It’s Open Season on Children in Pennsylvania

As anyone who has read this blog for any length of time knows, there's something rotten in the state of Pennsylvania when it comes to protecting children. From Masha Allen (who was adopted from Russia by a pedophile with the help of one of Pittsburgh's premier adoption agencies), to the Luzerne county kids for cash scandal, to high school students being spied on at home by school administrators; the list of woe goes on and on. Now Hank Grezlak, the editor-in-chief of The Legal Intelligencer—Pennsylvania's influential legal daily—has articulated what many of us have known for years: It's Open Season on Children in Pennsylvania. In this ...

Lawyers at the Center of the Penn State Rot

According to this post in the AmLawDaily blog, numerous lawyers—including a mysteriously disappeared district attorney—are at the center of the widening Penn State child molestation scandal: Curley and Schultz stepped down from their respective posts Monday, not long after news of the charges levied against them and Sandusky broke over the weekend. Sandusky himself retired in 1999, but remained active with The Second Mile children's charity, which he founded in Penn State's hometown of State College, Pennsylvania, in 1977. Prosecutors, led by Pennsylvania attorney general Linda Kelly, claim that Sandusky met the eight boys he is ...

Child Sex Abuse—Let the games begin!

I won't repeat what has already been said about the child sex abuse scandal engulfing Penn State. Everything which needs to be said can be found in the Grand Jury Findings of Fact and Recommendation of Charges. Yesterday, National Center for Victims of Crime, released the following statement which is worth repeating. Washington, DC: The National Center for Victims of Crime today called on the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and all educational institutions to respond quickly and forcefully to sexual abuse. The arrest of a former Penn State athletic coach for allegedly abusing eight young men shows why—for every institution in ...

Corporeal Punishment for the Masses

The rise of corporeal punishment theory is a troubling cultural phenomenon which really takes us back to the dark ages of unquestioned rule by authority. The link between spanking and conservative Christianity is insulting to the vast majority of believers who do not condone religiously inspired child abuse. It also creates a strange affinity between Catholicism—where child sex abuse has run rampant for years—and evangelicalism—where beating children has seemingly become the God-given norm; the Catholics get the sex and the Evangelicals get the hide. Where can a godly child find religion without loosing their heart and soul? This ...

Title IX’s Demise in the Public School System

Title IX is a 1972 federal law which requires gender equity for boys and girls in every educational program that receives federal funding. This includes the vast majority of public school systems in our country. Title IX prohibits both teacher-student harassment and student-student harassment. It also prohibits a hostile environment based on gender. The goal is to eliminate sex-based discrimination in federally assisted education programs. Every public school has an affirmative obligation to prevent sex-based harassment and to lessen the harm to students if, despite their best efforts, harassment occurs. Almost forty years after the enactment of ...

Court Rules Attorney-Client Privilege ≠ Colorado GAL-Attorneys

Last week, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that the attorney-client privilege does not apply to conversations between guardians ad litem and the children they represent in child abuse, child welfare and custody cases. In Colorado, a guardian ad litem is an attorney appointed to represent a child who has been abused or neglected or is in foster care. They are also appointed for children are accused of crimes or involved in a custody fight. In a very controversial 5-2 decision, the Court held that “because a child who is the subject of a dependency and neglect proceeding is not the client of a court-appointed guardian ad litem, neither the ...

Assessing Current Restitution Law to
Effectively Serve Victims in Child Abuse Imagery Cases *

This article discusses the Marsh Law Firm's pioneering work to secure criminal restitution for our client Amy. It appeared in the National Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse Update earlier this year, before our appeal to the United States Supreme Court. The NCPCA Update can be downloaded in full here. by Angela Downes, Meg Garvin, Wanda Lucibello, Alison Wilkinson, Terry Campos, and Hon. Paul Cassell2 Amy was only four years old when her uncle sexually assaulted her and documented that assault through photographs. Although the assault took place in 1993, now nearly 20 years later those photographs continue to circulate on the Internet and are among ...

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