I read this in today's local paper. It has interesting parallels to the Watchtower Society's stance. (Bolding in article is mine.)
I find it disconcerting, to put it mildly, that after this man has raped two girls, ages 3 and 5, his defense attorney is concerned about the trauma he may face if he is forced to shave his hair and wear prison garb.
Ginny
Amish man pleads guilty to sexual battery of girls
Associated Press
CAMBRIDGE, Ohio — An Amish man charged with raping two girls pleaded guilty to sexual battery in a plea bargain that would require him to receive five years of treatment at a center for sex offenders.
Norman Byler, 69, of Birmingham initially was charged with 11 counts of rape and gross sexual imposition involving two girls in his extended family. They were 3 and 5 at the time.
He had been scheduled to go on trial this week but instead pleaded guilty Monday to lesser charges, five counts of sexual battery.
The case marked a rare example of Amish crimes being prosecuted in secular courts, county prosecutor Keith Plummer said.
"Part of the difficulty of the case was that the Amish community felt like they should be able to deal with that within their church," Plummer said.
Defense attorney Dianne Menashe said her client would be able to continue practicing his religion at the treatment center, where he will not be required to stay. "If he were to go to prison and have to shave his hair and wear prison garb that would pretty much kill Norman," she said.
A judge who helped craft the deal still needs to formally approve it.
The assaults happened between June and October 1999, according to court records. Sheriff's detectives had been alerted by non-Amish neighbors who said they saw one of the children bleeding.
An Amish bishop had ordered Byler shunned, and Byler's children had argued that further prosecution by secular authorities would do no good.
"Typically within their faith, if someone commits something that they deem morally wrong, they issue a punishment, then forgive the person after the punishment is served," Plummer said.
Byler wrote in a note to a judge last year that he repented for his actions. He said he needed to be treated for a "nervous condition."
Byler was ruled incompetent to stand trial last year and confined to a psychiatric hospital, but a Guernsey County judge in July ruled him competent and ordered the trial to go forward.
Byler faces sentencing Oct. 30. The prosecutor has recommended that Byler be enrolled for five years in the sex offender program.
Byler's daughter, Katie Yoder, and son-in-law, Tobie Yoder, told The Columbus Dispatch after he was charged last year that they confronted Byler when the girls began to talk about having sexual contact with him.
The family had sought mental health treatment for him, and Tobie Yoder said he was responding to medication.
"We don't want him to be in jail," Yoder said. "It won't do him any good."
Yoder said that the Amish community was handling the situation in its way and that he regretted that neighbors called authorities.
Guernsey County is a rural county in southeast Ohio with a population of about 41,000. It has a strong Amish influence, but the Amish population is not as dominant as it is in several Ohio counties to the north. The Christian sect emphasizes social separation from the surrounding "English" community and generally avoids electricity, automobiles and telephones.
from http://www.hoosiertimes.com/stories/2001/09/19/nationworld.010919_HT_A5_DEH11845.sto