Of Pedophelia and False Positives (page 2)

Billy the Ex-Bethelite

The link seems to particularly be talking about divorce cases of the mother accusing against the father, evidently of physical abuse and not only sexual abuse. So, the subject of false accusations isn't just about kids making up stories.

I have no doubt that there have been false accusations of being pedophiles and the reputations of some people have been greatly damaged. However, even the quote used at the top of the thread show a third of those charges are substantiated. That's a third that shouldn't be ignored.

Watchtower should turn it over to the legal authorities. It shouldn't be a matter of the elders calling the Legal Department and forming a private Judicial Committee to handle it the same as over-drinking, smoking, or taking a blood transfusion.

What about defense for the innocent? As OUTLAW states, use a lie detector. Is there any forensic evidence? Police and psychology professionals have gotten much better in understanding the child and the criminal mind, so be honest and trust them.

But most importantly, be innocent.

White Dove

"Unsubstantiated" is not the same as "Innocent." It just means that it wasn't proven, that's all. There was not enough evidence to substantiate the claim. The stats show that it is much much rarer for a kid to lie about it than for it to be true. It can be true and unsubstantiated. Use critical thinking on this and other important topics.

SixofNine

I know an ex-JW who, as an adult, accused her father of sexual abuse when in fact none had occurred. A therapist "helped" her "recover" memories of things that had never happened.

The front page of the Dallas Morning News this morning features a sickening tale of a man who falsely confessed (to avoid the death penalty; he was being harshly interrogated... no excuse, but it's the reason he confessed) to a rape and murder, and worse, falsely accused his friend of being an accomplice. They got out of prison only recently after spending more than 10 years in prison. The man's "friend" is permanently brain damaged from being repeatedly kicked in the head by another inmate wearing steel toed boots (the horrible irony in that, is that it was a case of mistaken identity).

So yeah, some kids could easily be coerced and confused into false testimony by a parent or some other strong personality in their lives. Especially given that sexuality itself is something that tends to be confusing for children.

Of course, the above only strengthens Avishai's point, leave it to the professionals. Hopefully, they won't be like the therapist or police detectives in those stories; these types of stories are rare, but not nearly rare enough.

chickpea

Unsubstantiated" is not the same as "Innocent." It just means that it wasn't proven, that's all

precisely! this is more to the point that the assumption of innocence ..... i moderate on a forum for adult surviviors of CSA ( plus i am a member of another large website that deals with online predators and hosts a private surviviors' section), and every year there are the stories told by individuals who go thru the grinding process of police interviews, investigations and trials.... to be denied justice in the end..... sure, some of these individuals could be yanking my chain and pulling the wool over on me.... but i sincerely doubt it is the majority.....

i think more likely there is a lot of silent, agonized, unrelenting suffering because the energy to face the assault of the process is too costly for surviviors...

5go

"Unsubstantiated" is not the same as "Innocent." It just means that it wasn't proven, that's all. There was not enough evidence to substantiate the claim. The stats show that it is much much rarer for a kid to lie about it than for it to be true. It can be true and unsubstantiated. Use critical thinking on this and other important topics.

And if your innocent they refer to your charges unsubstantiated. Which to some means you did it but got away with it. So your false positive is perceived by some as a false negative. Which haunts you forever.

Amber Rose

Thanks for bringing up this topic. I personally know two separate, unrelated people who this has happened to. In one case the charges were dropped because the kid was proven to be a liar with a history of making false accusations. In the other case, the accused took a plea bargin, went to jail on work release and has to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. Why would he do that if he is innocent? Two judges weaseled thier way out of hearing the case and the third one threatened him. His laywer that he could not afford offered no help either. Plus he was a middle-aged, fat, bald guy that lived in a trailer park - isn't everyone who fits that discription a child-molester. The plea bargin he took was alot better than 25 years in prison as a baby raper. That, Outlaw, is what people are afraid of.

jamiebowers

Criticism of the WTB&TS regarding child sex abuse stems from the fact they don't report it to authorities. Let the experts sort it out, not the elders.

Hope4Others

Watchtower should turn it over to the legal authorities. It shouldn't be a matter of the elders calling the Legal Department and forming a private Judicial Committee to handle it the same as over-drinking, smoking, or taking a blood transfusion.
What about defense for the innocent? As OUTLAW states, use a lie detector. Is there any forensic evidence? Police and psychology professionals have gotten much better in understanding the child and the criminal mind, so be honest and trust them

I certainly agree with billy here. I have seen many cases in our area, how can these elders be capable of these matters they do not have any professional expertise in this area to help

anyone. I know my niece was abused by a pedophile the family was turned upside down for years. And so called elders let this a-hole go from cong to cong knowing what he was

without warning any parents, no doubt because his father was an elder. One elder up north here was finally dealt with when all the victims came forward there were 25 cases in the same

cong. over a 40 yr period from the same guy.

Hope4Others

inkling

Thank's everyone for the comments.

I think it's a really good point that no matter WHAT the claim looks like, it should be turned over to professionals.

If there is any chance of justice either way, it is in the hands of the police, and the risk of
the claim being true is too significant to ignore any sincere claim.

Obviously sometimes mistakes will be made. However, I don't think the elders are in ANY position
to decide if something should be ignored. They may feel like they are better qualified to do
this because they "have God's holy spirit" but that claim has been proved empty a painful number
of times.

And outlaw, I understand your righteous indignation, but attempting to make a inconvenient side
effect of lynch-mob style justice go away by calling it a "load of fucking crap" does nothing
to help the situation. Next time please try less yelling and more thinking.

[inkling]

nondescriptex

The statistics for false positives in that article included many kinds of mistreatment, not just pedophilia. Therefore, your post was misleading, although perhaps not intentionally. Elsewhere on that website the point is made that sexual molestation is if anything under-reported. http://www.menstuff.org/issues/byissue/incestmolest.html#molestation

Of Pedophelia and False Positives

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