394 results for author: James R. Marsh
New York Times Reports on Marsh Law Firm’s Restitution Efforts
In a follow-up to a February 2010 profile of the Marsh Law Firm's groundbreaking work pursuing federal criminal restitution for victims of child pornography, the New York Times released this story today about a decision in the Second Circuit.
A victim of child pornography seeking restitution should not receive court-ordered payments from those who possessed the images but had no hand in creating them, a federal appeals panel ruled Thursday. The young woman, referred to in court papers as Amy, was known as “Misty” in pornographic images created by her uncle. The uncle was convicted and imprisoned on child pornography charges, but the ...
No Neglect by Mother who Mistakingly Left Child Home Alone
Last month the New Jersey Supreme Court in Dept of Children & Families, Div. of Youth & Family Servs. v. T.B. held that a finding of neglect was improperly entered against a mother who left her four-year-old child unsupervised for two hours under the mistaken belief that his grandmother was in the home.
Susan and her then four-year-old-son, John, were living with Susan’s mother, Mary, and step-father, Jim, who assisted in caring for John on a regular basis. Although Susan and John lived downstairs, the entire house was accessible to John and he moved freely to the upstairs portion of the home where his grandparents lived.
On Sunday, March 25, ...
Teen Facebook Hacker Convicted of Felony Identity Theft
Last month a California state Court of Appeal ruled in In re Rolando S. that a teenage boy committed felony identity theft when he accessed a girl's account, altered her profile and posted obscene messages and comments.
The boy was one of several recipients of an unsolicited text message providing the password to the victim’s email account. He used the victim’s email and password to gain access to her Facebook account where he posted, in her name, the following messages:
On a male classmate’s wall: “I want to stick your dick in my mouth and then in my pussy and fuck me really hard and cum on my face.”
On another male ...
Echos of the Masha Allen case play out in a New York courtroom
I first wrote about the disturbing case of adoptive parent Judith Leekin back in 2008. Now new details of that case are emerging which share shocking similarities to Masha Allen's second adoption. According to the New York Times:
More than 30 years ago, a Queens foster mother was investigated and cited for scalding a boy in her care. But despite that finding, the city did nothing in the decades that followed to prevent the woman, Judith Leekin, from carrying out one of the most brazen and disturbing child welfare schemes in recent memory.
The failure of child welfare officials to bar Ms. Leekin from the system after that 1980 episode is one of the ...
Legal marijuana possession = child abuse?
Today's New York Times contains an article about state child welfare investigations of parents who legally possess marijuana:
The police found about 10 grams of marijuana, or about a third of an ounce, when they searched Penelope Harris’s apartment in the Bronx last year. The amount was below the legal threshold for even a misdemeanor, and prosecutors declined to charge her. But Ms. Harris, a mother whose son and niece were home when she was briefly in custody, could hardly rest easy.
The police had reported her arrest to the state’s child welfare hot line, and city caseworkers quickly arrived and took the children away.
Her son, then ...
Brazilian Bass Fishing Offers More Than A Good Catch
Brazilian bass fishing is more than big business, it's also apparently a vehicle for child sex tourism. For the past 20 years, U.S. fishing aficionados have been spending up to $10,000 for trips to remote lodges in the interior reaches of Brazil or Venezuela. American sport tour ads are filled with promises of "uncompromising luxury" in plush jungle lodges, complete with resort-like amenities, fine dining and satellite phones to keep in hailing distance of the office.
Now a federal investigation and two related actions — a parallel criminal inquiry in Brazil and an unusual lawsuit filed in federal court in Georgia — could provide a rare ...
Foster Children Speak to Congress – is anyone listening?
This summer, fifteen former foster children worked as Capitol Hill interns and developed a set of policy recommendations outlined in a recently released report entitled "The Future of Foster Care - a revolution for change."
Among the recommendations created by these former foster youth:
Congress should require that an education advocate be trained and assigned to every foster child in special education;
Congress should require that surrogate parents be trained on the unique needs of foster youth in special education;
Documented and undocumented immigrant children within the foster care system deserve the same basic rights and freedoms that are ...