CA--Victims applaud conviction of school teacher on abuse charges
For immediate release: Wednesday, Jan. 28
Statement by Melanie Sakoda of Moraga, SNAP east bay director of SNAP ([email protected], 925-708-6175)
A Concord teacher has been convicted of child sexual abuse for fondling boys’ chests. It’s an unusual case and we applaud the prosecutor and jury for their prudent decision to put kids’ safety first.
Sexualizing children is wrong and hurtful. The actual offense matters little. It’s the crossing of boundaries and the treating of person like an object that causes the harm.
It’s time we stop trying to impose some rigid, arbitrary matrix or calculus on child sex crimes. An elderly woman can suffer just as much from a robbery in which she loses $20 than from a robbery in which she loses $2,000.
A girl can be hurt as much or more by one rape than two. A boy can be harmed as much by sexual contact without penetration as by sexual contract with penetration.
It hurts victims when the justice system tries to “rank” their suffering. The focus should be on protecting kids, not quantifying pain.
(SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, is the world’s oldest and largest support group for clergy abuse victims. We were founded in 1988 and have more than 20,000 members. Despite the word “priest” in our title, we have members who were molested by religious figures of all denominations, including nuns, rabbis, bishops, and Protestant ministers. Our website is SNAPnetwork.org)
Contact – Tim Lennon of San Francisco (415-312-5820, [email protected]), David Clohessy 314-566-9790, [email protected], Barbara Dorris 314-503-0003, [email protected], Barbara Blaine 312-399-4747, [email protected]
Winter Appeal 2023
To our friends,
2023 has been a long year with many ups and downs for us all. As we close out the year, we at SNAP hope that you are feeling like you are on your way to being healthy, fulfilled, and happy. This past year has brought both successes and challenges. Thanks to the support you have shown in the past, we’ve been able to celebrate the good days and weather the stormy ones. Now, we are once again asking for your support as we work to support survivors new and old as we ‘Move SNAP Forward.’
At SNAP we are proud to have hosted a very well-attended conference in August 2023. This event allowed us to gather friends, survivors, advocates, and allies for a weekend of camaraderie and connection. We were so happy to be able to welcome many first-time attendees to gather in person and are already looking forward to the next conference.
To strengthen our movement for justice, healing, and prevention, SNAP will be expanding our peer support and providing more volunteer opportunities in the coming year. Through this great work, we are ensuring survivor voices are represented as we work for significant change that will benefit children and survivors.
Right now, survivors worldwide are getting the help they need from SNAP, and more and more reach out to us daily, but we need your help to keep those programs going and get our volunteers the training they need to thrive.
Your tax-deductible gift to SNAP can help offset the cost of our important mission. If you are not in a position to contribute, you can still support us by sharing this letter with those who can. As we continue to fight for survivors across the globe, your donation or sharing the great work SNAP does will help us continue our work to protect the vulnerable, heal the wounded, and prevent abuse.
Your donation ensures SNAP will be there for those who need us more than ever!
Warmly,
Michael W. McDonnell, C.P.S.
Interim Executive Director
Showing 1 comment