Great article by Trey Bundy on the recent conference held in London.
Great article by Trey Bundy - Reporter for REVEAL
by Tallon 2 Replies latest watchtower scandals
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Tallon
See article written by Cedars about the event.
http://jwsurvey.org/child-abuse-2/revealing-event-london-conference-highlights-child-abuse-among-jehovahs-witnesses
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Richard Oliver
I can point to factual information wrong with the reveal article just in the first two paragraphs.
“There’s no question whether Jehovah’s Witnesses policies direct elders to keep child abuse secret from police. They do.”
During the ARC hearing this year the Australian Branch Representatives highlighted at least 6 instances since the last hearing where elders confirmed that the police was informed about reports of both historic child abuse that came to light and initial instances of child abuse. Even in the Conti case when Kendrick abused his step daughter, it is in the public record that the elders did not stop the wife and step daughter from reporting the crime and did not hinder any kind of prosecution against him.
“Or that Jehovah’s Witnesses leaders have violated court orders to hand it over.”
While yes Watchtower did not turn over the database files in the Lopez case initially following the appeal where the appeals court said that in Calfiornia even if evidence may not be admissible it is still discoverable information, Watchtower did turn over the information. The current issue is how much is Watchtower able to redact the information because there are concerns over third party privacy and the requirements of different jurisdictions and even times when the crime was committed, and so Watchtower is saying that it is not up to a superior court judge to decide which laws of other states are valid in a California case. Mr Zalkin in the Lopez case when it was remanded asked for sanctions against Watchtower for not turning over the database to him, but it came out later that Watchtower was ready to turn over the database when his client agreed to a protective order so the judge refused to hear a sanctions motion till the protective order hearing was completed.
Also the simple fact that the ARC received a copy of the Australian database proves that Watchtower will turn over that database when prescribed to do so by law.
“And why, even in the face of lawsuits and multimillion-dollar court judgments, do leaders refuse to change their policies in any significant way?”
This is a matter of opinion. England’s Charity Commission has determined that Watchtower has made some significant changes to their policy that is why they negotiated so that Watchtower of Britian would stop the appeal in their action. Also the August 1, 2016 policy letter made changes that everyone is calling for, at least in part, that regardless of if there are two witnesses or not, if the law requires that the abuse be reported it will be reported.