To start off, I'm not saying this happens, or doesn't. I'm just a bit confused on the subject, and what you guys are always talking about. What exactly is it with the WT on the issue of child abuse? As far as I know, the elder's book directs elders to immediatly report know pedos to the police. Is it the WT itself you guys have a problem with, or JWs in general? As I said, this is a bit of a grey area for me, and I'm always confused when you guys are talking about it.
Wondering what you guys think about child abuse...
by bobert 20 Replies latest watchtower child-abuse
-
-
LV101
Report pedophilles to the police - seriously??? That line must be in the evil elders' book for internet purposes. I hope I'm wrong and you're right about this. Hard to believe this rape cult would care and worry about children - women and men for that matter.
Any kind of child abuse makes me insane.
-
AnnOMaly
As far as I know, the elder's book directs elders to immediatly report know pedos to the police.
You are mistaken. The elders' book directs elders to immediately report to the WTS Branch Office, Legal Department for direction (Shepherd (2010) book, p. 131). The Oct. 1, 2012 BOE letter emphasizes the same.*
If the law in your state or country is to report all accusations of child abuse to the authorities, then the WTS's Legal Dept will instruct elders to do that. If it is NOT the law to report to the authorities, then the Legal Dept will not instruct that. The accusation/judicial process will be dealt with in-house. However, the elders are instructed not to discourage a family or victim from going to the police but to leave it as their choice.
---
* "Most states have child-abuse reporting laws that, depending on the facts, mandate elders
to report an accusation to the authorities. Thus, when elders learn of an accusation of child
abuse, two elders from their congregation should immediately call the Legal Department for legal
advice." -
LV101
Thanks, AnnOMaly. Sure hope state I'm in has reporting requirements. I'm going to try and find out.
-
prologos
Child abuse has to stop by any means possible, but is this thread/topic about reporting?
if you see it developing,--as you watch, -- do you call 911?-- of course. but:
in case of considering done deeds, accusations:
is there any law that prevents an accused [innocent until proven guilty before the law bsw] to contact a lawyer immediately, a law against legal advice sought for the confidants prior to going to the police? surrendering to the police in the presence of a lawyer?
How about the MIRANDA PRINCIPLE in action?
Everybody, including the victim should review the facts with their lawyers before starting the prosecution rolling.
that alone and the inevitable outcome for the perpetrator would be a great deterrent.
-
JWdaughter
Child abuse in the org was traditionally kept in house. JWs were oftn counseled about bringing reproach upon Jehovah's house/name/people. We were counseled to not sue a brother. We were told that we needed to deal with things btween brothers rather than bringing courts or police in to things.
Officially, they now do it differently when abuse is reported to them, but there is still a stigma against anyone reporting a brother(or sister,I guess) and elders in many areas have done everything they could to wiggle out of that obligation. (clergy priv/not clergy-whichever works better). In the UK recently, there was apparently somuch support for an abuser that the victims were (essentially) forced to confront the abuser so that they were actually DFd-in spite of a conviction in a court oflaw for the abuse.
The org is whacked in this subject still and has a long way to go so that they are more interested in protecting victims than the org. reputation.
OTOH, I have read of a couple of accounts of elders making sure to do th right thing for the law and the victims. They are the kind of elders that could save the org, but those ones were probably deleted immediately. The good ones seem to get a conscience and that doesn't go well withbeing a borg following elder.
-
snare&racket
Would they think twice about phoning the police if a JW murded a child?
What is the difference?
The JW's see it as a sin and forget it is a criminal act, sexual abuse is tantamount to rape, children can't give consent!
No grey areas....
-
zebagain
I would like someone with access to the statistics for countries to report here the % of witnesses reported/recorded/convicted on this matter compared with other religions i fear the stats would reveal a most terrible thing. That is if there is a higher indication of sex offences coming out of the wt camp then there should be an enormous ..WHY?
There is no requirement by the wts to report paedophile activity to the Police by the elders unless that is a state requirement.
-
LisaRose
There are numerous problems with the way cases of suspected child demonstrators are handled.
As stated, elders are instructed to call the Watchtower for directions before anyone else. If there is a legal requirement for the elders to contact the police, officially the Watchtower maintains that they follow the law. It is very difficult to verify, as obviously the Watchtower would not say if they do not follow the law. Where there is no responsibility to report, anecdotal reports are that victims or parents are discouraged from reporting so as not to "bring reproach upon Jehovah". Some confessed child molesters are publicly or privately reproved, but no one knows why, so others in the congregation never find out that there is a child molester in the congregation. Those who do know about it are not allowed to talk about it.
A former Witness, Candace Conti, won a judgement against the Watchtower because she was molested by a Jehovah's Witness as a child. The man involved had been accused by his step daughter of groping her breasts (he "accidentally" ended up in her bedroom and it was dark and so he didn't know his hands were under her clothes). The elders suspected he was lying, removed him as a ministerial servant, but did nothing else, the other people in the congregation never knew there was a suspected pedophile in their midst. Conti maintained that she went in the door-to-door work with him, and he then took her to his house and molested her. The man was later convicted of another molestation. Conti won a multi million dollar lawsuit, currently under appeal.
This illustrates the problem with the "two witness rule". If a child makes an accusation, but the person denies it, the elders cannot do anything more. Since child molesters rarely molest in front of Witnesses, this leaves them free to keep molesting children. Another victim, or physical evidence can satisfy the "two witness" rule, however many have reported that the elders have refused to act even with more than one victim. Additionally, in some cases elders have demanded that the victim confront the alleged perpetrator in person, something that few victims are able to do and that further victimizes them.
There have been many other judgements against the Watchtower, many are settled out of court and the parties are not permitted to discuss it as a stipulation of the settlement. This is a problem because Jehovah's Witnesses are led to believe that this seldom happens in their congregations, leaving them with a false sense of security. Elders may know of suspected or known child molesters, so they can protect their own children, but they cannot warn any others in the congregation. I personally know of a case where a man confessed to molesting an eight year old boy. He was reproved and the authorities were contacted. Within a year he married a woman with young children. The mother was concerned the children were being put at risk and informed the woman, she was rebuked by the elders and told she was not allowed to discuss it.
I am sure many elders are concerned about this kind of thing, and I am sure they try to take care of these problems if they come up. The problem is most elders have no education or training in sexual abuse and pedophilia, as the Watchtower discourages higher education, it's likely the elders involved have a high school education at best. They may have good intentions, but don't have the skills to deal with it. Some elders are uncomfortable dealing with this issue, so are reluctant to take action, or believe that children often lie about it (they don't). In many cases the pedophile is an elder, in which case it is unlikely anything will be done. Sometimes the minor gets in trouble for immorality, as if the child is equally responsible. The Watchtower seems mainly concerned with keeping these issues hidden, they are more interested in protecting themselves, not innocent children. They have a secret list of over 43,000 suspected child molestors. I think the average JW would be very surprised to know this, I know I was. Bethel has a form to fill out when there is an accusation of child abuse. One of the questions is whether the victim did anything to encourage the molestation. That question alone tells you a lot about the attitude of this religion when it comes to child abuse. When the elders are instructed to contact the Watchtower, it's so the Watchtower can protect themselves legally, not so they can determine how best to protect the child and others in the congregation.
When you have a group of people who believe they are in a "spiritual paradise", that sex abuse seldom happens, that the elders take care of it and protect them, then you have an environment that is easy pickings for a pedophile. The Watchtower has been vocal about criticizing the Catholic church on this issue, but have been very good at keeping their own issues a secret, the hypocrisy is astounding.
-
happy@last
What do I think about WTS and child abuse? It frightens them, surely someone destined for 'everlasting life in paradise' wouldn't commit such a crime! therefore they do not view it as a crime, instead act as if it doesn't happen. I am a survivor of this crime, my abuser was eventually DF'd but when reinstated I was told I had to "move on" as everyone else had, and I was told I couldn't warn anyone about my abuser. Recently the police asked the elders about my case, they refused to cooperate, this after I was told that they would handle things 'by the book'.