Sexting Norms Uncovered in Two Studies
In the January edition of Pediatrics researchers explored two issues: The Prevalence and Characteristics of Youth Sexting and How Often Are Teens Arrested for Sexting?
Prior to the research estimates of the prevalence of sexting varied considerably depending on the nature of the images or videos and the role of the youth involved.
A cross-sectional national telephone survey of 1560 youth Internet users, ages 10 through 17, discovered that only 2.5% of youth appeared in or created nude or nearly nude pictures or videos.
However, this percentage was reduced to 1.0% when ...
New Year’s Resolutions 2012
Like everyone else on the planet, I've been publishing more and more content on the much-maligned Facebook. If you really want to absorb each and everything I publish, flag, highlight, champion, condemn, etc., then please join the Marsh Law Firm Facebook page. There's lots of good stuff there which I routinely post throughout the day when a full-blown blog entry, commentary and analysis isn't warranted or, more likely, when I don't have enough time to delve into the issue.
If you don't have Facebook or completely despise and eschew the site (perhaps based on my oft-repe...
Child Abusers Are Not Invisible
Pedophilia occurs with disturbing frequency in athletic programs, churches, Boy Scout troops, and youth organizations—places that children congregate, including the homes of trusted family members.
Professor Daniel Pollack, a frequent contributor to ChildLaw, has co-authored a social work textbook called How to Screen Adoptive and Foster Parents: A Workbook for Professionals and Students. If you read this blog regularly, you'll know all about this book which we profiled earlier this year.
A recent op-ed written by the book's co-author, James Dickerson, highlights ...
400,666 US Girls Under Ten Are Forcibly Raped
A recently released report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveals some sobering numbers: nearly 1 in 5 women have been raped in their lifetime. This statistic is widely known and almost universally accepted. But what do these numbers say about children?
According to the study, approximately 80% of female victims experienced their first rape before the age of 25 and almost half experienced the first rape before age 18 (30% between 11-17 years old and 12% at or before the age of 10).
When you crunch the numbers even more, you discover that approxima...
Supreme Court Grants Justice Dep’t Request to Reject Child Victims
Last week the United States Supreme Court ignored the extraordinary pleas of three nationally recognized child advocacy groups and granted the Justice Department's request to dismiss a child sex abuse victim's appeal for criminal restitution.
The case now returns to the district court which must follow the DC Circuit's holding that the victim in this case, Amy, does not have a clear and indisputable right to full restitution, but must instead trace precisely how her losses were “proximately” caused by each of the thousands of child molesters and pedophiles who ...
Justice Department Sides with Child Molesters and Pedophiles AGAIN
When Justice Department attorneys refused to even sit with the child sex abuse victim at last year's oral argument before the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, Chief Judge Edith Jones proclaimed:
"What I don't understand is why the government has switched sides. They were on Amy's side in the trial court, were they not? I'm not sure how they can switch sides now and say that the statute doesn't entitle her to relief. That seems very—if not duplicitous—very strange to me. And it's also in derogation of the obvious intent of that provision of the ...
How Much Restitution Will be Permitted for Child Pornography Victims
The Second Circuit Speaks; Will The Supreme Court Step In?
Guest Legal Analysis by Jennifer Freeman of Freeman Lewis LLP
On September 8, 2011, the Second Circuit dealt a blow to victims of child pornography who had been seeking broad relief under a federal criminal statute authorizing restitution. In United States v. Aumais, Docket No. 10-3160 (Sept. 8, 2011), the New York federal appeals court reversed a restitution order of nearly $50,000 assessed in favor of a victim of child porn against a possessor of the images, holding that proximate cause was lacking, without which such damages could not be imposed.
In issuing this ...