What Experts Know About Men Who Rape

by Heather Murphy

In 1976, a Ph.D. candidate at Claremont Graduate University placed a rather unusual personal ad in newspapers throughout Los Angeles:

Are You A Rapist?

Researcher interviewing anonymously by phone to protect your identity.

Call 213/---/---- 9-9pm.

He sat by his phone, skeptical that it would ring. “I didn't think that anyone would want to respond,” said Samuel D. Smithyman, now 72 and a clinical psychologist in South Carolina.

But the phone did ring. Nearly 200 times.

At the other end of the line were a computer programmer who had raped his “sort of girlfriend,” a painter who had raped his acquaintance's wife, and a school custodian who described 10 to 15 rapes as a means of getting even with “rich bastards” in Beverly Hills.

By the end of the summer, Dr. Smithyman had completed 50 interviews, which became the foundation for his dissertation: “The Undetected Rapist.” What was particularly surprising to him was how normal these men sounded and how diverse their backgrounds were. He concluded that few generalizations could be made.

Over the past few weeks, women across the world have recounted tales of harassment and sexual assault by posting anecdotes to social media with the hashtag #MeToo . Even just focusing on the second category, the biographies of the accused are so varied that they seem to support Dr. Smithyman's observation.

But more recent research suggests that there are some commonalities. In the decades since his paper, scientists have been gradually filling out a picture of men who commit sexual assaults.

The most pronounced similarities have little to do with the traditional demographic categories, like race, class and marital status. Rather, other kinds of patterns have emerged: these men begin early, studies find. They may associate with others who also commit sexual violence. They usually deny that they have raped women even as they admit to nonconsensual sex.

Clarifying these and other patterns, many researchers say, is the most realistic path toward curtailing behaviors that cause so much pain.

“If you don't really understand perpetrators, you're never going to understand sexual violence,” said Sherry Hamby , editor of the journal Psychology of Violence. That may seem obvious, but she said she receives “10 papers on victims” for every one on perpetrators.

This may be partly connected to a tendency to consider sexual assault a women's issue even though men usually commit the crime. But finding the right subjects also has complicated the research.

Early studies relied heavily on convicted rapists. This skewed the data, said Neil Malamuth, a psychologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, who has been studying sexual aggression for decades.

Men in prison are often “generalists,” he said: “They would steal your television, your watch, your car. And sometimes they steal sex.”

But men who commit sexual assault, and are not imprisoned because they got away with it, are often “specialists.” There is a strong chance that this is their primary criminal transgression.

More recent studies tend to rely on anonymous surveys of college students and other communities, which come with legal language assuring subjects their answers cannot be used against them. The studies avoid using terms such as “rape” and “sexual assault.”

Instead, they ask subjects highly specific questions about their actions and tactics. The focus of most sexual aggression research is acknowledged nonconsensual sexual behavior. In questionnaires and in follow-up interviews, subjects are surprisingly open about ignoring consent.

Men who rape tend to start young, in high school or the first couple of years of college, likely crossing a line with someone they know, the research suggests.

Some of these men commit one or two sexual assaults and then stop. Others — no one can yet say what portion — maintain this behavior or even pick up the pace.

Antonia Abbey, a social psychologist at Wayne State University, has found that young men who expressed remorse were less likely to offend the following year, while those who blamed their victim were more likely to do it again.

One repeat offender put it this way: “I felt I was repaying her for sexually arousing me.”

There is a heated debate among experts about whether there is a point at which sexual assault becomes an entrenched behavior and what percentage of assaults are committed by serial predators.

Most researchers agree that the line between the occasional and frequent offender is not so clear. The recent work of Kevin Swartout , a professor of psychology and public health at Georgia State University, suggests that low-frequency offenders are more common on college campuses than previously thought.

“It's a matter of degree, more like dosage,” said Mary P. Koss , a professor of public health at the University of Arizona, who is credited with coining the term “date rape.”

Dosage of what? Certain factors — researchers call them “risk factors” while acknowledging that these men are nonetheless responsible for their actions — have an outsize presence among those who commit sexual assaults.

Heavy drinking, perceived pressure to have sex, a belief in “rape myths” — such as the idea that no means yes — are all risk factors among men who have committed sexual assault. A peer group that uses hostile language to describe women is another one.

Yet there also seem to be personal attributes that have a mediating effect on these factors. Men who are highly aroused by rape porn — another risk factor — are less likely to attempt sexual assault if they score highly on measures of empathy, Dr. Malamuth has found.

Narcissism seems to work in the other direction, magnifying odds that men will commit sexual assault and rape.

What about the idea that rape is about power over women? Some experts feel that research into hostile attitudes toward women supports this idea.

In general, however, researchers say motives are varied and difficult to quantify.

Dr. Malamuth has noticed that repeat offenders often tell similar stories of rejection in high school and of looking on as “jocks and the football players got all the attractive women.”

As these once-unpopular, often narcissistic men become more successful, he suspects that “getting back at these women, having power over them, seems to have become a source of arousal.”

Most subjects in these studies freely acknowledge nonconsensual sex — but that does not mean they consider it real rape. Researchers encounter this contradiction again and again.

Asked “if they had penetrated against their consent,” said Dr. Koss, the subject will say yes. Asked if he did “something like rape,” the answer is almost always no.

Studies of incarcerated rapists — even men who admit to keeping sex slaves in conflict zones — find a similar disconnect. It's not that they deny sexual assault happens; it's just that the crime is committed by the monster over there.

And this is not a sign that the respondents are psychopaths, said Dr. Hamby, the journal editor. It's a sign that they are human. “No one thinks they are a bad guy,” she said.

Indeed, experts note one last trait shared by men who have raped: they do not believe they are the problem.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/30/health/men-rape-sexual-assault.html

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New York

Democrats slam bill to create $300M fund for child sex abuse victims

by Kenneth Lovett

ALBANY — State Senate Democrats, in a report to be released this week, say a bill that would create a $300 million fund to help adults who were victims of child abuse is woefully inadequate, while protecting the predators themselves.

Sen. Catharine Young (R-Chautauqua County) recently proposed an alternative to a Dem-favored bill known as the Child Victims Act to would create the fund that would be run out of the state controller's office using asset forfeiture money currently controlled by the Manhattan District Attorney's office.

The Senate Democratic report estimates there are 2,000 child sex abuse survivors who could come forward to sue their attackers and the institutions they work for.

Saying the average settlement nationally is $350,000, the $300 million proposed by Young would fall $400 million short. That, the Dems fear, could lead to capped settlements by the fund's administrator, even though the bill's supporters say the fund would be replenished each year with another 5% taken from the asset forfeiture money.

The report also says using asset-forfeiture money on child sex abuse settlements would divert the funds from other important criminal justice initiatives while letting abusers and the institutions they are connected to off the hook and denying victims legal discovery that comes with lawsuits that could shed more light on the problem.

"Though this approach may have superficial appeal, it suffers from several flaws, explaining why no other state has used this method of compensation," the report says.

Senate Democrats supporting a Child Victims Act that has already overwhelming passed the Assembly with broad bipartisan support. That bill gives victims more time to bring criminal and civil cases and creates a one-year window to revive cases that are currently time-barred.

The bill has been routinely blocked by Senate Republicans and is vehemently opposed by the Catholic Church, the Orthodox Jewish community, the Boy Scouts of America and insurance companies, who fear it could cause financial hardships.

But the Senate Democratic report says that while there has been financial strain put on private institutions and their insurers in states that have laws similar to the proposed Child Victims Act, "there have been no involuntary bankruptcies."

"The only way to ensure justice for survivors is through passage of the Child Victims Act, which will allow survivors their day in court and hold abusers accountable for their actions," said Sen. Brad Hoylman, the Manhattan Democrat sponsoring the act.

The Senate Democrats on Tuesday will for the second time this year try to force a vote on the law by attaching it as a hostile amendment to a different piece of legislation.

"It's time for the Senate Republicans to stand with the majority of New Yorkers and not water down the Child Victims Act," said Senate Democratic Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, of Yonkers.

Young accused the Senate Dems of playing partisan politics rather than trying to find a solution to help all victims.

"The sad reality is that most victims of childhood sexual abuse would be left with nothing under Sen. Hoylman's Child Victims Act bill," she said.

"It would benefit a small minority of victims who suffered institutional sexual abuse, at the expense of the other 80% who were victimized by family members, acquaintances and other individuals who lack the financial means to pay civil damages. This is a fact that he has conveniently ignored."

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/democrats-slam-bill-create-300m-fund-child-abuse-victims-article-1.4000932

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Pennsylvania

What can be done to prevent child abuse in sports? Experts weigh in

by John Smallwood

In the wild, adult animals instinctually try to shield and protect their young from predators.

Human beings, however, add an element of thought and contemplation to most situations. The human wolf will infiltrate into the company of parents to gain their confidence, all with the secret agenda of gaining unsupervised access to children.

“That's a fabulous way to put it,” said Susan B. Sorenson, a professor of social policy and executive director of The Ortner Center on Violence & Abuse in Relationships at the University of Pennsylvania. “We've seen the process occur whether it's been through churches, schools or through sports. The trusted adult, not just by the kids but by the parents and the family, and the community can end up taking advantage of kids. That becomes devastating for the kids as well as the families.”

Abuse of athletes by coaches has again exploded into the American conscience. Last week it was announced Michigan State settled lawsuits filed by the victims of Larry Nassar, the disgraced sports doctor who worked for the university, after more than 300 women accused him of sexual abuse. In January, more than 150 of those women — including several Olympic-medal winning gymnasts — testified in a hearing. He was sentenced to, essentially, life in prison.

Last month, CHILD USA, a think tank at Penn focused on child abuse and neglect, held a day-long symposium called “Athletes and Abuse.” It brought together leading experts, officials, policymakers and athletes for an open forum to examine abuse across the spectrum of sports at all ages.

“We've learned a lot about child abuse through the last decade, and one of the more recent arenas we've been looking at has been in sports,” Sorenson said. “We've seen that there is a lifespan that can start in tee-ball and expand as high as the NFL.”

Dan Baum, chief strategy officer and executive director of the Redwoods Group Foundation, does not like the word grooming , which is often used to describe how child abusers lure their victims.

“It's manipulation,” Baum said. “We're talking about the way adult predators build relationships with kids and trusting relations with the caring adults around those children to create access and opportunities for the abuse to occur.”

Studies have shown that 90 percent of children who are abused know their abuser.

Baum said that a coach who is an abuser might first highlight the talents of a young athlete, show that athlete favoritism and give the athlete extra practice time after the normal session has ended. It plays on the ego of the child and the adult guardian. Who doesn't want their kid to succeed?

This coach recognizes that the child has a special talent and wants to help the child maximize that ability. Perhaps that individual will get a college scholarship or even become a professional athlete.

Baum said there are warning signs that should be looked for that might expose a nefarious goal.

“How is that extra attention advocated?” he said. “Is it in the privacy of a coach's home or in public with other adults present? There is a huge difference.

“Is the coach the only one allowed to have interaction with this particular athlete? I think there are different ways to analyze the behavior so it should be thought about. If it is behavior that makes us feel uncomfortable or doesn't seem right, that thought is often correct.”

Through his work as president and CEO of the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation, Steve Salem says his organization has developed safety guidelines that all organizations that involve work with children should adopt as a preventative tool against child abuse. It includes background checks for all coaches.

He says that sometimes the people in those organizations, including parents, become their own worst enemies.

“The kind of responses we get is, ‘We know there is a problem, but we don't have a problem,' ” Salem said. “It can become so disappointing. They're in denial.”

He said he understands how it can happen.

“Most of the coaches and kids live within a few miles of each other,” Salem said, relating to his experience as a youth coach in Damascus, Md. “A coach's children are players with other kids; many are siblings or lifelong friends. Coaches are the employers of other coaches.

“You're in a situation where a background check is for family, friends, and bosses. The whole town loves the coach. How dare you tell us we should do a background check.”

Patty Dailey Lewis, executive director of the Beau Biden Foundation for the Protection of Children, said the abuser counts on these types of social relationships to remain in hiding in plain sight for years, even decades.

“The problem I see from my 34 years of working [child-abuse] cases, working with victims, working with schools, working with coaches, is that people don't want to talk about it,” said Lewis, a former Deputy Attorney General and director of the Family Division of the Delaware Department of Justice. “We need to make people understand that child sexual abuse is not limited to dark alleys and parks at night. It is not just handing out policies. We tell people they should report things, but we haven't told them what to look for.”

NFL Network chief correspondent Andrea Kremer, a Philadelphia native and Penn graduate, was invited as a keynote speaker and also reported on the symposium for HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel.

“One area that none of the panelists talked about was the journalist and the role we should play,” Kremer said. “Consider that [the Jerry Sandusky scandal at Penn State] was exposed by a young journalist in upstate Pennsylvania. Nassar was broken by the Indianapolis Star.

“Journalists are important in this not only to bring it to the forefront but to also make sure that people see that it is OK to talk about this.

“Journalism could be as culpable as anyone else in turning a blind eye to this, but no more to use that phrase. This is something that is too incredibly important.”

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/sports-child-abuse-prevention-larry-nassar-michigan-state-20180521.html

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Maryland

One year's losses for child sexual abuse in US top $9 billion, new study suggests

by John Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health

A new study at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that the annual economic impact of child sexual abuse in the U.S. is far-reaching and costly: In 2015, the total economic burden was approximately $9.3 billion and includes costs associated with health care, child welfare, special education, violence and crime, suicide and survivor productivity losses.

The study, published in the May 2018 edition of the journal Child Abuse and Neglect , used data from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System to gather a full census of all child sexual abuse cases reported to child protective agencies across the U.S. In addition to estimating the 2015 annual cost, the researchers calculated the average lifetime cost per victim based on specific categories such as health care, child welfare, etc. These costs were tied to the incremental effects of child sexual abuse, over and above what the cost would be to someone who wasn't a victim of child sexual abuse. All costs were estimated in U.S. dollars and adjusted to the reference year 2015 using the gross domestic product deflator.

The highest costs for women and men affected by child sexual abuse -- more than $1,000,000 in estimated losses -- were associated with the rare cases of fatal child sexual abuse. In 2015, the majority of child sexual abuse survivors were female, 75 percent versus 25 percent male survivors of 40,387 total cases reported in the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System. Nonfatal child sexual abuse was associated with nearly $283,000 in costs over the lifetime of each female survivor. Lifetime costs for male survivors were lower, most likely because the economic impact of child sexual abuse on male survivors is underresearched.

"Most people appreciate the immense mental and physical health toll of child sexual abuse on victims, but that knowledge has been insufficient to prompt serious investment in primary prevention efforts," says study author Elizabeth J. Letourneau, PhD, a professor in the Bloomberg School's Department of Mental Health and director of the Moore Center for the Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse. "I hope that presenting a credible estimate of the fiscal toll of child sexual abuse will inspire policymakers to designate resources toward the development, evaluation and dissemination of prevention efforts that protect children from experiencing their first abuse, rather than focusing almost solely on after-the-fact approaches."

Previous studies have found that there are many negative effects that reach beyond the immediate event and include increased risk for mental, physical and behavioral health disorders across victims' lifetimes. Child sexual abuse is also associated with an increased risk of sexually transmitted diseases including HIV, self-inflicted injury, substance use disorders and violence.

In the U.S., child sexual abuse ranks twelfth among preventable risk factors that account substantively for the U.S. burden of disease, but there has been little research looking specifically at the economic burden of child sexual abuse. (Only three studies have estimated the costs of child sexual abuse.) In one study, researchers estimated the costs to be $125,000 per victim, per year, which was higher than that attributed to victims of child physical abuse ($77,000).

Limitations of the current study include limited availability of high-quality data on the economic impact of nonfatal child sexual abuse on male victims. Also, it was difficult to estimate the appropriate valuation of the quality-of-life loss. Lastly, the estimate of total lifetime economic burden of child sexual abuse is likely to be underestimated because researchers relied on reported cases and it has been widely recognized that these cases are underreported.

A current estimate of the economic burden of child sexual abuse in the U.S. is a critical step for drawing attention to the need for more robust prevention efforts, which include an increase in federal funding for child sexual abuse prevention research. Research shows that credible cost estimates for illnesses help the public and policymakers identify public health problems and demonstrate the impact on individuals and societies. The availability of accurate, up-to-date estimates will contribute to policy analysis, facilitate comparisons with other public health problems and support future economic evaluations of child sexual abuse-specific policy and practice.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/05/180521131552.htm

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Massachusetts

Massachusetts to strengthen child abuse protection through mandated reporting reform

by Jennifer Zarate

BOSTON (WWLP) - The state issued a document on mandated reporting reform to protect children on Monday.

Post Audit and Oversight Committee Chairman David Linsky released a report highlighting the need for Massachusetts to strengthen its child abuse and neglect protections through mandated reporting reform.

This comes after the USA Gymnastics child abuse scandal, in which more than 300 women and girls said they were sexually assaulted by team doctor Larry Nassar.

In the report, the Committee described the need to update the state's mandated reporting statute to require private athletic coaches to act as mandated reporters of child abuse and neglect.

The Committee found this particularly troubling given the rising popularity of privatized athletic programs.

They also see a need for the state to develop a standardized mandated reporter training program.

In a news release, Rep. Linsky called child abuse and neglect one of society's most horrific crimes:

“The implementation of our recommendations will ensure that adults who are responsible for the safety of the Commonwealth's children are adequately trained and held accountable for preventing and reporting allegations of abuse or neglect.”

Linsky said he hopes the governor signs this bill into law soon after it's approved in the legislature.

http://www.wwlp.com/news/state-politics/massachusetts-to-strengthen-child-abuse-protection-through-mandated-reporting-reform/1191484605

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Australia

Archbishop convicted of covering up child sexual abuse

by CBS News

NEWCASTLE, Australia -- An Australian archbishop on Tuesday became the most senior Roman Catholic cleric in the world convicted of covering up child sex abuse and faces a potential two years in prison when he is sentenced next month. Magistrate Robert Stone handed down the verdict against Archbishop of Adelaide Philip Wilson in Newcastle Local Court, north of Sydney, following a magistrate-only trial.

Wilson, 67, had pleaded not guilty to concealing a serious crime committed by another person -- the sexual abuse of children by pedophile priest James Fletcher in the 1970s.

Stone told the court that Wilson had concealed the abuse of two altar boys in the Hunter Valley region, north of Sydney, by Fletcher by failing to report the allegations to police.

Stone said he was satisfied one of the altar boys, Peter Creigh had been a "truthful and reliable" witness.

Wilson was released on bail until he appears at a sentencing hearing on June 9. Prosecutors will argue for a custodial sentence.

In a statement issued by the Catholic Church, Wilson said he was disappointed by the conviction.

"I will now have to consider the reasons and consult closely with my lawyers to determine the next steps," he said.

Prosecutor Gareth Harrison had submitted that Wilson was involved in a cover-up to protect the church's reputation and there were doubts about his honesty.

Harrison argued that in Wilson's mind, victims came second.

Wilson, who is suffering from the early stages of Alzheimer's disease but maintains medication has helped his memory, told the court last month during his trial he could not remember Creigh and another altar boy telling him in 1976 they were abused by Fletcher. The court has ordered Creigh can be named in media reports on his testimony, but the second accuser cannot be named for legal reasons.

The prosecution argued Wilson failed to give details to police about a serious crime after Fletcher was arrested in 2004 and went on trial for preying on another boy.

Fletcher was found guilty of nine counts of child sexual abuse and died in prison of a stroke in 2006 while serving an almost eight-year sentence.

Defense lawyers had argued Wilson could not be found guilty because the case was circumstantial and there was no evidence to prove the archbishop was told about the abuse, believed it was true, or remembered being told about it.

Defense lawyer Stephen Odgers urged the magistrate to take into account that in the 1970s a priest having sex with a boy was not considered a serious indictable offence, the legal basis for the concealment charge against Wilson.

Odgers told the court the abuse would have been viewed as an act of indecency, not indecent assault, if the victim could not prove he had been forced to perform sex acts.

Creigh told the court he had trusted Wilson, then an assistant priest, would take action after he told him Fletcher had repeatedly abused him in 1971 when he was 10.

Creigh testified Wilson had a "look of horror" on his face when told of the abuse.

Creigh told the court the clergyman took no action and did not tell police.

The defense did not challenge Creigh's truthfulness, but raised concerns about the reliability of his memory of what happened in 1976.

The other former altar boy said he was about 11 in 1976 when he went to confession and told Wilson that Fletcher had abused him.

The witness told the court Wilson refused to believe him because Fletcher "was a good bloke." Wilson ordered the boy to get out of the confessional box and say 10 Hail Mary prayers as an act of contrition, the court was told.

Wilson testified last month that he had no memory of seeing the second altar boy at all in 1976 and he would never accuse anyone in the confessional of telling lies.

Former Police Detective Chief Inspector, who had previously made public allegations that the church had covered up Fletcher's crimes, said outside court he was "delighted" by the verdict because someone in the church was being held to account.

"It's a major turning point. It's been very difficult for so many of these witnesses; I can't tell you how difficult it's been," Fox said.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/archbishop-of-adelaide-philip-wilson-australia-convicted-child-sexual-abuse-cover-up/

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Oklahoma

Former TPD Officer Gets 210 Years For Child Sexual Abuse

by NewsOn6

TULSA, Oklahoma -

The former Tulsa police officer sentenced to 30 years last week for child sexual exploitation received another 210 years in federal court Monday. Noel McFadden was sentenced to 30 years on each of seven counts for the sexual abuse of a child under 12.

The sentences are to be served consecutively for a total of 210 years. That's on top of the 30 year sentence he received last week.

One additional count of child sexual abuse had been dismissed previously.

McFadden has lived in his Broken Arrow neighborhood 30 years. Police said he used his status as a retired police officer to get parents and children to trust him but then abused that trust.

"He was a retired police officer who portrayed himself as sort of the neighborhood grandfather," Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeff Gallant said.

"It just shows it doesn't matter what your profession is or who you are, there's still very sick people out there," said the victims' mother, Amber Evans.

McFadden had the chance to apologize to his victims in Tulsa County court last week but chose not to do so.

http://www.newson6.com/story/38240907/retired-tpd-officer-gets-210-years-for-child-sexual-abuse

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Texas

Dallas organization: don't stop the sex trafficking conversation

by Nicole Johnson

DALLAS--If you stop into the conference room of Traffick 911, you'll see a wall full of framed letters that you can tell were written by children.

You notice the bright colors and the adorable drawings. What might take you by surprise are the words written in the letters.

“It's hard to understand why some people use people like they use shoes,” one young girl writes. “I wonder if they really understand that when this child was little, they were abused.”

The authors of the letters are girls around 12 or 13 years-young who've been rescued by the Dallas non-profit.

"Being trafficked isn't a choice," says another victim. "I don't think a young girl, kid woke up one day and decided to sleep with multiple men and get no pay."

“I think it's easy not to see it, because of the internet, the marketing of it, a human being for sex, text messages and the way the transactions are set up," says Traffick 911 CEO George Lynch.

While it may be invisible to you, thousands of children in Dallas alone are being sold for sex online.

“And these are the fortunate kids who are being rescued by law enforcement,” Lynch says the state of Texas is beginning to take a stab at the problem.

Lynch says it's major good news that the government has shut down Backpage.com and that Reddit and Craigslist removed sections where humans, including children, were being sold for sex.

But with the major publicity that's received, don't get the wrong idea.

The fight to free those stuck in sex trafficking is far from over. "And that happens because there is a demand, people are willing to buy a teenager,” Lynch says.

As long as there is an appetite for teenagers the problem will continue.

Letters like these will continue to fill the walls of the community.

And hopefully so will more posts like this one.

http://cw33.com/2018/05/21/dallas-organization-dont-stop-the-sex-trafficking-conversation/

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How childhood trauma can affect mental and physical health into adulthood

by The Conversation

For millions of children in the U.S., poverty, neglect or abuse is a reality of everyday life, though these struggles are often hidden from view.

Adult survivors often feel ashamed about and stigmatized for their childhood adversity. This makes it difficult to recognize that these events occur.

While it's easier to turn away than to face these issues, we can no longer afford to do so. Stress, mental illness and substance abuse – all health outcomes linked to childhood trauma – occur in the U.S. today at very high rates.

In 1999, I joined the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as an early investigator on a study to examine how childhood trauma can impact health decades later. Little did I know that I was about to begin both a professional and personal journey that would forever change my understanding of medicine, public health and the human capacity to heal.

That seminal study provided insight into the lifelong health consequences of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). It was the beginning of our understanding that these experiences can have negative effects on childhood development, leading to physical and mental health problems throughout life.

It brought to light the importance of preventing ACEs from ever occurring. It also drew attention to the healing and recovery needed to prevent these experiences from having an impact across generations.

The ACE Study

In the early 1990s, Vincent Felitti, a physician at Kaiser Permanente in San Diego, questioned why patients who successfully lost weight dropped out of a weight loss program. He could not make sense of it. He interviewed each patient individually and learned that the weight loss made patients feel vulnerable. A large proportion of the patients disclosed experiences of childhood sexual abuse. The weight protected them.

Felitti's findings caught the interest of Dr. Robert Anda at the CDC. Together, they launched the CDC-Kaiser Adverse Childhood Experiences Study.

The ACE Study was one of the first and largest research efforts conducted to examine the impact of childhood trauma on health decades later.

From 1995 to 1997, more than 17,000 adult members of Kaiser Permanente in San Diego took part in the study. Researchers gathered information on their health and behaviors. Participants also answered questions about adverse childhood experiences, including physical, emotional and sexual abuse; physical and emotional neglect; and growing up in a home with divorced parents, domestic violence, substance abuse, or mentally ill or incarcerated household members.

One day, while reviewing the completed questionnaires, I came across several notes penned by the study participants, thanking us for asking these questions. One said, “I thought I would die never having told anyone about my childhood.” The messages were a true testament to the hidden nature of childhood adversities.

Key takeaways

The ACE Study offered groundbreaking insight into childhood trauma.

First, the ACE Study showed that childhood trauma is very common, even among white, highly educated adults with health care.

This was a novel finding, given that populations of low socioeconomic status and racial minorities are disproportionately represented in child welfare systems. For example, a large percentage of African-American and Native American children are seen in the child welfare system. The ACE Study helped us understand that childhood trauma cuts across multiple populations.

We learned that close to 30 percent of ACE study participants experienced physical abuse as a child. Fifteen percent experienced childhood emotional neglect.

A separate study showed that one in six men and one in four women reported childhood sexual abuse . Both men and women experienced similar risk for health outcomes like alcohol abuse and symptoms of depression.

Most importantly, we discovered that the 10 separate categories of abuse, neglect and related household stressors we assessed rarely occur as single events. For example, among adults who reported sexual abuse, 80 percent reported at least one additional ACE and 60 percent at least two. A large proportion of study participants, sixty-seven percent, reported at least one of the 10 ACEs.

It's true that, during adolescence, youth tend to engage in risk-taking behaviors. Our research showed that childhood trauma increased the risk of alcohol use by age 14 and illicit drug use by age 15. Childhood trauma also contributed to the likelihood of adolescent pregnancies and adolescent suicide attempts.

But the story doesn't end there. ACEs were also found to be associated with multiple adverse outcomes in adulthood, such as cardiovascular disease, liver disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, suicide attempts, alcohol dependence, marital problems, intravenous drug use and many more.

If there is one common thread to many of the preventable diseases we face in the U.S., why are we not paying closer attention?

Addressing ACEs

In 2012, the American Academy of Pediatrics called for a focused effort to prevent and address childhood toxic stress.

The policy was informed by the ACE Study and research on the impact that childhood trauma has on brain development. Neuroimaging of people who have experienced ACEs shows changes in the structure and function of areas of the brain responsible for memory, learning, and emotions.

What's more, many of the outcomes associated with ACEs among adult survivors – such as substance abuse and mental illness – may make it likelier that the next generation will experience ACEs as well.

But not all hope is lost. Research strongly suggests that humans have an innate capacity to adapt and positively transform, even after traumatic and stressful events. Most importantly, positive, supportive and healthful activities can contribute to positive well-being among adult survivors of childhood adversity. Change has to start with ourselves first, so we can provide children with the safety, support, love, and protection they need.

We must recognize – without judgment, but rather with compassion – that trauma is widespread, affecting children and adults across generations. We cannot afford to wait any longer to address trauma and break the cycle of childhood adversities.

https://theconversation.com/how-childhood-trauma-can-affect-mental-and-physical-health-into-adulthood-77149

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The steps that can help adults heal from childhood trauma

by The Conversation

Prevention is the mantra of modern medicine and public health. Benjamin Franklin said it himself: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

Unfortunately, childhood adversities such as abuse and neglect cannot be prevented by vaccinations. As we now know, a large proportion of adults go through adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and can exhibit symptoms such as substance abuse. The symptoms seen in adults can in turn expose the next generation to adverse outcomes – creating a cycle that's hard to break.

However, we can limit the impact of ACEs on future generations by taking a close look at what we are doing today – not only for our children, but for ourselves, as adults. Therefore, to prevent adversities for children, we must address the healing and recovery of trauma in adults.

Shifting the paradigm

The ACE Study, launched in the 1990s, offered a groundbreaking look at how childhood trauma can impact health decades later.

More than two-thirds of the 17,000-plus adults in our study reported at least one ACE, such as divorce, neglect or domestic violence in the household. These adults were at a greater risk for numerous negative health and behavioral outcomes.

When I present this research, I often get questions about the adult survivors. What has helped these adults survive to tell their childhood histories?

The ACE Study was not conceptualized to examine resilience. But I had always been curious about what helped these trauma survivors thrive. I wanted to understand not only what led to their ill health later in life, but what led some of them to report positive health, despite their backgrounds.

Promoting good health

Modern medicine and public health have traditionally focused on figuring out the origins of disease and how to prevent poor health.

In 1996, medical sociologist and anthropologist Aaron Antonovsky offered a different perspective. He suggested we look at health as a continuum and focus on what can promote good health. This approach, called salutogenesis, suggests that we as humans have the innate capacity to move toward health in the face of hardship.

Today, the World Health Organization defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” I wondered how this approach might reflect on the adult survivors. What promotes their good health and positive well-being, knowing they are at risk for negative health conditions?

In 2013, my colleagues and I published a study examining approximately 5,000 adults from the original ACE study who reported at least one childhood adversity. We focused on strategies that have been proven to promote good health – such as exercise, abstaining from smoking, access to emotional support and completing education at the high school level or higher.

Indeed, each of the factors listed was associated with reports of excellent, very good or good health among adult survivors. Depending on the factor, there was a 30 to 80 percent increased likelhood that the adult would report positive well-being. Survivors who had a college education were 2.1 times more likely to report positive well-being than those with no high school diploma. These findings were after considering their chronic conditions. We also found that the four factors were associated with a lower likelihood to report depressive feelings.

When I repeated this study with a sample population of adult trauma survivors from four states and the District of Columbia, I found nearly identical results.

What's more, the greater number of health-promoting activities a person participated in, the better their well-being seemed to be. Adult survivors with at least two factors were 1.5 times more likely to report good to excellent health. Those who reported all four factors were 4.3 times more likely to report good to excellent health, compared to those who engaged in none or one, even after considering their chronic conditions.

On average, trauma survivors who reported at least two of the health promoting factors had also experienced fewer mentally and physically unhealthy days in the past 30 days.

We have also learned that adult trauma survivors use complementary strategies such as yoga, massage, and dance therapy.

With that said, we need more rigorous studies to test these and other approaches that promote health and well-being. The studies presented examined only four factors and cannot be generalized to all adult survivors of ACEs.

How to start healing

From a survival perspective, the body can respond to perceived or actual threats with the “fight or flight” stress response. However, if this threat is constant, the endocrine and neuronal systems stay activated, which can overtax us and prevent the body from establishing homeostasis. Research has helped us to understand how disease can result from stress and trauma.

Just as we are biologically equipped with mechanisms to deal with threatening situations, our bodies are also equipped with neurochemicals like dopamine and GABA that provide feelings of security, happiness and motivation. We can ourselves activate these positive feelings through self-care. For example, in one study, massage was found to reduce cortisol and increase dopamine and serotonin.

There is no voodoo here. If we present our body and five senses with positive inputs – like calming music, unprocessed foods and walks through nature – we can stimulate our own system to regulate in a favorable way.

But these interventions may not be sufficient by themselves. Active counseling, the use of cognitive-behavioral therapy and in some cases medications or other health interventions may be needed.

We must recognize the strength and limitations of modern medicine and public health when it comes to addressing and preventing ACEs. Interrupting the cycle of abuse and neglect must first begin with adults. It will require an integrative and multigenerational approach that empowers individuals to heal their bodies, minds and spirits.

https://theconversation.com/the-steps-that-can-help-adults-heal-from-childhood-trauma-77152

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Abuse/Survivors of Abuse

by GoodTherapy

Abuse — physical, verbal, or emotional maltreatment — can leave psychological wounds that are harder to heal than bodily injuries. Survivors of abuse may find it challenging to cope with the intense, often negative feelings that can plague them long after the abuse has ended, and their ability to find peace and happiness in life may be affected.

Distressing memories, anxiety, blocks to intimacy, and trust issues are common in people who have experienced abuse, although many are able to overcome or minimize challenges like these with the help of a qualified mental health professional.

Types of Abuse

All types of abuse can cause pain and psychological distress. It is not uncommon for a victim of abuse to experience more than one type of abuse. Someone who was sexually abused may have also experienced concurrent emotional abuse, for example. Abuse can occur within any relationship construct, whether familial, professional, or social, and it can also occur between strangers.

Many forms of abuse are in fact abuses of power, in which a person repeatedly attempts to control or manipulate the behavior of another person. Emotional or psychological abuse can include a chronic pattern of criticism, coercion, humiliation, accusation, or threats to one's physical safety, and childhood neglect is also a form of psychological abuse.

Any form of abuse in an intimate relationship, from physical to psychological, constitutes intimate partner violence. In fact, psychological abuse appears in almost every case of physical aggression between intimate partners and is often a precursor to physical violence.

The Psychological Repercussions of Abuse

While abuse in any form can have a negative impact on an individual's life, significant emotional or psychological problems do not necessarily result from every case of abuse. The severity of the psychological repercussions can vary depending on many factors, such as how well the victim was associated with the person who committed the abuse and whether the abuse was recognized or dismissed by the friends and family of the person who was abused.

Children who have been sexually, psychologically, or physically abused often experience emotional difficulties that can affect their academic performance and social skills. As adults, survivors of abuse may experience difficulty maintaining healthy relationships and productivity at work. Survivors of abuse, who are at heightened risk for developing mental health issues like depression, are likely to encounter one or more of the following psychological issues:

•  Anxiety: People who have experienced abuse may be afraid of people or situations that remind them of their abuse experiences. They may be scared to be alone, frightened of strangers, or fearful of sexual intimacy, depending on the nature of the abuse they experienced. Disrupted sleep, compulsive behaviors, panic attacks, and other indications of anxiety are somewhat common in survivors of abuse.

•  Anger: Survivors of abuse may feel intense anger at their abusers, at those who knew of the abuse and failed to intervene, and even at themselves for being abused, particularly when they believe they could or should have stopped it. Anger is a natural and normal response to being abused, and survivors can learn to manage their anger in a constructive manner that will facilitate healing.

•  Dissociation: A lack of feeling, numbness, confusion, and out-of-body experiences may occur during or after abuse to help the victim avoid the pain and fear associated with abuse. In rare cases, memories of abuse may be repressed, and some victims may not have any conscious memory of the abuse.

•  Mood Issues: Depression, irritability, and mood swings affect many survivors of abuse.

•  Posttraumatic Stress (PTSD): Nightmares, hypervigilance, flashbacks and other symptoms of PTSD may occur. Survivors are likely to avoid certain settings and situations that remind them of the abuse.

•  Shame: Guilt and shame are often experienced by survivors who believe they deserved the abuse, were responsible for it, or failed to stop it. Challenging these beliefs in therapy can help survivors of abuse transform these feelings.

•  Self-Destructive Behavior: Sometimes survivors will self-medicate, with drugs or alcohol for example, or engage in self-harm, such as burning or cutting themselves. Other times, people may seek out scenarios in which the abuse is repeated, neglect their personal health and hygiene, or sabotage any potential for success. These behaviors are often representative of low self-esteem, which is a common symptom of abuse.

•  Trust Issues: Learning to trust others after abuse has occurred can be challenging, particularly with regards to intimacy.

Psychotherapy for Abuse Survivors

Therapy can help survivors of abuse express and process difficult emotions associated with the abuse, develop self-compassion and self-care strategies for managing moments of emotional overwhelm, and learn to trust again.

Many therapeutic approaches can be beneficial for those who have experienced abuse, from narrative therapy to eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR). In addition, therapy may employ mindfulness techniques, such as meditation, or experiential techniques such as the incorporation of art, journaling, or equine-assisted activities.

Group therapy has demonstrated effectiveness in providing social support to help survivors of abuse cope with and transform their feelings of shame, guilt, and alienation from others as they interact and bond with other people who have lived through similar experiences. For those who fear the vulnerability and exposure they may experience in a group setting, working one-on-one with a therapist can be a more intimate and personalized experience.

Case Examples

•  Recovering from sexual abuse: Milika, 45, seeks therapy because she is in her first sexual relationship after more than two decades of avoiding intimacy. As a teenager, she was sexually abused by a male relative and feels great anxiety and anger whenever a man displays sexual desire for her. She has recently met a man who seems safe and compatible, but she does not trust her judgment. She is also triggered, almost to the point of having panic attacks, anytime he initiates physical intimacy. Learning relaxation skills, exploring ways to take care of herself to stay physically and emotionally safe, and acknowledging her grief and anxiety allows her to move forward in the relationship in the presence of such triggers. Eventually, Milika develops a deeper level of trust not just with her partner, but with human beings in general. Anxiety remains as an issue for her for many years, diminishing slowly in stops and starts.

•  Patterns of abusive romantic relationships: Julie, 32, has been in and out of several abusive romantic relationships with women over the last decade. She recognizes the pattern but continues to forgive abusive behaviors by her partners and blame herself for their actions. Therapy helps her see how her abusers are like her mother, and this insight alone improves her ability to set boundaries. The support of her therapist, over a little more than a year, helps Julie to accept her own needs as legitimate and begin advocating for herself with her partners.

•  Physical abuse in childhood: Devon, 12, was severely beaten by caretakers and has little ability to form healthy attachment to adults. He picks on other children at school and has been shuffled around the foster-care system. His current caretakers want to adopt him, but only if they can find a way to manage his behaviors and win his trust. Family systems therapy with an experienced family therapist begins to alter the dynamics of the family's interactions. Devon is adopted and continues to make progress, though it takes nearly two years of intense and difficult sessions before he is able to feel he is safe.

https://www.goodtherapy.org/learn-about-therapy/issues/abuse

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Australia

Gymnastics Australia to educate 220,000 youngsters on child sex abuse

by Juan Medina

Australian gymnastics officials have launched a plan to educate more than 200,000 young athletes on identifying and preventing child sex abuse. It will be the first initiative of its kind in the country.

Gymnastics Australia is teaming up with the country's main child protection agency, Bravehearts, to provide training and materials for more than 600 affiliated gymnastics clubs and their staff, as well as 220,000 athletes – 90 percent of whom are under 12 years old.

The materials and training will provide information on various aspects of identifying and preventing child sexual abuse, including risk factors, grooming, and other danger signs.

The training will be mandatory for coaches and officials, and will also provide information on how to respond to claims of sexual abuse.

Launching the initiative on Wednesday, Gymnastics Australia CEO Kitty Chiller said the move would go far beyond current safeguards to prevent sexual abuse of minors.

“Our organization is committed to creating environments where children are safe, so we're implementing so much more than optional training for a few staff,” Chiller said, as reported on the Gymnastics Australia website .

“This is a significant cultural shift within our organization where the safety of children is paramount,” Chiller added.

Bravehearts is Australia's leading child protection agency, and works to provide advice and support to the victims of child sex abuse.

Bravehearts founder and executive chair Hetty Johnston said the organization's expertise would help ensure the relevant cultural reforms at Gymnastics Australia, and would also help implement recommendations from a major report by Australia's Royal Commission on responses to child sex abuse.

“This partnership will ensure Bravehearts provides specialized education, training services, risk management and cultural reform outcomes to the management, staff, parents and children of Gymnastics Australia,” Johnston said.

“With the Royal Commission reporting 3.2 million Australian children participating in organized sport or physical activity outside school, through implementing Bravehearts' unique training and education programs for staff, parents and children, Gymnastics Australia will be driving the change necessary to have a significant impact on improved child protection throughout Australia.

“Every organization that works with children, especially national sporting organizations has a duty of care and a responsibility to keep the children in their care safe,” she added.

The move comes in the wake of the sex abuse scandal that has rocked US gymnastics.

In January, former USA Team doctor Larry Nassar was sentenced to 175 years in prison for abuse of hundreds of young female athletes spanning two decades.

Earlier in May, a record $500 million settlement was agreed between Michigan State University – where Nassar was an employee – and victims of the disgraced doctor.

Nassar's victims included Olympic gold medalist Aly Raisman, who will receive the Arthur Ashe Courage Award for her efforts to address child sexual abuse in the USA.

https://www.rt.com/sport/427531-gymnastics-australia-educate-child-sexual-abuse/

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North Caroolina

Advocates: Look for human trafficking, child sex abuse in familiar places

by Jordan Green

In Season 1, Episode 2 of the legendary HBO series “The Wire,” a Baltimore port officer stumbles on a gruesome cargo: the bodies of more than a dozen young women from Eastern Europe in a shipping container that slipped past inspection thanks to a payoff from a shady smuggler to the stevedores' union.

In reality, human trafficking — essentially any situation where someone is profiting from another person's sex or keeping a person in a position of servitude — is typically far more banal than television and movies portray.

“We had one [victim] in the office a couple months ago [who] had no clue,” said Dare Spicer, executive director of Family Crisis Center of Randolph County. “Had sex for rent. Not being able to do anything but work in that facility and have her rent paid and not being able to do anything else — was trafficking. Had no clue.”

Spicer provided another example that doesn't comport to the transnational-smuggling narrative: “A mother, for lack of a better word, pimping out her daughter. This is their work…. It's not necessarily the truck full of undocumented folks or the people doing your nails on Saturday morning that we have been led to believe this is what human trafficking looks like. There's a lot more to it.”

Spicer participated in a panel discussion on human trafficking, domestic violence and child sex abuse with three other area nonprofit service professionals at Oak View Recreation Center in High Point on Monday.

Human trafficking is not new — nor, for that matter, is domestic violence or child sex abuse — but Shay Harger, the director of victim services at Family Service of the Piedmont, observed that the offense is considered “kind of an emerging trend right now.”

Family Service of the Piedmont, which serves Guilford County, is adding a new position in October for a human-trafficking advocate, who will work in the field to assist victims.

Caring Services, a local agency that provides substance-abuse treatment to people who lack insurance, is similarly expanding to assist those who have been involved in domestic violence and sexual abuse. Caring Services will launch Healing and Exploring Trauma, a six-week pilot program for both victims and perpetrators, in August.

Teresa Hinkle, a social worker with Caring Services, said 40 to 60 percent of women who are in a relationship where substances are being used or abused are likely to have been victims of domestic violence.

“There's also a little bit of a chicken-and-an-egg thing going on here,” she said. “A lot of times domestic violence will cause substance abuse, and a lot of times substance use leads to domestic violence…. You get on this pattern where you are being victimized, and then you're using, and then you're opening yourself up to more victimization.”

Domestic-violence fatalities disproportionately affect women of color, Harger said. Victims of human trafficking “tend to be marginalized young women” who are attracted to offers of companionship and nice things like jewelry and clothes, she said.

“When I say ‘marginalized,' they could be marginalized for any number of reasons, whether it's parents that don't pay attention or parents that are unavailable,” Harger said. “Marginalized because they might look different. Marginalized because of race. Marginalized because of a personality quirk. I mean, you name it. That makes this person, this child, this teenager vulnerable to that type of advance.”

Spicer said she wants to spend the next couple years doing community education to prevent human trafficking.

“When it rains, when you see five or six teenagers take off from high school, you know why they're doing that?” Spicer asked. “Because they have appointments with construction workers who are also not working that day.”

Another potential sign of human trafficking might be seeing several teenage girls in a car with a man who doesn't look like their father, Spicer added.

Hinkle mentioned “hand-offs,” where girls are seen moving from one car to another in a large parking lot without going into a store as a red flag. Spicer added that trafficked girls tend to wear backpacks so they can carry a change of clothes, as opposed to purses.

A teenage girl doing her makeup in a McDonald's bathroom at 6 a.m. would be another tell, Spicer said.

But child sex abuse is often perpetrated by someone within the family unit, Harger said.

“Let's just talk about it like it is: It's usually — not necessarily in this order — but it's usually a parent, a step-parent, a grandparent or someone the child knows,” she said. “It's usually contained within family units, and there's typically a history of child sex abuse. When we talk about that, the road to healing can be quite long because the family may not be supportive…. Sometimes parents don't want to believe their husband, their new boyfriend did this to their family member. It can get incredibly complicated for a family, and sometimes the allegiance is to the new boyfriend instead of the child.”

The reality is that people are typically more than willing to talk about domestic violence and child sex abuse when it's someone else's problem, but get uncomfortable when it affects someone they know.

Spicer urged the audience at the Oak View Recreation Center to summon the courage to confront a family member if something doesn't seem right.

“You need to be courageous enough to risk a relationship or risk someone being upset with you,” Spicer said. “Call 'em out. Which is difficult. But we need to be okay with someone being upset with us because we are concerned about a person's safety and well-being.”

All three panelists agreed that it's important for advocates to remain supportive of victims of domestic violence, even when they continually go back to their abuser.

“When you [call someone out], you have to do it with love and you have to do it with kindness, or they will not receive the information,” Spicer said. “When you're challenging them, you have to be soft to a degree, but you have to get your point across as well or they're not gonna receive it.”

Hinkle added that it helps to know in advance what community resources are available.

“Once you have the conversation, knowing how to help someone or get help is important,” she said. “And giving people the space to get help is really important.”

https://triad-city-beat.com/advocates-look-for-human-trafficking-child-sex-abuse-in-familiar-places/

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Nevada

Child found dead in storage unit was severely neglected: cops

by the Associated Press

RENO, Nev. — A Nevada man and his wife never called 911 when his 5-year-old daughter was dying inside a filthy Reno apartment earlier this month, then put her emaciated corpse in a duffel bag and drove it to California and left it in a storage unit, authorities said.

Police believe Cali Anderson had been dead in an unkempt Reno apartment with spoiling food on the counters and floors for a week before the couple rented a truck and put the child's body in a duffel bag, placed inside a blue plastic drum and left it 130 miles away in a Sacramento, California, storage unit earlier this month.

Investigators say the girl appeared to have been severely neglected but an autopsy is pending to determine the exact cause of death. They say the child's body found May 15 appeared to be malnourished and emaciated.

Tyler Anderson, 23, waived extradition Monday in Sacramento Superior Court on suspicion of manslaughter. Additional charges are expected in Nevada, but so far he's only been charged in Washoe County with fugitive fleeing justice and child neglect resulting in substantial injury.

His wife, 23-year-old Averyauna Anderson, was arraigned May 18 in Reno Justice Court on a charge of child neglect.

Her bail hearing is set for Thursday. She is not the biological mother of the victim, but police say she and Tyler Anderson lived together in the Reno apartment along with two other children they share.

Public defenders representing the couple didn't immediately return telephone calls seeking comment on Tuesday.

The Sacramento Bee reported that Tyler Anderson's father, Brett Anderson, told reporters after Monday's extradition hearing that the girl's death was an accident.

Police say the couple left Cali's remains in a friend's storage unit on May 11. The owner of the unit became suspicious about the boxes they left behind and called Sacramento police a few days later.

Reno Detective Jeffrey Boyd said in an affidavit that Averyauna Anderson agreed to speak with investigators when they visited the couple's apartment with a search warrant on May 16. Boyd said officers found a wire animal crate in the bathroom with handcuffs attached to it.

Next to the crate was what appeared to be a girl's backpack with a hat inside with the name “Cali,” he said. He said old food was on the bathroom floor and there were no signs of a pet living in the apartment.

Boyd said Averyauna Anderson told police the girl was experiencing health problems, had lost considerable weight, had trouble digesting food and had been vomiting, but that they never took her for medical treatment. She told police that around May 4, the girl was immobile and unresponsive with what appeared to be a weak pulse and shallow breathing.

She said the couple took turns performing CPR, and later placed Cali in cold water in the shower in an attempt to wake her up, according to the affidavit. Averyauna Anderson estimated their lifesaving efforts lasted about 3 hours, but they never sought emergency services. When they realized she was dead, they changed her clothing and placed her into a duffel bag, where it remained for about a week.

Averyauna Anderson told police her husband researched how to dispose of a dead body before they rented a U-Haul van on May 10 and placed the duffel bag with the body inside a plastic drum which was then put in a cardboard box and sealed it.

The next day, Tyler Anderson drove the U-Haul and she followed in their vehicle to Sacramento, she told police.

https://nypost.com/2018/05/22/dead-child-found-in-storage-unit-was-severely-neglected-cops/

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Georgia

Georgia jury awards $1 billion after guard rapes teen

by Kate Brumback

ATLANTA – A Georgia jury has awarded an eye-popping $1 billion verdict against a security company after an apartment complex guard was convicted of raping a 14-year-old girl.

Hope Cheston was outside by some picnic tables with her boyfriend during a party in October 2012 when an armed security guard approached, attorney L. Chris Stewart told The Associated Press on Wednesday. The guard told the boyfriend not to move and raped Cheston, Stewart said.

The guard, identified in the lawsuit as Brandon Lamar Zachary, was convicted of statutory rape and is serving a 20-year prison sentence, according to online prison records.

Renatta Cheston-Thornton filed a lawsuit in March 2015 on behalf of her daughter, who was still a minor at the time. The jury on Tuesday handed down the verdict against Crime Prevention Agency, the security company that employed Zachary.

Zachary, who was 22 at the time of the rape, should never have been hired because he wasn't licensed to be an armed guard, Stewart said.

The judge had already determined the security company was liable, so the jury was only determining damages, Stewart said. After reading the verdict, Stewart said, jurors immediately left the jury box — without waiting for the judge's permission — to hug Cheston and her mother.

Attempts by the AP to reach the company for comment were unsuccessful. Online corporate registration information for Crime Prevention Agency shows that it was dissolved in 2016. The phone at a number listed online for Mario Watts, who's named on the corporate registration as the CEO and identified in the lawsuit as the company's registered agent, rang unanswered Wednesday.

The Associated Press does not generally identify victims of sexual assault, but Cheston, who's now 20, said she wanted her name used. A full-time college student who plans to spend her summer working with an organization in downtown Atlanta that helps homeless people, Cheston said she wants her story to provide strength for other sexual assault victims.

A lot of women who suffer sexual assault don't pursue justice, choosing instead to put it behind them, she said in a phone interview Wednesday.

"I feel like my case is just to show that you may not get it immediately, but you will get what you're worth," Cheston said. "This shows that people do care about the worth of a woman."

Stewart, who has tried a lot of sexual assault cases, said he was shocked when he heard the verdict. He said he had asked jurors to really determine the value of the pain caused by the rape.

"I was really proud of the jury because there is no basis in the legal world for how high a rape verdict can be," he said.

Verdicts in the tens of millions of dollars, or even hundreds of millions, are not uncommon, Jeff Dion, director of the National Crime Victim Bar Association said in an email. But he's never heard of a $1 billion verdict in a case with a single victim.

"This jury was clearly trying to send a message about bad conduct on the part of the company," Dion wrote.

It is more than likely that the security company will appeal the verdict, said Georgia State University law professor Jessica Gabel Cino. An appeals court would consider the reasonableness of the verdict and would also compare it to those awarded in similar cases to see if it's proportional, and it will likely be lowered, she said.

Cino agreed that this verdict was highly unusual but said the allegations in the case seemed especially egregious.

"The facts are just so in the plaintiff's favor when you put all of this together," she said. "I mean, it's really kind of serving up the right case on a platter to the jury."

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/05/23/georgia-jury-awards-1-billion-after-guard-rapes-teen.html

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'Show Dogs' sends message that sexual abuse is to be tolerated

by Elizabeth Peace

A mong survivors of sexual assault and abuse, there was real hope that the media attention over the sentencing of USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar, who sexually abused more than 150 children, would inspire significant change. But just a few short months later, we see no change has been made in one of the places recently spotlighted by the #MeToo movement: Hollywood.

Last week, just a few months after Mr. Nassar's widely publicized sentencing, Hollywood released a "family movie" rated PG called "Show Dogs." The premise of the film is that the police dog must enter a dog show to rescue a kidnapped baby panda. The problem is the dog must submit to repeated touching of his genitals in order to "win" the dog show, something the dog is very adamant he doesn't like and is told to go to his “zen place” to withstand.

As the mom of a survivor of child sex abuse, I cannot fathom watching a movie with my children that encourages them to sit quietly while they're being violated. Children who are sexually abused find it difficult enough to speak out against their abuser, and any adult telling them to allow it is causing further significant damage.

Getting adult permission to touch a child, even innocently, is just one of the ways predators groom children. That is why as a certified facilitator for Darkness to Light's child sex abuse prevention program, I remind adults that children are in charge of their own bodies. They should never be forced to hug or kiss a relative if they don't want to. Predators will use these simple acts to show the child they have their parents' permission. Over time, the predator will then use other tactics to touch a child in a sexual nature while making the child believe it's OK, or that the child "likes" it or "wants" it to happen.

"Show Dogs" does this work for the predator by making young and vulnerable children believe it's OK to be touched inappropriately if they believe the outcome is worth it: saving the life of someone they care about.

If you ask a survivor of child sex abuse why they didn't speak up, it might sound like this:

"They said they would hurt my little sister."

"I was afraid I'd get in trouble."

"Because only strangers do bad things to you and they weren't a stranger."

"Because they said it would feel good."

“It was our secret."

More than 90 percent of child sex abuse occurs from someone the child and their parents already know and trust. That makes it even more difficult for children to say "no" or to tell when they've been sexually abused. They often don't know how wrong the behavior is because they've been groomed, and if they do, they don't want their family member or friend to get in trouble. Now imagine if that child is being abused and they watched a movie with their parents that tells them it's OK to let someone touch your body in places they aren't supposed to?

Movies like "Show Dogs" only perpetuate the false idea to young children that their bodies do not belong to them. It falsely tells them that if someone older, someone they know and trust is telling them to do something, that they must do it. It falsely tells children that if they don't want to be touched, it's because they are selfish.

"Show Dogs" is not a movie about a dog fighting crime. It's a movie about grooming, about sexual assault and about feeling obligated to allow someone to touch you inappropriately. That's why I've joined with friends to launch a Change.org campaign to stop the showing of "Show Dogs" at theaters across the country.

As long as adults enable this behavior, children will continue to be innocent victims of these crimes committed by sick perpetrators, and children will continue to believe they don't have a right to speak out against it. It's time we realize that preventing child sex abuse is an adult responsibility and we start acting like adults. Don't be complicit in crimes against children. Let's end child sex abuse in our communities by refusing to allow it to be normalized.

Elizabeth Peace (jelizabethpeace@gmail.com) is an advocate for preventing child sex abuse, a certified facilitator for Darkness to Light and the reigning Mrs. Maryland International. Her Mrs. Maryland platform focuses on Operation Innocence, a project to end child sex abuse in military communities and across the country.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-op-0525-show-dogs-20180523-story.html

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Close relationships in midlife tied to lower mortality for child abuse survivors

by Lisa Rapaport

Child abuse survivors may be less likely to die prematurely when they develop supportive relationships by middle age, a U.S. study suggests.

Child abuse is common in the U.S., with up to about one-third of kids experiencing emotional mistreatment and up to around 18 percent suffering from physical abuse, researchers note in Nature Human Behavior. Survivors of child abuse can suffer from both short-term and longer range mental health problems and may be more likely than kids who weren't abused to die prematurely from a range of medical issues including heart disease and certain cancers.

For the current study, researchers examined survey data from 6,078 adults who were 47 years old on average, including 2,188 who reported experiencing emotional abuse as kids, 1,594 who said they experienced moderate physical abuse and 695 who suffered severe physical abuse.

Over the next 20 years, 1,038 participants, or 17 percent, died.

Adult survivors of severe physical abuse were 19 percent less likely to die during the study period if they had strong social support in middle age. Survivors of moderate physical abuse were 12 percent less likely to die when they had supportive relationships, while survivors of emotional abuse had an 11 percent lower risk of premature death.

“Supportive relationships in adulthood may effectively combat or reverse the negative health consequences of childhood abuse,” said lead study author Jessica Chiang of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

“Our findings suggest that victims of childhood abuse are not necessarily set on a path towards poor health in adulthood,” Chiang said by email. “That path seems to be malleable, and social support in adulthood, even decades after exposure to childhood abuse, can alter that path for the better.”

The study wasn't a controlled experiment designed to prove whether or how close, supportive friendships or family or romantic relationships might directly help improve health or prevent health problems for survivors of childhood abuse.

It's also possible that factors not measured in the study might make some people more resilient than others and better able to overcome abuse during childhood, the authors note.

A growing body of evidence suggests that “toxic stress” during childhood, which might be caused by abuse or other traumatic events like a severe illness or the loss of a parent, can influence brain development and alter immune function and metabolism, noted Ann Masten, author of an accompanying editorial and a child development researcher at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities.

Toxic stress might lead to chronic inflammation, premature cellular aging, heart problems, obesity, depression and other medical issues, Masten said by email. On top of this, child abuse can also increase the risk that people will engage in risky behaviors that jeopardize their health.

Even when abuse survivors don't start out life with strong, supportive relationships, they can learn to create them, Masten said.

“Adult survivors of child abuse can cultivate and invest in supportive relationships through enduring ties to friends and family, cultural and religious practices, community engagement and many other social activities,” Masten added. “They can also keep an eye on their own mental health, getting early treatment for signs of trauma, depression, substance use problems or suicidal thinking.”

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-abuse-social-support/close-relationships-in-midlife-tied-to-lower-mortality-for-child-abuse-survivors-idUSKBN1GH2YT

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New York

Harvey Weinstein is arrested on rape charges

by Brynn Gingras, Emanuella Grinberg, Sonia Moghe and Dakin Andone

Harvey Weinstein turned himself in to New York police Friday morning and was arrested on charges that he raped one woman and forced another to perform oral sex on him, a source familiar with the investigation told CNN.

Manhattan prosecutors will charge Weinstein with first- and third-degree rape in one case and a first-degree sex act in a second case, a source said. He's expected to appear in court later in the day.

Weinstein walked into a New York police precinct office through a flurry of reporters and photographers.

It was a scene not unlike the red carpet walks he used to do, further highlighting how far the disgraced Hollywood producer has fallen since dozens of women came forward in the New York Times and the New Yorker to publicly accuse him of sexual misconduct.

Weinstein's bond is expected to be set at $2 million, according to a law enforcement source.

He is also under investigation for alleged sex crimes in Los Angeles and London. Federal prosecutors in New York have started a sex crimes investigation involving him, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The charges follow a flood of accusations against Weinstein that led women around the world to come forward with accounts of being sexually harassed by powerful men. His accusers welcomed the news as a sign that the tables were finally turning -- not only on him but on other accused predators.

"I, and so many of Harvey Weinstein's survivors, had given up hope that our rapist would be held accountable by law. Twenty years ago, I swore that I would right this wrong. Today we are one step closer to justice," said actress Rose McGowan, one of the first women to publicly accuse Weinstein of assault.

"We were young women who were assaulted by Weinstein and later terrorized by his vast network of complicity. I stand with my fellow survivors. May this give hope to all victims and survivors everywhere that are telling their truths," she said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter.

Dozens of accusations

Weinstein has been accused of rape, assault and other forms of sexual misconduct. Weinstein's representative has said he sought treatment after the accusations and any allegations of nonconsensual sex were "unequivocally denied."

Dozens of women have come forward publicly to accuse Weinstein of misconduct after reports in 2017 about his treatment of women, including actresses with whom he worked.

Two of those women, Asia Argento and Ashley Judd, tweeted an article Thursday about Weinstein turning himself in. Paz de la Huerta , another Weinstein accuser, declined to comment on the news.

The women said Weinstein threatened to ruin their careers if they went public with their accounts. On Thursday, New York Times reporter Jodi Kantor recounted in a tweet some of his threats and declared "not anymore."

Weinstein has kept a low profile since his downfall. He was fired from the company that bears his name just days after the allegations first surfaced in the media. The Weinstein Company filed for bankruptcy earlier this year and what remains of it is set to be sold.

In an interview with "BBC Radio 5 live" Wednesday, Weinstein's criminal defense attorney Benjamin Brafman described his client as "lonely and angry," adding that he believes the cases against Weinstein are "legally defective and not factually supported."

Movement gains steam

The allegations catalyzed the decades-old #MeToo movement that calls attention to sexual misconduct. The heightened scrutiny has rippled across industries and ensnared numerous powerful men, from journalists Matt Lauer and Mark Halperin to chefs Mario Batali and John Besh .

On Thursday, CNN reported that several women have accused actor Morgan Freeman of inappropriate behavior and harassment.

#MeToo also sparked conversations about everyday workplace harassment .

Tarana Burke , who started #MeToo, said Weinstein's intention to turn himself in marked a turning point in the conversation.

"This moves from the court of public of opinion into an actual courtroom," Burke told Variety .

"That is super cathartic for a bunch of the survivors, or even survivors who are not necessarily victimized by him."

https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/25/entertainment/harvey-weinstein-to-surrender/index.html

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Illinois

Macon County agencies seek common solution to address child abuse

by Claire Hettinger

DECATUR — Social service agencies in Macon County have banded together to target the mistreatment of children, a pervasive issue they say needs more attention — and resources.

A year after the agencies issued a call to action to prevent childhood maltreatment, the group on Thursday gathered at the Decatur Public Library to review their progress and extend an invitation to anyone who wants to help.

“We as a community need to step up and offer other solutions,” Tanya Andricks, the chief executive officer of Crossing Healthcare.

Macon County has the second-highest rate in the state of Illinois of childhood maltreatment, according to the most recent 2015 data from the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services .

In 2017, 286 children were put under the supervision of the Macon County court system for child abuse, Steve Miller, of Macon County Court Appointed Special Advocates, has said. That's 87 more children than in 2016.

After a year of research, agency leaders said Thursday that they want to begin implementing their ideas, including more community outreach and education for parents and caregivers. But one problem they identified was a lack of state funding and community support.

Because so many resources are needed to address and treat abuse that is already occurring, agencies sometimes struggle to perform prevention work, Andricks said. This is one of the areas that is a focus of the committee's research, she said.

The group is ready to implement a few initiatives, the first of which will start in June. Through funding from the Decatur Memorial Foundation, they bought books to distribute to all new mothers and families at the local hospitals.

The books are called “Calm Baby Gently” and “Sleep Baby Safe and Snug.” They were written by Dr. John Hutton and illustrated by Leah Busch. Cindy Bardeleben, director of local programming at Baby TALK, said the books are planned to help parents if they are in a crisis situation or feeling overwhelmed.

The books give tips to calm babies and provide information on appropriate sleeping positions, aiming to prevent sudden infant death syndrome and shaken baby syndrome. The books also offer tips and information for services, including a 211 card, so parents can have the information handy.

Reading books is one way to encourage healthy relationships from the beginning of a child's life, Bardeleben said.

To help mothers and loved ones suffering from postpartum depression, a new group will be offered at the Decatur Public Library starting Wednesday. Participants can come together and share their experiences, said Karla Thornton, a minister at HSHS St. Mary's Hospital. Thornton estimated that more than 300 women in Decatur suffer from postpartum depression.

The group will meet at noon on the first Wednesday of each month and 6 p.m. on the third Wednesday of each month. Anyone is welcome to attend.

“Our group is only as good as the people who know it is there,” Thornton said.

Christine Gregory, executive director of Dove Inc., said that there is a long way to go to improve the problem of child maltreatment in Decatur. She said there are many resources and assets in existence that she hopes people will use if they need help.

Gregory also hopes other people who are interested in helping improve childhood maltreatment will join the committees and help make a meaningful change.

https://herald-review.com/news/local/public_safety/macon-county-agencies-seek-common-solution-to-address-child-abuse/article_8a6fb983-eb23-5d84-9117-50829423371b.html

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Commentary

We must protect migrant children from abuse by U.S. Border Patrol

by Claudia Flores

W e talk a lot about protecting children. We want to protect them from violence in our neighborhoods and schools. We want to protect them from abuse and neglect in our institutions and homes.

But what happens when the kids are not our kids? Do we still care about children even when they happen to be born elsewhere? What if those children are being held by our government? What if they are being apprehended, guarded and detained by our government agents and dependent on those agents to treat them with dignity and humanity? Do we care what happens to these children then?

How do we feel about these children being punched, kicked, tased, dragged along the ground, grabbed on the buttocks, made to sleep in freezing rooms on cement floors covered in garbage, denied medical care and threatened with having their food withheld by our civil servants?

These are the conditions detailed in a report released Wednesday by the ACLU and the International Human Rights Clinic at the University of Chicago Law School . The report accompanies approximately 30,000 pages of documentation obtained by the ACLU through the Freedom of Information Act that describe abusive treatment of children in the custody of the Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection.

This is not the first report of abuse of migrants by Border Patrol agents at the U.S. southern border and of the culture of abuse and impunity that seems to have developed in our immigration enforcement. Earlier this year, Francisco Cantu published a memoir of his time as a Border Patrol agent that described a practice of institutional violence and dehumanization of migrants. Reviewers balked at his admission that agents regularly destroyed stashes of water hidden by migrants in an effort to survive the unforgiving desert climate.

It turns out that was just the tip of a very disturbing iceberg. CBP officials threaten and humiliate children, physically assault them and detain them in unhygienic conditions, according to the new report.

While working on the report, law students at the University of Chicago Law School spent the last year reviewing complaint after complaint of children apprehended and detained by CBP officials. One document describes a child laying on the ground as a Border Patrol agent came up to him and tased him in the stomach. The agent then put his foot on the child's leg and pushed down, kneed the child in the stomach twice and kicked him into a thorn bush. Another document describes an agent running over a child with his car and punching the child in the head and body several times. Several documents describe children deprived of food and potable water, held in freezing cells and using bathrooms with overflowing toilets. (These records are available to the public at the ACLU San Diego/Imperial website .)

There are records of children being threatened with rape, being made to stand nude in front of officers while answering questions, being called “prostitute” and “dog” and told they came to “contaminate” the country. When one pregnant minor told an agent she was in pain and needed medical help, she was not given help or taken to a hospital. The agent told her she was lying, that it was a scheme to get out of detention and see her family. In fact, she was having labor pains before a stillbirth.

Many of the children in these reports are between the ages of 9 and 14. Most have traveled long distances on their way to the U.S. border, the majority in the hopes of escaping extreme poverty and violence. Like all children, they don't necessarily know what they are getting into. In fact, many run toward border agents expecting help. They don't understand immigration policy, border security or the complex network of agencies, laws and administrative rules that make up our immigration system.

We have federal laws and agency policies in place to protect them. These children are entitled to basic protections — dignified and respectful treatment, safe, secure and clean facilities, adequate food and drinkable water, proper medical care. They are also, by law, protected against child abuse by personnel working in federal facilities. What we don't seem to have is effective training and supervision of officers and agents and enforcement of these laws and policies.

The documents released this week describe actions that took place from 2009 to 2014, but there is reason to believe things are only getting worse as the current administration seeks to expand our border staff without building in any additional infrastructure or remedying the current failures.

These children need institutional reform and actual accountability. They need immigration enforcement agents who follow their own rules and federal law. Immigrant children might not be our children, but they are children.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-perspec-children-abused-immigrants-rights-0525-20180523-story.html

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Pennsylvania

Pending report on Catholic child sex abuse in Pennsylvania could renew efforts to amend statute of limitations law

by Debra Erdley

A statewide grand jury report on sexual abuse within Catholic dioceses, including the ones in Greensburg and Pittsburgh, could be an opening for another effort to abolish Pennsylvania's statute of limitations for child sexual assault.

At least that's what state Rep. Mark Rozzi, D-Berks County, said he intends to push for when the widely-anticipated report is released.

“It's definitely going to be a battle,” Rozzi said. “There are people who need this.”

The 47-year-old lawmaker, who accused the late Rev. Edward Graff of molesting him in his Berks County Catholic school when he was 13, believes everyone who has lived through sexual abuse deserves more time to take their case to court.

Texas authorities arrested Graff in October 2002 on charges of molesting a teenage boy. He died a month later at 73.

Rozzi testified before the statewide grand jury that scrutinized records from six Catholic dioceses across Pennsylvania. The panel is expected to release its report in June.

“The Diocese of Greensburg supports the release of the grand jury report with due process,” said diocesan spokesman Jerry Zufelt.

Officials with the Pittsburgh diocese also said they support the report being publicly released as long as “the process is conducted fairly.”

The grand jury convened after a 2016 investigation into sexual abuse allegations in the Johnstown Altoona diocese uncovered a pattern of sexual abuse and cover-ups dating back five decades. The probe already has triggered arrests of two priests, one each from the Greensburg and Erie dioceses.

At issue in the Greensburg case is whether the statute of limitations would prohibit prosecution of the Rev. John Thomas Sweeney, who is now 75. Authorities say Sweeney assaulted a fourth-grade boy in the early 1990s at the St. Margaret Mary parochial school in Lower Burrell. Sweeney's attorney, Fran Murrman, insists the statute of limitations in place at the time of the alleged acts precludes his client from being charged criminally.

In the Erie diocese, the Rev. David Poulson, 64, of Oil City was charged this month with abusing two boys . At a news conference announcing his arrest, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said nine other men testified about incidents involving Poulson, but the statute of limitations had expired in those cases.

Shapiro, whose office led the grand jury investigation, has called for eliminating the statute of limitations in such cases. He supports Rozzi's call to expand the window of opportunity for those who had been denied their day in court.

Rozzi ran for office five years ago with the intent of changing the 2007 statute of limitations law, which allows criminal charges to be pressed if a child victim comes forward by age 50 and permits civil action in such cases until a victim reaches age 30.

Rozzi would like to eliminate both limits.

He said he never spoke of his rape until the second of two friends who also claimed to have been abused by Graff committed suicide. Rozzi said a change to the law is sorely needed.

“The reason for that is most victims don't come forward until they are 40 or 50 years old. We need to give them all the time they need civilly and criminally to pursue action,” Rozzi said.

He took the floor two years ago and spoke passionately in favor of a proposed House bill that would have done that.

That bill passed 180-15, but state Senate leaders scuttled a chance for action after questioning the constitutionality of a law that would have allowed a two-year period for people who ran out of time to file civil lawsuits alleging child sexual assaults.

Senate President Pro Tem Joe Scarnati, who opposed the window of opportunity clause, did not return a call seeking comment.

Eight states have revised their statutes of limitation laws with regard to child sexual abuse and all eight have been upheld, said Marci Hamilton, a University of Pennsylvania law professor and CEO of ChildUSA, a nonprofit think tank dedicated to promoting laws to end child abuse.

Contrary to claims that such moves would inundate courts with lawsuits, Hamilton said only a handful of lawsuits were filed in those states. She said the law changes largely served to alert authorities to the existence of predators who hadn't been on their radar.

“We just did a 2018 statute of limitations study,” Hamilton said. “It shows you Pennsylvania is increasingly behind the curve of rest of country.”

http://triblive.com/state/pennsylvania/13674486-74/pending-report-on-catholic-child-sex-abuse-in-pennsylvania-could-renew-efforts

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Opinion

New York

Legislature needs to help all child sexual abuse victims

by Cathy Young

Child sexual abuse is a horrific crime that violates the most innocent among us. As a parent and as a legislator, it both angers and saddens me that so many young lives are devastated and left permanently scarred by these despicable acts.

Just as horrific as the nature of the crime is its prevalence. An estimated one in four girls and one in six boys will be the victims of sexual abuse. Unlike other categories of crime, the perpetrators of child sexual abuse are not strangers lurking in the alley. In fact, these predators are exactly the opposite – tragically, they are family members in about 80 percent of cases.

Despite this, State Senator Brad Hoylman and his colleagues continue to sell the fiction that their proposed Child Victims Act is the panacea for all child sexual abuse victims seeking monetary justice through civil court action.

While high-profile cases and multi-million dollar settlements brought against institutions like the Catholic Church, and the Boy Scouts make headlines, the reality is that institutional sexual abuse accounts for only a fraction of child sexual abuse cases. These are the only victims who would benefit from Senator Hoylman's Child Victims Act.

As for the other 80-90 percent of victims abused by family members, neighbors or acquaintances who lack the means to pay civil damages? This bill would do nothing for them.

That is why we came up with a different solution.

The Child Victims Reconciliation and Compensation Fund will help ALL time-barred individuals suffering from the effects of child sexual abuse. No exceptions.

Child sexual abuse survivor and advocate Gary Greenberg has come out in support of our legislation noting that it is a “comprehensive and important bill that will give compensation and justice to victims and out predators...”

The Compensation Fund will be established using $300 million of the whopping $730 million cache of criminal asset forfeiture funds currently held by the Manhattan District Attorney's office. Administered and overseen by the New York State Comptroller and a chief administrator, the process encompasses a hearing and review process facilitated by hearing officers experienced in sexual abuse cases with award determinations set by the claims administrator. Abusers will no longer be able to hide behind a wall of secrecy as their identities and crimes will become public knowledge as part of this process.

Particularly important, this expedited and streamlined compensation process will spare victims from waiting years for civil cases to work their way through the courts and protect them from the often re-traumatizing process of a trial. It also offers the assurance of an award. When victims receive civil judgements against family members or other non-institutional abusers, the likelihood of the victim actually collecting those funds is low.

Delivering justice for victims also means opening the door to criminal prosecution. These crimes are often shrouded in shame, confusion and silence that can take decades for victims to confront. When they do, they often find that the criminal statute of limitations has expired. This measure removes the criminal statute of limitations to ensure that victims can bring charges at any time and put these monsters behind bars where they belong.

The courageous survivors who are spearheading action on this issue are heroes. Their stories have convinced me that we need to help all victims affected by this devastating crime. However, in continuing to play partisan politics rather than working towards a realistic solution, Senate Democrats are leaving victims in the cold.

The session clock is running out. The time to act is now.

State Senator Catharine Young (R,C,I) represents the 57th District, including Allegany County.

http://www.wellsvilledaily.com/opinion/20180523/young-legislature-needs-to-help-all-child-sexual-abuse-victims

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California

USC president agrees to step down amid university gynecologist sex scandal

by Amy Lieu

The president of the University of Southern California (USC) has agreed to step down amid a widely damaging sex scandal involving a university gynecologist accused of decades of sexual misconduct, the school's board of trustees said Friday.

A letter from the board to the USC community did not specify when C.L. Max Nikias, 65, would leave his post.

"President Nikias and the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees have agreed to begin an orderly transition and commence the process of selecting a new president," Rick J. Caruso, the board's chairman, wrote in the letter, which was obtained by the Los Angeles Times . "We recognize the need for change and are committed to a stable transition."

The announcement came days after hundreds of students, professors and alumni demanded Nikias' ouster, alleging that USC failed to respond to complaints of misconduct involving Dr. George Tyndall, 71, a gynecologist who worked at a university clinic for 30 years.

Tyndall routinely made crude comments, took inappropriate photos and forced plaintiffs to strip naked and groped them under the guise of medical treatment for his "sexual gratification," according to civil lawsuits filed this week.

So far, at least 20 plaintiffs have filed lawsuits against USC and the doctor, alleging abuse, sexual assault, and that the university disregarded their complaints about Tyndall, the Times reported.

USC received about 200 complaints from former patients, according to the newspaper.

Attorney John Manly represents more than 80 patients who claim to be victims of Tyndall, according to a statement he released Friday.

“The resignation of Dr. Nikias is the first step in a long process of healing for the victims of Dr. Tyndall. It occurred because students, faculty and alumni pressured Board of Trustees to do the right thing,” Manly said in his statement. “It is our hope that their pressure will continue until the University reforms the culture which has enabled sexual abuse and holds all of the enablers accountable so this will never happen again.”

"Protecting abusers 'for the good of the USC' was the likely mantra of the cover up. We now know 3 generations of young women at SC were savaged," he tweeted. "Nikias and others concealing the truth have brought shame and disrepute to USC."

His firm, Manly, Stewart & Finaldi, is the same one that represented many Team USA gymnasts who were victims of disgraced doctor Larry Nassar and helped secure a $500 million settlement from Michigan State University last week, according to the New York Post .

USC reportedly did not properly address complaints about Tyndall for years, boiling down to today's still raging sex scandal.

University officials also never reported Tyndall to the medical board, even after he was quietly forced into retirement.

Police are interviewing former patients to determine if any charges will be brought against Tyndall.

Tydall defended himself in a letter to the Times published Friday.

He wrote that the clinic's then-executive director, Dr. Larry Neinstein, conducted a poll of medical assistants or nurses who were chaperones when he saw patients, and "they confirmed that an exam without a glove never happened," according to the Times.

"Patients sometimes fabricate stories," he wrote, reportedly adding that male and female clinicians who conduct pelvic exams should "always have a chaperone present."

Since the Times' investigation on Tydall was made public last week, about 385 women have called a university hotline, the report said.

Meanwhile, Nikias' reputation has been tainted from a string of other USC scandals.

In July, the Times reported that Dr. Carmen A. Puliafito, a USC medical school dean, used drugs and partied with prostitutes.

In October, Puliafito's successor, Dr. Rohit Varma, resigned following revelations of a sexual harassment settlement from 15 years earlier.

Earlier this year, Tony Bland, a USC assistant basketball coach, was fired following his arrest last September in connection with an FBI bribery investigation, the Times reported.

It was not immediately clear who will succeed Nikias, who became the university's president in 2010.

A spokesman for USC said the university had no further comment.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/05/26/usc-president-agrees-to-step-down-amid-university-gynecologist-sex-scandal.html

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From the FBI

National Missing Children's Day 2018

Help Us Find Them

Today, on National Missing Children's Day, we would like you to look at the faces of the children on this page—some who went missing years ago and some more recently—and reach out to law enforcement if you have any information that might lead to the recovery of any of these kids.

Children continue to face dangerous threats these days from online predators, human traffickers, kidnappers, and other criminals who want to harm them. At the end of 2017, the Bureau's National Crime Information Center (NCIC) Missing Persons File contained more than 32,000 records of youngsters under the age of 18.

But missing kids can be found, and those responsible for taking them can be brought to justice. Earlier this year, a man abducted a 4-year-old South Carolina girl from her mother. The child, through law enforcement efforts and the assistance of alert citizens, was safely recovered and returned to her mother. The man was ultimately arrested and federally charged with kidnapping, and he's also facing charges in state court.

In addition to our efforts to publicize, investigate, and offer assistance to our local and state partners when kids go missing, the FBI also has programs in place to arrest child predators and to recover missing and endangered children, including our Innocence Lost Initiative, Innocent Images National Initiative, the annual Operation Cross Country, Child Abduction Rapid Deployment Teams, Victim Services Division, Child Exploitation Task Forces, International Crimes Against Children Task Forces, and a number of community outreach programs that help educate parents and children about safety measures they can follow. We also partner with organizations like the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC).

All of this is an effort to help protect our nation's most precious resource—our kids.

https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/national-missing-childrens-day-2018

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Ohio

Today is National Missing Children's Day-here's a list of missing children in Ohio

by Fox 8

According to the Ohio Attorney General's Office, there are hundreds of children missing just in Ohio.

Chief Andres Gonzalez, Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority stated, “We must never allow another tragedy to occur in our community. We must remain vigilant and watchful for all our children. Always be aware, if you see something suspicious, take immediate action and call your local police department. Time matters.

“More than 120 youth are missing in Cuyahoga County right now, yet might be virtually invisible to most people,” said Karen McHenry, Program Manager of Homeless and Missing Youth Program of Bellefaire.

According to FBI reports, 464,324 National Crime Information Center entries were made in 2017 for missing children nationally.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children estimates that approximately 91% of missing children are endangered runaways, 5% are family abductions, 1% are lost or injured, 1% are nonfamily abductions and 3% are critically missing young adults between the ages of 18 to 20. Of the nearly 25,000 runaways reported to NCMEC in 2017, one in seven were likely victims of child sex trafficking.

To date, the AMBER alert program has been credited with the safe recovery of 924 children. Each state, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands have an AMBER alert plan.

To conduct an online search for missing children through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, click here.

**For a complete list of children reported missing through the Ohio Attorney

http://fox8.com/2018/05/25/today-is-national-missing-childrens-day-heres-a-list-of-missing-children-in-ohio/

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Michigan

Michigan House approves Nassar-inspired legislation

by David Eggert

LANSING, Mich. — More than two dozen proposed laws sparked by the sexual abuse scandal involving Larry Nassar sailed through the Michigan House on Thursday, including bills that would grant childhood sex assault victims more time to sue and require athletic trainers to report suspected abuse.

Gov. Rick Snyder supports the 27-bill bipartisan package, which received some criticism for enabling people abused by the former sports doctor to retroactively seek damages through the courts but not other victims of sexual abuse. Others wanted coaches to be added to Michigan's list of people mandated to report suspected abuse.

Still, the legislation won wide support in the wake of hundreds of girls and women — including Olympic gymnasts — accusing Nassar of molesting them under the guide of medical treatment, including while he worked for Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics, which trains Olympians. Nassar was sentenced to prison this year after pleading guilty to sexual assaults and possessing child pornography.

“We are going to be there to protect our children, to protect our survivors,” said Rep. Klint Kesto, a Republican who shepherded the bills through the House.

Some measures could win final Senate approval next week, while others may be held depending on what Senate leaders decide.

One bill would give victims of childhood sexual abuse a 90-day window from when the law takes effect to file lawsuits retroactively — but only if the alleged abuse occurred at the hands of a physician under the guise of treatment.

The original proposal approved by the Senate would have allowed a year for any accuser to sue for abuse committed since 1997. But the measure was scaled back in the House amid pushback from universities, schools, local governments, businesses and the Catholic Church, which cited the financial implications of facing an unknown number of lawsuits for old allegations.

Democrat Rep. Sherry Gay-Dagnogo of Detroit was among those criticizing what they saw as a “carveout” for Nassar victims.

“I don't understand why as a body that's been elected to serve all people, why we continue to advance legislation that would make one group whole and not make another group whole,” she said during the House debate.

Many of Nassar's victims reached a $425 million settlement with Michigan State University last week, and an additional $75 million was set aside for future claims. But other entities — such as USA Gymnastics, the U.S. Olympic Committee and an elite Lansing-area gymnastics club where Nassar treated athletes — still face lawsuits.

Another bill would extend the time limit for a juvenile victim to sue to her or his 28th birthday or within three years of realizing she or he had been abused. The cutoff is now generally a victim's 19th birthday, which critics say is out of step with other states and does not account for how many survivors are afraid to report abuse or have suppressed it. Adult victims would have 10 years to sue, instead of what is now generally three.

The legislation would also add athletic trainers, physical therapists and physical therapist assistants to the list of mandatory reporters. At least three Nassar victims say they told Michigan State athletic trainers about his inappropriate treatments, but nothing was done.

The House — which held significantly more hearings on the legislation than the Senate — stopped short of also making coaches mandatory reporters, as proposed by the Senate, even though the university's former head gymnastics coach has been accused of dissuading a teen athlete who complained about Nassar.

Democratic Rep. Adam Zemke of Ann Arbor called the change “absolutely ridiculous” and accused his colleagues of watering down the legislation. But Kesto countered that another bill gets at the issue by prohibiting someone from intentionally using his or her professional authority to keep someone from reporting crimes.

Other bills would require that a second health professional be in the room when a procedure involving vaginal or anal penetration is performed on a minor, require written parental consent before such a procedure is done and require that related medical records be kept for at least 15 years.

http://www.therepublic.com/2018/05/24/gym-doctor-sexual-assault-legislation-3/

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Emotional Incest

by Susan Peabody

There are three types of incest: overt, covert, and emotional. Over incest is sexual contact by a relative. Covert incest is sexual energy without touching (peering, crush, inappropriate sexual talk, coming into the bathroom, etc. Emotional incest is when the roles are reversed. A parent is lonely and turns to the child for support. The child becomes the adult emotionally, and the adult becomes the child. The parent and child are best friends. The parent and child are emotionally enmeshed. There are no healthy boundaries. They used to say "smothered" now they say emotional incest.

Emotional incest may seem less traumatic, but it leaves us with a fear of emotional intimacy and unable to engage in a deep connection with an available person. This can leave to love addiction and loving an unavailable person. It can also leave us ambivalent about love. Craving love, and even seeking it out, but also avoiding.

I am offering this article by Robert Burney, with his permission, to help people in recovery who have this issue:

Consider a scenario where mother is crying in her bedroom and her three year old toddles into the room. To the child it looks as if mom is dying. The child is terrified and says, "I love you mommy!" Mom looks at her child. Her eyes fill with love, and her face breaks into a smile. She says, 'Oh honey, I love you so much. You are my wonderful little boy/girl. Come here and give mommy a hug. You make mommy feel so good.

A touching scene? No. Emotional abuse! The child has just received the message that he/she has the power to save mommy's life. That the child has power over, and therefore responsibility for, mommy's feelings. This is emotional abuse, and sets up an emotionally incestuous relationship in which the child feels responsible for the parent's emotional needs.

A healthy parent would explain to the child that it is all right for mommy to cry, that it is healthy and good for people to cry when they feel sad or hurt. An emotionally healthy parent would "role model" for the child that it is okay to have the full range of emotions, all the feelings - sadness and hurt, anger and fear, Joy and happiness, etc."

One of the most pervasive, traumatic, and damaging dynamics that occurs in families in this dysfunctional, emotionally dishonest society is emotional incest.

Emotional incest occurs when a child feels responsible for a parents emotional well-being. This happens because the parents do not know how to have healthy boundaries. It can occur with one or both parents, same sex or opposite sex. It occurs because the parents are emotionally dishonest with themselves and cannot get their emotional needs met by their spouse or other adults. John Bradshaw refers to this dynamic as a parent making the child their "surrogate spouse."

This type of abuse can happen in a variety of ways. On one end of the spectrum the parent emotionally "dumps" on the child. This occurs when a parent talks about adult issues and feelings to a child as if they were a peer. Sometimes both parents will dump on a child in a way that puts the child in the middle of disagreements between the parents - with each complaining about the other.

On the other end of the spectrum is the family where no one talks about their feelings. In this case, though no one is talking about feelings, there are still emotional undercurrents present in the family which the child senses and feels some responsibility for - even if they haven't got a clue as to what the tension, anger, fear, or hurt are all about.

Emotional incest from either parent is devastating to the child's ability to be able to set boundaries and take care of getting their own needs met when they become an adult. This type of abuse, when inflicted by the opposite sex parent, can have a devastating effect on the adult/child's relationship with his/her own sexuality and gender, and their ability to have successful intimate relationships as an adult.

What often happens is that 'Daddy's little princess' or 'Mommy's big boy' becomes an adult who has good friends of the opposite sex that they can be emotionally intimate with but would never think of being sexually involved with (and feel dreadfully betrayed by, when those friends express sexual interest) and are sexually excited by members of the opposite sex whom they don't like and can't trust (they may feel they are desperately 'in love' with such a person but in reality don't really like their personality). This is an unconscious way of not betraying mommy or daddy by having sex with someone that they are emotionally intimate with and truly care about as a person.

Over the last ten years I have seen many different examples of how emotionally dishonest family dynamics impact children. Ranging from the twelve-year old girl who was much too big to be crawling into mom's lap but would do so every time mom started to cry because that interrupted her mother's emotional process and stopped her crying, to the nine-year old boy who looked me in the eye and said "How am I supposed to start talking about feelings when I haven't my whole life."

Then there is the little boy who by four-years old had been going to twelve-step meetings with his mother for two years. At a CoDA meeting one day he was sitting on a man's lap only six feet away from where his mother was sharing and crying. He didn't even bother to look up when his mother started crying. The man, who was more concerned than the little boy, said to him, "Your mommy's crying because she feels sad." The little boy looked up, glanced over at his mother and said, "Yea, she's getting better," and went back to playing. He knew that it was okay for mom to cry and that it was not his job to fix her. That little boy, at four years old, already had healthier boundaries than most adults - because his mother was in recovery working on getting healthier herself. The best thing that we can do for any of our loved ones is to focus on our own healing.

And one of the cornerstones of healing is to forgive ourselves for the wounds we suffered and for the wounds we inflicted. We were powerless to behave any differently because of our programing and training, because of our wounds. Just as our parents were powerless, and their parents before them, etc. etc.

One of the traps of Codependence Recovery is that as we gain awareness of our behavioral patterns and emotional dishonesty we judge and shame ourselves for what we are learning. That is the disease talking. That "critical parent" voice in our head is the disease talking to us. We need to stop buying into that negative, shaming energy and start Loving ourselves so that we can change our patterns and become emotionally honest.

There is hope. We are breaking the cycles of generations of emotional dishonesty and abuse. We now have the tools and knowledge we need to heal our wounds and change the human condition. We are Spiritual Beings having a human experience. We are perfect in our Spiritual essence. We are perfectly where we are supposed to be on our Spiritual path, and we will never be able to do human perfectly. We are unconditionally loved and we are going to get to go Home.

https://www.thefix.com/living-sober/emotional-incest

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The R Kelly abuse allegations mirror classic sex trafficking dynamics, expert says. Here's how.

by Natelege Whaley

The long list of sexual misconduct allegations against R. Kelly is getting longer. On Tuesday, Faith Rodgers, 20, told CBS News that the famed R&B singer infected her with herpes in 2017. Rodgers said Kelly demanded sex from her and told her to call him “daddy.” She is suing him for failure to disclose a sexually transmitted disease, and has accused him of sexual battery. Her attorney plans to seek a criminal trial against the singer, according to the report.

Rodgers' accusations add to those shared by multiple women in the past year. In July 2017, BuzzFeed reported that Kelly was allegedly holding six women captive in a “cult” in properties he'd rented in Chicago and Atlanta (Kelly was reportedly evicted from his Atlanta rentals in February for failing to pay rent).

All six women — who ranged in age from 18 to 31 — were reportedly aspiring entertainers whom Kelly had promised to mentor. He allegedly kept them confined inside his homes and controlled several facets of their lives, from what they wore and who they spoke to, to who they had sex with and when they used the restroom.

On May 4, two other women shared horror stories about Kelly with BuzzFeed : Lizzette Martinez, who said she had a relationship with Kelly that started in 1995, when she was 17 years old. And another, Michelle, who said her daughter is part of Kelly's alleged cult. (Both names were withheld in the report to protect their identities.)

“It was very controlled: what I wore, how I spoke, who my friends were, who I could bring around,” Martinez told BuzzFeed . “[Kelly is] just so controlling, so abusive.”

According to Sunnette Slaughter, an anti-human trafficking advocate and co-director of the Violence as a Public Health Issue Committee for the Southeastern Health Equity Council, Kelly's alleged behavior is all too familiar.

“R. Kelly's alleged predatory behavior indicates signs of sex trafficking,” Slaughter explained. “A lot of people don't understand the complexity and nuances of sex trafficking, victimization and violation.”

In an interview with Slaughter, Mic explored the connections between Kelly's alleged misconduct and the signs and behaviors that indicate sex trafficking. Kelly's spokespersons have repeatedly denied such accusations, dating back to the singer's alleged marriage to late R&B star Aaliyah, when she was 15 and he was 27, in 1994. Despite years of similar allegations — including a highly publicized criminal trial in which Kelly was acquitted on 14 counts of child pornography in 2008 — Kelly has became one of the most successful names in R&B, having sold more than 100 million records worldwide, and collaborated with dozens of artists from Jay-Z to Lady Gaga to Chris Brown.

The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 defines sex trafficking as when “a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age.”

Human trafficking can also be nonsexual, referring to “the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through ... force, fraud or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude.”

Media portrayals often lead to misconceptions about the subject.

“Most people have seen trafficking schemes from the lens of movies like Taken , where you have white women and girls [who are abducted],” Slaughter said.

In reality, black women and girls are the demographic most vulnerable to sex trafficking, according to the most recent available data on victims by race, published by the Department of Justice in 2011. Between January 2008 and June 2010, 94% of sex trafficking victims were female. Forty percent of the victims were black and 26% were white.

Nor do trafficking victims have to be kidnapped, bound or chained, Slaughter added. Coercion can be an equally effective tool.

“That's actually how a lot of trafficking schemes happen in America,” she said.

Coercion — rather than force — seems to be how Kelly operates, if the allegations are true. Rodgers, the 20-year-old accuser, claimed to have met five of the women being held in Kelly's alleged “cult” in the past year. Kelly reportedly told Rodgers that he was “raising” these women — which Slaughter said may refer to “grooming,” a term anti-trafficking advocates use to describe how victims are coerced into being trafficked.

“R. Kelly's behavior[s] have that cult-like nature to them where he's keeping so many people in a home, and how he treats them,” she said, describing allegations of how he treats the women close to him. “How he requires them to wear something specific. How he requires them to ask to go to the bathroom. How he requires them to engage in sexual activity with one another and requires them to engage with him.”

Polaris, a nonprofit organization working to end modern slavery, counted 10,615 individual trafficking victims using its U.S. hotline in 2017. Of these, 7,255 were victims of sex trafficking. Many of them had been recruited. Based on recruitment data specified by 2,136 victims, intimate partner or marriage proposition was the most common means, followed by recruitment by a family member, a predator posing as a benefactor, job offers and false promises or fraud.

In the case of R. Kelly for instance, multiple women who spoke out against Kelly said he promised his alleged victims mentorship and work before they came under his control. Michelle, the mother of one alleged victim, told BuzzFeed that Kelly offered her daughter a personal assistant job before she moved in with him. Martinez, who was an aspiring singer when she met Kelly, said he promised to help her career.

“I sang for him, and he played the piano, and he said he wanted to help me and develop me and write songs,” she said, “and I was really excited about it, you know. I was like, ‘Wow, finally, my chance.'”

Another parent, “J.,” whose full name is omitted in the July BuzzFeed report said she was under the impression Kelly would help launch her daughter's career when she met him May 2015.

“He was going to help her with her CD, and I was really impressed with him at first, because I have always been an R. Kelly fan,” the mother said.

Traffickers are also enabled by accomplices, in many instances. In Kelly's case, this could include anyone who knowingly, willfully and intentionally supports him and his alleged behavior, Slaughter explained.

Kelly's money and fame have further shielded the singer from consequences, #MuteRKelly co-creator Oronike Odeleye aruged. The boycott movement , launched in July, has maneuvered to hamstring the singer's finances. But even this has had minimal impact: After Spotify caved to activist pressure and removed Kelly's music from promoted playlists earlier this month, his weekly streaming average on the platform reportedly increased by 92,000 streams.

Meanwhile, not every woman associated with Kelly has spoken out against him. Jocelyn Savage, whose family last summer accused Kelly of holding her in a cult, denied having been mistreated by the singer.

“None of that is true,” Savage told TMZ during a solo trip to Los Angeles on May 8. “All of that is false accusations. People talk all the time. It's just rumors. ... [People] are making things up to get money.”

Slaughter said it is not uncommon for trafficking victims to deny they are victims of wrongdoing.

“Shame, guilt and if they leave, they may be afraid that retribution can happen to other victims that are in a trafficking ring,” she said. “They also may not think that anyone will believe them.”

R. Kelly's alleged victims so far have been mainly black girls and women — another reason the singer has been able to continue his alleged behavior free from accountability, Slaughter said. Black girls are perceived as more sexual and less innocent than their white peers, according to a 2017 study from the Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality. This bias can make law enforcement less likely to see them as victims.

“I don't think retribution or even a reckoning of this can happen until black women and girls who are victims are no longer invisible and ignored,” Slaughter said.

Given the allegations circulating about Kelly's misconduct with women and girls, his fans and associates should, at the very least, question their support for the singer, she added.

“We need to have more conversations about idolizing entertainers who are accused of exhibiting these behaviors,” she said. She added that people like Kelly's access to potential victims is virtually limitless. “They have a lot of access and they move around the country freely.”

https://mic.com/articles/189536/the-r-kelly-abuse-allegations-mirror-classic-sex-tracking-dynamics-expert-says-heres-how#.4A2xs0UGo

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Indiana

Ahead of Indy 500, residents urged to look for signs of human trafficking

by Holly V. Hays

As hundreds of thousands of race fans descend upon the Circle City for this weekend's Indianapolis 500, local authorities are reminding residents of the signs and dangers of human trafficking.

The influx of people doesn't necessarily indicate an increase in human trafficking cases, but Indianapolis Metropolitan Police and the Indiana attorney general's office used the opportunity to remind residents to be on the lookout for the signs of human trafficking during a panel discussion and presentation at the Speedway United Methodist Church Wednesday evening.

The United Nations defines human trafficking as the recruitment, transportation or harboring of a person who has been forced, coerced or deceived into commercial sex or labor. There are two types of human trafficking: labor and sex trafficking.

In 2017, the National Human Trafficking Hotline identified 93 cases of human trafficking in Indiana, up slightly from the previous year's total of 88. Primarily cases of sex trafficking, the victims were predominantly adult women from the U.S.

How to help: 7 ways you can fight human trafficking

Jon Daggy, an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police investigator, said victims and traffickers don't fit any kind of profile — they can be male or female, young or old.

One trafficker he has seen, for example, appeared to be completely innocuous: friendly personality, big, white beard.

“He just looks like somebody's grandpa,” Daggy said.

According to the Indiana attorney general's office, victims of sex trafficking can exhibit the following signs:

•  They are likely unaware of their surroundings.

•  They are constantly monitored and unable to move freely.

•  They look to someone else when they're spoken to.

•  They refuse to speak.

•  They're traveling with a group.

•  They're a young person traveling with an adult who does not appear to be a parent.

•  They appear to be dressed “older” than their actual age or in a manner inappropriate for weather conditions.

•  They have some kind of “branding,” such as a tattoo or necklace with their trafficker's name.

Victims of labor trafficking sometimes present similar signs but often work and live in the same place; receive little to no pay; may not be able to take breaks; rely on their employer for transportation, food or housing; and may have signs of physical abuse or injury that go untreated.

As hundreds of thousands of people descend upon Indianapolis, such as for Sunday's race, investigators say they are likely to see an influx of buyers and sellers.

For example, during the 2012 Super Bowl, authorities launched 68 human trafficking investigations, Daggy said.

Changes are underway to allow Hoosiers to better fight the issue at home.

This summer, a statewide agency will be launched to help combat human trafficking by working with agencies across all of Indiana's 92 counties, said Denise Robinson, chief counsel of the investigations division for the Indiana attorney general's office.

Nationally, President Donald Trump signed a bill that would crack down on human trafficking online, allowing for websites to be held liable in criminal and civil courts if they knowingly facilitate sex trafficking.

The recent closure of Backpage.com , a site notorious for harboring traffickers, presents an issue for investigators and prosecutors, Daggy said. On one hand, closing the website was the ethical thing to do. On the other, it prevents investigators from accessing what could be key evidence in an otherwise shaky case.

Regardless, traffickers will still find a way, he said, likely creating similar sites offshore.

“It's going to come back in some shape or form,” he said.

While local law enforcement is always on the lookout for traffickers, Robinson said it's important for residents to know the signs not just this weekend but year-round.

“If you see something, say something," Robinson said, “so that we can do our jobs and hold the human traffickers accountable.”

In cases involving minors, call the Department of Child Services and mention specifically that you believe they are a victim of trafficking. DCS' toll-free hotline can be reached at 1-800-800-5556.

To report a case of human trafficking, call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 or text 233733. You can also submit a report online via humantraffickinghotline.org .