Incarcerated Youths Victimized by Sexual Predators, Unsafe Environments

Victims of sexual abuse at juvenile detention centers are increasingly sounding the alarm, exposing lax management and security practices that have placed vulnerable young people in danger.

Lawsuits in states including Oregon, Illinois, Washington, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New Hampshire, California and New York detail sexual abuse in state- and county-run juvenile detention centers that include allegations of rape, forced oral sex and beatings by corrections officers, nurses, kitchen staff, chaplains and others.

In Illinois, 667 people have alleged they were sexually abused as children at youth facilities in Illinois through lawsuits filed since May. The most recent Illinois complaints detail alleged abuse from 1996 to 2021 from the accounts of 272 people who were in state-run youth juvenile detention facilities and a county-run Chicago center.

Troubled Teen Facilities: A Breeding Ground for Abuse?

Treating troubled teens has become a growth industry even as reports of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse of young offenders participating in these programs have become more widespread.

A Troubled History 

Many trace the beginnings of the troubled teen industry to a 1950s organization called Synanon, which was a drug rehabilitation program that involved no doctors. One of the methods included a game that used verbal abuse to help drug addicts take responsibility for their part in their addiction. Over time, the game also began to involve physical abuse.

Other groups began to take on this “tough love” approach to helping at-risk teens. These approaches were explored on TV talk shows and even in a 1985 TV movie called Toughlove.

Report Details ‘Staggering Pervasiveness’ of Sex Abuse Within Catholic Diocese

More than 150 priests, deacons, teachers and seminarians within the Archdiocese of Baltimore have been accused of sexually abusing more than 600 children and young adults over an eight-decade period.

An explosive report by the Maryland Attorney General’s Office details pervasive sexual abuse within the country’s oldest Roman Catholic diocese. In some cases, parishes, schools and congregations had more than one alleged abuser at work. One, St. Mark’s Parish in Catonsville, had 11 alleged abusers living and working there between 1964 and 2004. One deacon admitted to molesting more than 100 children.

Victoria Chang News Commentary: New Hawai‘i Law Puts Sex Abuse Survivors ‘Front and Center’

“Thanks to the 2024 legislature, Hawai‘i is taking an important step toward recognizing the unique challenges facing survivors of sex abuse, helping them on the long road to recovery and justice,” Galiher DeRobertis & Waxman’s Victoria Chang writes in a Hawaii Star-Advertiser guest commentary this week regarding the passage of Senate Bill 2601.

Signed into law by Gov. Josh Green earlier this month, SB 2601 prioritizes the victim. Unlike criminal laws focusing on punishing perpetrators, civil lawsuits hold businesses and institutions accountable for failing to protect children. The new law acknowledges that most survivors do not report their abuse, and those who do often delay reporting by an average of 20 years.

Child sex abuse cover-up allegations rock Southern Baptist Convention

The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), the largest Protestant denomination in the United States, has been rocked by allegations of widespread sexual abuse by pastors, church employees and officials.

A 2019 independent investigation resulted in a 300-page report that uncovered sex abuse cases dating back more than two decades. The report revealed that denomination leaders ignored and covered up sex abuse allegations while vilifying sex abuse survivors. At least 200 abusers within the SBC have been convicted or pleaded guilty to sex offenses, according to independent news reports.

Kamehameha Schools’ Shameful Legacy of Sexual Abuse

A towering symbol of Hawai‘i pride, Hawai‘i’s Kamehameha Schools has educated some of the Hawaiian Islands’ leading lights since 1887. Named for the monarch who united the Hawaiian Islands, Kamehameha’s boarding school on Oahu provided families of native Hawaiian descent the opportunity to educate their children on a campus with more than 70 buildings, an Olympic-sized swimming pool, an athletic complex that seats 3,000, and a resources that rival those of the world’s most-elite private schools.

The school’s storied history, however, belies a dark secret that has only recently come to light. For generations, school administrators covered up what lawsuits by more than 30 former students have described as decades of “monstrous sexual abuse” perpetrated largely against male boarders who were entirely in the trust and care of Kamehameha Schools.

Brave Sexual Abuse Victims are Coming Forward and Making a Difference

With its narrow focus on catching and punishing offenders, the criminal justice system too often leaves crime victims feeling forgotten, and in many cases victimized all over again. That’s especially true for victims of child sexual abuse, many of whom endure years of torment before bravely coming forward.

During National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, we recognize the key role that our civil justice system plays in helping these individuals. Unlike the criminal courts, civil litigation focuses squarely on helping victims obtain justice and holding responsible parties accountable.

It’s an honor to help victims achieve a measure of justice through monetary damages and awards against perpetrators and parties that too often turn a blind eye to their responsibility to protect individuals in their care.

 

 

Lawsuit: San Diego Catholic Diocese Hid Assets from Sex Abuse Victims

A new lawsuit claims the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego attempted to hide real estate holdings valued at more than $450 million to avoid paying out legal settlements to hundreds of victims of childhood sexual abuse.

The lawsuit follows a February announcement from the diocese that “staggering” legal costs from hundreds of new sex abuse lawsuits could force it to file for bankruptcy.

Cardinal Robert McElroy wrote in a letter to parishioners that most of the assets were “depleted” due to settling earlier abuse claims. Facing new lawsuit filings, the diocese may consider bankruptcy to compensate victims, he wrote.

Call for Swift Action to Pass EARN IT Act – Keep Kids Safe

A bill in Congress aimed at preventing online child exploitation is making its way through Congress as reports of explicit images and videos of children are rising.

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children received 29.3 million reports of images and videos to its cyber tip line in 2021, the highest number of reports ever received in one year.

“While the scale of child sexual exploitation and abuse online is increasing, so is our ability to tackle it. An urgent, whole-of-government response can help keep kids safe,” said Daniela Ligiero, executive director and CEO of Together for Girls.

Despite the increasing dangers to children and the rise in child sexual exploitation, technology companies have come out in force to defeat the federal legislation, called the Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies (EARN IT) Act.

Opponents claim the EARN IT Act would harm online speech, privacy, and security. Tech companies are concerned about the possibility of litigation exposure for failing to fight child sexual abuse material on their platforms. They say that free speech would be threatened and that ultimately, their legitimate services would be shut down.

Tech companies also argue that should the EARN IT Act become law, child abusers would go into hiding on offshore accounts and the dark web, making law enforcement’s job much harder. And, they say that EARN IT would discourage the use of encryption, harming the privacy and data security of everyone.

However, the bill, according to the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, does not sabotage privacy, undermine encryption or give the federal government new power.

In reality, the EARN IT Act would incentivize technology providers to finally address the online sexual exploitation of children while still respecting user privacy and free speech. The act would:

  • Clarify that there is no immunity for social media and technology companies that knowingly facilitate the distribution of child sexual abuse material.
  • Give victims a path to justice and possibility of restoring their privacy.
  • Update existing federal statutes to replace “child pornography” with the more accurate term “child sexual abuse material.”
  • Establish a commission of survivors, technology representatives, privacy and civil rights experts and other stakeholders to recommend best practices for tech companies to implement to detect, remove and block the exploitative content.

An estimated 500,000 online predators are active each day on the internet, according to the Child Crime Prevention & Safety Center.  An estimated 89% of sexual advances directed at children occur in internet chatrooms or through instant messaging. In over a quarter of all reported exploitation incidents, the online predator will ask a child for sexually explicit photos of themselves.

“This is very personal to me,” said Alexandra Gucci Zarini, founder of the Gucci Children’s Foundation, which cites statistics that 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys will be sexually abused. “When I was just 12 years old, a predator was targeting my friends from school via AOL Instant Messenger from a computer within our family home – literally the ‘House of Gucci.’ Those were the first days of online sexual exploitation of children, over 20 years ago.

“Our politicians and our society should have taken action back then to protect our children and their health and safety. But we have instead prioritized the privacy of the predator. It is finally time for action by our politicians and to hold tech companies accountable.”

How We Help Sex Abuse Victims 

Our national sexual abuse lawyers work one-on-one with survivors, offering a direct, personal level of care and discretion. We use our decades of experience battling big organizations to fight on behalf of survivors, aggressively taking on those responsible for causing pain and suffering. If you are a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, we can help.

Southern Baptist Leadership Mishandled Sex Abuse

After years of parishioner reports and a 2019 investigation by reporters at the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) released a report detailing sexual abuse allegations against pastors, church employees, and officials. The report shows lack of action on the part of individual churches and the greater leadership to cover up allegations and resist any reforms. The SBC is the second largest Christian denomination in the United States, with approximately 14 million members as of 2018. It is a coalition of independent churches, and members are counted as parishioners at these churches.

According to Guidepost Solutions, the independent firm chosen to perform the investigation, many of the attempts to silence accusers and prevent reforms were to avoid legal liability. The report lists many of the tactics used against the accused, including intimidation and painting accusers as opportunists. These tactics have been documented in many other sexual abuse and assault cases, used by both individuals and large and small organizations to convince accusers to recant or simply quiet down.

The History of Sex Abuse Allegations Against Churches

Although sex abuse accusations at the Catholic Church have dominated press coverage of these types of abuses, other churches have seen parishioners and others served by the church come forward with allegations of sexual abuse by clergy and lay people working for these churches. The SBC is simply the most recent large religious organization to respond to accusations.

A Christian pastor in Tennessee and Indiana pleaded guilty to sex abuse charges. Another pastor was sentenced to 105 years in prison for molesting multiple children over a period of years. An Oregon man filed a lawsuit against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints after learning that the man who abused him had abused other victims before him and was still allowed to serve in the Church. The LDS church was also sued for their alleged role in covering up cases of abuse in Boy Scout troops.

Details of the Southern Baptist Sex Abuse Report

The report, which was released in May 2022, covers sex abuse cases from 2000 to the present and is nearly 400 pages. It includes not only descriptions of specific sex abuse cases but also the responses of church leaders and the reasoning behind their actions. Additionally, the SBC released a database of nearly 700 offenses. The list was found during the investigation, as it was being kept secretly by an executive committee staff member, although the SBC has told reporters for years that gathering the names of clergy and staff who were credibly accused of sexual assault was impossible.

The database is not complete, and it only includes the names of those who have confessed to sex abuse, been convicted of it, or have been confirmed by some other criteria. Survivor names have been redacted to protect their anonymity. There are also completely redacted entries that haven’t been confirmed. Recent, high-profile cases of a youth pastor and a longtime church leader in Texas cannot be found in the database. The SBC has a link on their website for survivors to make reports.

How We Help Sex Abuse Victims 

Our national sexual abuse lawyers work one-on-one with survivors, offering a direct, personal level of care and discretion. We use our decades of experience battling big organizations to fight on behalf of survivors, aggressively taking on those responsible for causing pain and suffering. If you are a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, we can help.