News Story of the Day

New York lawmakers could reform child abuse laws

New York state lawmakers said the announcement on Wednesday that a former Syracuse University coach will not face sex abuse charges because the statute of limitations had run out could boost efforts to reform state child abuse laws.


Bernie Fine Can’t Be Charged, District Attorney Says

The former Syracuse assistant men’s basketball coach Bernie Fine cannot be prosecuted for allegations that he sexually abused two boys in the 1980s because the statute of limitations had run out, William Fitzpatrick, the district attorney for Onondaga County, N.Y., said Wednesday. But Fitzpatrick added that he believed the men who accused Fine were telling the truth about the abuse.


The altar boys' secret: No longer alone

Don and Rosemary Teeman were waiting in the parking lot when Jon David Couzens drove up.

Couzens sat in his van, trying to summon the strength to open the door. The Teemans’ son had committed suicide 28 years earlier. The night before last, Couzens had told them that their son was sexually abused by a priest before taking his life.


Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio Failed To Investigate Over 400 Sex Crimes, Including Molestations Of Undocumented Children

Arizona’s infamous Sheriff Joe Arpaio (R) spends a lot of time playing politics and apparently no time doing his actual job. The AP reports that, over a three-year period ending in 2007, Arpaio “inadequately investigated” or in some instances didn’t even work more than 400 sex-crimes reported to his office. The cases “include dozens of alleged child molestations.”


SNAP, Media Target Psychiatrist Who Evaluated Troubled Kansas City Priest

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Star and the Survivors’ Network of Those Abused by Priests (SNAP) have targeted a psychiatrist who evaluated a priest now facing criminal charges in the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Mo.


Coach or clergy, silence protects the rapist

Before break, I drew a cartoon suggesting that the Penn State football program had been reading out of the Catholic Church's playbook. Two letters expressed outrage at the comparison, and said that the cartoon was harmful to the victims. A student wrote, " It is time to honor and respect the victims of these terrible actions by putting the actions behind us so that they can move on with their lives without fear of being linked to current crimes."


Bevilacqua's abuse testimony should have been public

An extraordinary legal drama is the talk of the town this week, but unlike most of what transpires in the American criminal justice system, this exclusive engagement was just for VIPs.


“I was not asked to resign by the pastor or the elders.”

The recent allegations of child abuse out of Penn State and Syracuse have shed new light on the insidious nature of child exploitation and the way that otherwise decent institutions and individuals contribute to the problem by remaining passive or, in some cases, actively working to cover up the crisis.  Whether it’s the athletic director who looks the other way or the family member who chooses to keep up appearances, these stories have reminded Americans that inaction can play a big role in the terrorization of a child.

 

Pope: sex abuse 'scourge' for all society

VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI insisted on Saturday that all of society's institutions and not just the Catholic church must be held to "exacting" standards in their response to sex abuse of children, and defended the church's efforts to confront the problem.


Gunn instructs church officials to keep quiet about sex abuse, claims “priest privilege”

Lost in many of the news articles hailing Philip Gunn’s triumphal entry as Speaker of the House are the sex abuse allegations leveled at Gunn’s former minister, John Langworthy.  In the months following the arrest of the former Morrison Heights Baptist Church music minister, Gunn has served as the church’s attorney, spokesperson, and elder.  This would seem enough hats for a man who is also mounting a speaker’s campaign but last week, Gunn added another, clergyman. 


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