Teachers and Sex Abuse: Be Wary of the ‘Witch Hunt’

By Kevin Kearon

Society has little tolerance for any form of sexual abuse of children, especially in a school setting. All the more reason to remember that the only thing worse than the sexual abuse of an innocent child is a false accusation of the sexual abuse of an innocent child.

The Secret World of For-Profit Immigrant Detention

By Will Matthews

Today, according to some studies, nearly half of the tens of thousands of immigrants in detention every day are locked up in jails and detention systems operated by private prison companies. This explains the private prison industry's deep financial incentive to see the continued expansion of the system, even in the face of myriad abuses.

The Texas Rape Story Brings Victim Blaming to New, Sorrowful Heights

By Anne Seymour

My shock at the alleged gang rape of an 11-year-old girl by 18 young men and boys was closely matched by my shock at The New York Times' coverage of this horrible crime.  One of the "unanswered questions" faced by  the community of Cleveland, Texas, according to reporter James McKinley, was "if the allegations are proved, how could their young men have been drawn into such an act?"

I've been a victim advocate for nearly 30 years, and know for an absolute fact that rape is not something assailants are "drawn into." 

It is a heinous, violent crime that a rapist chooses to inflict upon another person, whether the survivor is known to the sex offender(s) or not.  It is a crime of power and control that has a devastating and ongoing impact on its victims― physically, psychologically, socially, spiritually and financially.

When reporters like Mr. McKinley make a conscious decision to interview subjects whose opinions - not facts - cast dispersions on a victim and actually report such unfounded observations, it brings victim-blaming to new, sorrowful heights.  Such "hearsay" would not be  allowed in a court of law, which makes it difficult to understand why these comments from unidentified persons were allowed in an article published by The Times.
Whether or not Mr. McKinley intended to evoke sympathy and support for the alleged rapists is beside the point.  Strong evidence in this case points to the gang rape of an 11-year-old girl, and this child is the one who is deserving of―and who is going to need― empathy and support to help her cope with the tragic consequences of the conscious, collective decisions of 18 young men to harm her beyond the comprehension of a civilized society.

Anne Seymour is a national victim advocate affiliated with Justice Solutions, a nonprofit in Washington DC. She is former public affairs director for Mothers Against Drunk Driving, and co-founder and communications director of the National Victim Center, now National Center for Victims of Crime.

Don’t Roll Back the Progress on Legal Protections for Rape and Abortion

By Carol Tracy

Societies that have no respect for the...

Child Sex Trafficking—After the Conviction, What about the Victim?

I recently heard a hopeful story about a distressing subject—child sex trafficking. A teenage girl, a recent immigrant, had suddenly disappeared from the community center she used to visit, and a social worker set out to find out what had happened to her. The social worker found out the girl had been kidnapped and forced into sex trafficking, and was being raped as many as 25 times a day. The community center worked with the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) to have the traffickers (who included the girl’s mother) arrested and prosecuted and the girl placed in foster care.

In this case, law enforcement achieved its goals, and the victim was given a safe place to live and a chance to recover from her ordeal. As a foster care recipient under the jurisdiction of the court, she received a Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) visa, which made her a legal resident of this country. She is also receiving the medical and psychological help she needs to survive.

Yet most victims in her situation would not have fared as well. Most foster care programs do not take teenagers or immigrants, especially without legal status, even though entry into foster care may qualify them for SIJS visas. Few victims are rescued through the swift collaboration of a local service provider and several federal law enforcement agencies. And few child sex trafficking victims ever get the help they need to recover from these crimes.

We can take pride in our nation’s powerful response to trafficking. The Trafficking Victims Prevention Act of 2000, the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008, and Representative Chris Smith’s and Carolyn Maloney’s recently introduced bill, Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Deterrence and Victims Support Act of 2010 (which provides $45 million to rescue and care for minor victims, prosecute perpetrators, and promote educational prevention programs; it would also and require timely and accurate reporting of missing children) show how seriously our legislators take this crime.

But to help victims, we need to do so much more. We need regular, robust collaboration among the U.S. Department of Justice, Homeland Security/ICE, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which provides direction to local foster care agencies. We need federal law enforcement to work with local agencies who know the victims and their communities, and we need HHS to take the lead in encouraging foster care agencies to accept more immigrant children and older teens. In short, we need a comprehensive, compassionate response to victims of child sex trafficking—justice requires no less.

Mai Fernandez is the Executive Director of the National Center for Victims of Crime.