sex crime

The “Other” West Memphis Three (part 3): Loser Occult

That which is kept in darkness is occult. The story of three little boys left naked, hogtied, dead in a ditch--remains in darkness. Damien Echols, who suffered half his life on a very real Death Row for the crimes that Atom Egoyan now intends to "fictionalize," is clear on the distinction between Mara Leveritt's 2002 book and the 2013 Hollywood fiction, Tweeting Egoyan's film as "Devil's Knob."

“Believe the Children” *

In the 1980s, "Believe the Children" was a well-intentioned but misused slogan in the struggle to raise awareness of child sexual abuse. If there were any doubts, however, whether the prosecutors behind resultant witch hunts were concerned with the protection of children, rather than political posturing, the children themselves are helping to clarify the matter.

The Cost of False Cases of Child Sexual Abuse

In 2010, one of the few nationally publicized, child-sex abuse fiascoes of the new millennium, Georgia v. Tonya Craft resulted in an acquittal for a gradeschool teacher charged with more than twenty counts of child molestation, aggravated sexual battery, and aggravated child molestation. But the acquittal came only after Craft, family, friends, and supporters raised enough money for an adequate defense--in this case, $500,000, which included an inheritance, a refinanced home, and Craft's own wedding ring. Statistically rare enough to make it one for the record books, the Craft trial is also a rare bright spot in the murky case law surrounding trials of its type.

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