UK law changed to allow prosecution of those who stay silent over child abuse

by MMXIV 15 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse

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  MMXIV

  The Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims (Amendment) Act 2012 comes into force on Monday in England and Wales to allow prosecution for those who stay silent over a child's serious physical abuse.

  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18638734

  Whilst this law was put in place to stop a loophole whereby those who commit child murder claim it was someone else while they just remained silent, this now makes those who do not take steps to stop the abuse equally guilty.

  Elders who do not take steps to stop or report the serious abuse of minors could face prosecution and 10 years in prison. It may no longer be good enough to tell the abused or abusers it's their right to go to authorities (per the 2010 elders manual) they now need to take action.

  Whether criminal prosecutions are brought against elders who masquerade as police, judge, jury and social workers whilst not themselves reporting abuse of a minor will remain to be seen, however the law now exists to make it possible.

  Any JW child who comes to serious harm where the elders knew about it should ask themselves - could I have stopped this by telling the police? If I didn't was it because I followed the elders book or advice from the WBTS legal department - in which case who goes to prison for 10 years - me or the WBTS?

  Elders - you've been warned.

  mmxiv
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  Giordano

  Thanks for sharing this. Here in the USA there is a growing understanding that we need to do a lot more to keep children safe especially in the context of entrusting our children to institutions that are supposed to be dedicated to advancing the spiritual, physical or intellectual growth of children. The Catholic Church, outriders in the Mormon world, Penn State, Jehovah's Witnesses, and the Boy Scouts to name a few actively aided and abetted pedophiles by covering up their crimes because protecting their institutions from bad publicity came first even at the expense of the abused. When that failed to work in our modern multi-media world they fall back on the legal system to prevent justice from being served. That option appears to be ending. Somewhere in all of this these intuitions have failed to understand that the average person is outraged when the most innocent among us are abused in all manner of ways. This new law means that even Elders must comply....... that children come before their pathetic organization.
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  AnnOMaly

  That's good news! Thanks for the heads up.
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  cedars

  Interesting development - thanks MMXIV...

  Cedars
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  Band on the Run

  This will help children so much. So my mom and other relatives who constatly watched severe physical abuse and stayed silent could be prosecuted. I love the idea. People can no longer say they had no duty.

  If the WT wins the appeal in the Conti case, I hope American states follow this example. B/c Britain will have had actual experience with the law, the existence of the British law may help convince state legislators to give it a try.

  Imposing such a duty would be novel for American common law. I believe there is a strong rationale for it.
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  cofty

  Its a good move, thanks for lettng us know.
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  sf

  THIS piece is a great tool in your arsenal people.

  CLICK

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  Thank you for your support and contribution.

  sKally, POWER TO THE PEOPLE klass
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  BorgHater

  bttt
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  james_woods

  We had (several months ago) a kind of related story in the politics & religion forum of a car interest site that I go to:

  It was in an eastern mainstream protestant church (can't recall the denomination). It seems that one of the lay ministers was a pedophile and had actually kept child pornography on a church computer they had in their basement offices. The church accountant discovered the child porn - and, incredibly, erased it along with evidence that the guy was trolling for kids on the internet. The police were not notified.

  Later, the police DID become involved when the guy was caught soliciting illicit contact with another kid on the internet. In their investigation, they discovered the possibility that this stuff was on that church computer.

  The police ended up charging the church accountant who erased the evidence with witholding evidence in the case - I do not know if he was ever prosecuted or what the results were.

  I think that the U.S. public (and law enforcement) is really getting sick and tired of these coverups. The big W.T. case could not have come at a worse time for the Watchtower.
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  newbndreamz

  This seems to be reform right before our very eyes... Really their are so many changes; Sparlock, condensing the wt, generation overlap, underground policy change, atm machines at the conventions. To be honest the org is morphing into something totally different than the 80's model that I was fed.