The woman above in the tan coat was raped 300 times in Maryland years ago. Back when the laws were quite different, she was actually forced to go through therapy with the man that had raped her "to help heal him." If you haven't gathered it yet, he got a slap on the wrist by the Judge years ago and this is how things were handled back then.
Today, while things are somewhat different, the laws need to be tougher and these criminals need to be stopped immediately. As it has been said many times before, by the time you catch them they've probably done it a hundred times before.
My visit to Annapolis yesterday was an eye opener. Even though they had stated yesterday that the hearings I had attended set a record for people attending, the room was so full they had to actually send people to another room set up with TV's and audio. The Maryland State Police would not allow people to stand in the hearing room and my guess would be that at least 80 to 100 people had to go to the other room, (room 170) to watch the hearing.
I strongly suggest, (if you ever have the time) you contact your representatives and ask to participate in these hearings. It's an experience you'll never forget.
7 comments:
Joe:
That hearing was on a subject that attracted much public participation and they had to allow folks to speak. In most cases the General Assembly hearings are dominated by fat-cats and their lobbyist whores, who are palsy-walsy with the key elected officials, and the average person gets short shrift, and often treated rudely, if even allowed to speak -- it's really disgusting to watch.
Joe I have to chime in on this. I was a sex abuse victim for 7 years. I was molested and raped repeatedly throughout those 7 years. I was also forced to go to counseling to "renew" the family bond (it was my brother that abused me). I hated him but I was told not to hate but to forgive..well guess what I tried to forgive and you know what happened? 4 years later he forced me repeatedly to perform sex acts. By that time I had no faith in anyone, not even my parents, because I was supposed to just forget it all. He never served time, he never had to face what he did or be judged by public opinion, he never registered as a sex offender, but I will always be the little girl who's brother damaged her so severely it was thought she would never be able to bare children. Do I hate him...absolutely. Do I hate my parents..not so much because they were blue collar workers that were easy to influence by a quack psychologist.
Fast forward to 2008 my children were abused for a very short period of time. I had a feeling something was wrong and I acted on that feeling to reveal what was happening. The perpatrators therapist contacted me under false pretenses, saying he wanted to get all the information on how the person was caught and what was done. However, after I made the 2 hour drive to meet him in hopes smoeone was finally willing to hear the truth, I was shocked to learn the true reason he called me in was to try to convince me to make my children face their abuser. I was furious. He said it was essential that I allow it so his client (the abuser) would be able to move forward in his therapy and treatment so he would be closer to "recovery"..sorry but a sex offender DOES NOT recover. I refused to allow it and I stand strong that he will never have the opportunity to abuse or even contact my children again.
So please make it known that these practices DO still exist and the courts are backing the therapists that allow and encourage these types of "treatment" attempts. These are not practices that exclusively happened years ago, they are still used to this day. If, and I stress IF,my children ever decide they wish to confront him I will stand at their sides so they can say whatever needs to be said but they will never be forced to do anything.
Any parents out there who are going through anything similar please please know you have the legal right to say NO if a therapist requests a meeting of this type. Please keep the child as the center of focus regardless of who the abuser was/is. Your child is and always should be the only person you are concerned with assisting through an ordeal such as sexual abuse.
The Judges in Wicomico are NOT for the children at all. Good Ol boys system still looms large in this County. Our courts are in a sad state of affairs right now. Judges are appointed and kept on the benches far too long. Thats where the ball is being dropped. They protect the abuser not the children.
R. Budd, that's just stupid.
I am so sorry that this happened and I have to say there are so many children out there victimized. I was molested by my stepfather for several years and I stood up to him when I got old enough and he was arrested and went to jail for 13 years. Now here is the jacked up part...for years he was on the sex offenders registry. Several years had passed since I checked the registry but in light of Sarah I checked and my stepfather is not on there anymore. So I then went to the court docket website just to find that the case is no longer there either. The only logical thing I can come up with is this bastered served "his"time and got out of jail and had his record exsponged?????? How is this possiable??? He is a convicted child molester and he served time but there is no record soooo now he can pray on little girls and no one would be the wiser. WTF
these perpetrators get off on reliving their experiences why would any therapist reward these creeps with seesions with the very children they abused. that is just another vehicle for these pedophiles to get their jollies. very disturbing and disappointing. why are the victims made to feel any responsibility for what has happened to them, to me that is just what this kind of "therapy" would do. it sounds like the therapists are putting alot on the shoulders of the innocent.
2:11 you are exactly on point. Why make the victim a victim over and over again? Why make a child sit face to face with the person that has made life a living hell for them? Why release these SOB's into society with unsupervised probation and group counseling? Why do the states attorney's and judges leave the child in the courtroom and never have contact again? Why not reward a child for their strength to come forward, to testify, and to all around be the victims of such horrible circumstance?
I don't understand it, I never will understand it and honestly I am thankful that I can't understand it because as long as I don't than I know I am not someone who has the ability to turn my head when a child needs help. No child should be put in those situations, used and then dismissed as if they were nothing more than evidence. It is not fair and empathy needs to return to this world, if for nothing else to help the lives of our children.
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