-children-video.html

Science News – Child Abuse May ‘Mark’ Genes In Brains Of Suicide Victims ScienceDaily (May 7, 2008) — A team of McGill University scientists has discovered important differences between the brains of suicide victims and so-called normal brains. Although the genetic sequence was identical in the suicide and non-suicide brains, there were differences in their epigenetic marking – a chemical coating influenced by environmental factors. All of the 13 suicide victims in the study had experienced abuse as children. “It’s possible the changes in epigenetic markers were caused by the exposure to childhood abuse, although in humans it’s difficult to establish causality between early childhood and epigenetic markers, in the way we have established this in animal subjects,” said Moshe Szyf, a professor in McGill’s Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics. “The big remaining questions are whether scientists could detect similar changes in blood DNA – which could lead to diagnostic tests – and whether we could design interventions to erase these differences in epigenetic markings”. In the first study of its kind, Szyf, a professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics; Gustavo Turecki, Department of Psychiatry who practices at the Douglas Hospital; Michael Meaney, a professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Neurology and Neurosurgery, who is also at the Douglas Hospital; and McGill postdoctoral research fellow Patrick McGowan have built on their world-renowned epigenetics work to uncover differences in the DNA in the brains of a group of male suicide victims from Quebec. The all-McGill study is set to be published in the May 6, 2008 edition of the online journal Public Library of Science (PLoS ONE). Journal reference: McGowan PO, Sasaki A, Huang TCT, Unterberger A, Suderman M, et al. (2008) Promoter-Wide Hypermethylation of the Ribosomal RNA Gene Promoter in the Suicide Brain. PLoS ONE 3(5): e2085. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0002085 http://www.plosone.org/article/fetchArticle.action?articleURI=info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0002085 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080507084001.htm

Abuse, neglect seen in 30,000 newborns By Mike Stobbe, AP Medical Writer 4/3/08 Atlanta – About 1 in 50 U.S. infants are victims of nonfatal child abuse or neglect in a year, according to the first national study of the problem in that age group. The study focused on children younger than 1 year, and found nearly a third were one week old or younger when the abuse or neglect occurred. “It is a particularly vulnerable group,” said study co-author Rebecca Leeb, of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “We were struck by the fact there was a clustering of maltreatment with the very, very early age group.” The researchers counted more than 91,000 infant victims of abuse and neglect in the period Oct. 1, 2005 to Sept. 30, 2006. The information came from a national data base of cases verified by protective services agencies in 45 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico….About 68 percent of those cases were attributed to neglect….The results mirror what a study in Canada found, Leeb said. The CDC collaborated on the study with the federal Administration for Children and Families. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080403/ap_on_re_us/infant_neglect

October 13, 2008 · Filed Under Newsletter 2008 - Issues 78 - 83

Issue 81 – July 2008

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