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Fallout from the case of Jerry Sandusky, the disgraced former Penn State defensive coordinator who stands accused of sexually abusing several boys he met through his charity, has extended to the upper reaches of Penn State University. Head football coach Joe Paterno and University President Graham Spanier's jobs were both casualties of their own inaction surrounding Sandusky's alleged crimes, and now, speculation is turning to Sandusky's wife Dottie. More »
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In yet another instance of child abuse victims being inspired to go public by the case against Jerry Sandusky, three women and a man have come forward to say that they were molested by Bill Conlin, a Philadelphia Daily News columnist and Hall of Fame baseball writer. The alleged abuse occured in the '70s, but they say they want to tell their stories now because the Sandusky case is bringing up painful memories, and they hope to draw attention to the consequences of putting a statue of limitations on sex crimes. Conlin can't be prosecuted because the incidents were never reported at the time, but after being confronted with the accusations yesterday but, as our brothers at Deadspin predicted, Conlin immediately resigned from his position at the Daily News. More »
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Another day, another horrifying dispatch in the case of former Penn State football assistant coach Jerry Sandusky. Two more young men have come forward to testify that abused them, bringing his total number of alleged victims to 10. All together now: Ugh. More »
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23-year-old Zach Tomaselli, the third man to accuse Syracuse University assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine of molesting him as a child, has pleaded not guilty to charges that he abused a 13-year-old boy in a similar way, but now he says he'll change his plea to guilty. Tomaselli admitted to the Associated Press yesterday that he abused the boy, who is now 14, when he was his camp counselor. Tomaselli says he knows the boy suffered from what he did to him, and he's "sick of hiding behind" his attorney. More »
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The Penn State abuse scandal has caused a spike in reports of child abuse, including charges against another high-profile college sports coach. About two weeks ago, two men accused Syracuse University assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine of molesting them when they were children in the '80s and '90s. Today a third man came forward with similar charges, and within hours the university announced that Fine has been fired. More »
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In a scandal reminiscent of Penn State, two men have come forward to accuse Syracuse University assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine of molesting them when they were children. The university has responded swiftly, putting Fine on leave and sending an email to all students. But head coach Jim Boeheim says the accusers are lying. More »
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Allegations that former Penn State Defensive Coordinator Jerry Sandusky victimized eight young boys for more than a decade while university officials turned a blind eye have been met with widespread public outrage. No one in a position of any consequence is defending the actions of Sandusky. Three top university officials, including the University President, have been compelled to step down. Legendary football head coach Joe Paterno announced today that this will be his last season along the Nittany Lions' sidelines. Believing en masse that what happened is totally and completely fucked up and calling for the heads of those involved is the appropriate reaction to child abuse. If the victims or perpetrator had been female, however, it's hard to pretend the response would have been the same. More »
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This has been a weekend of complicated emotions for fans of Penn State's Nittany Lions football team. On one hand, they're number 1 in this week's Big Ten Power Rankings and have an impressive 8-1 record; it's possible the team could be headed to the Rose Bowl. On the other, former longtime defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky has been charged with 40 counts related to serious incidents of child abuse that affected 8 at-risk youth over the course of more than a decade, and it sounds a lot like university officials knew about what was going on but did nothing. Two high ranking PSU folks have already resigned, and others are calling for the head of 5,000 year old head coach Joe Paterno. More »
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In a disturbing interview last night, former child actor Corey Feldman told Nightline that "the No. 1 problem in Hollywood was and is and always will be pedophilia." He says the "casting couch" — that is, the rumored tradition of directors and other higher-ups sleeping with young aspiring actresses — existed for child stars too, though it was more veiled. Later in the interview, he said that his friend Corey Haim's suicide could be traced back to abuse at the hands of a "Hollywood mogul." Previously, Feldman had told GQ that he was molested as a child by his own assistant. His allegation that such molestation is ongoing and widespread is a horrifying one. More »
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All too often, we hear stories of molestation accusations swept under the rug by schools or churches, and perpetrators allowed to go free. But Sean Lanigan's story is the opposite — a false accusation has come close to destroying his life. More »
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Last week, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced that 21 priests were suspended from ministry after they were cited in a scathing grand jury report as child molestation suspects—in cases that go as far back as the 1990s—involved in a larger cover-up conspiracy by higher-ups in the church. One of the priests on that list, the Rev. Peter Talocci, was at my parish in the late '80s/early '90s (we knew him as "Father Pete") and I can't say I'm at all surprised. My strongest memory of him is of the private time I spent with him outside of school when I was about 9 or 10 years old, during which he made inappropriate sexual comments to me and my girlfriends. More »
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Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown is appearing on 60 Minutes this Sunday to promote his memoir, and in a preview released today he discusses being physically abused by his step-fathers and molested several times by a camp counselor. More »
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In what's already shaping up to be the most disturbing story of the week, a Dutch teacher and babysitter has confessed to sexually abusing as many as fifty very young kids. More »
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To which we can only respond to the man who raped his daughter more than 3,000 times, imprisoned her and their children in a bunker and incinerated another, "that word does not mean what you think it means." More »
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So Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks, has been accused of rape, then un-accused, and now re-accused. Also potentially involved: Swedish pirates, and the Pentagon. A little confused about what's going on here? Don't worry, we're here to help. More »
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In response to a lawsuit, British Airways has changed its policy to allow men to sit next to unaccompanied minors. And now it's time for everyone else to acknowledge that just being a dude doesn't make you a pedophile. More »
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A Pennsylvania woman alleges that in 2008, an Epcot Center employee dressed as Donald Duck grabbed her breasts while she was holding her child. Now she's suing Disney, saying the incident caused "severe physical injury," "acute anxiety," and PTSD. More »
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Today, Gerald Imes, Mo'Nique's older brother—who she says was her inspiration for playing Mary Jones in Precious— appeared on Oprah to discuss his molestation of the Academy Award-winning actress, comedian and TV star. Mo'Nique chose not to participate. More »
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Ricardo West, a Michigan-based Michael Jackson impersonator, has been charged with multiple counts of criminal sexual conduct for allegedly molesting an 11-year-old boy. [CBS News] More »
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A few weeks ago, Slate's June Thomas asked a new question about abuse in the Catholic Church: "What about the girls?" It's a question that's just starting to receive attention in a scandal that has mostly focused on young boys. More »
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A recent spate of sex abuse cases among USA Swimming coaches is drawing comparisons to Catholic Church sex scandals. And both organizations are using the same excuse — they don't abuse kids any more than other people do. More »
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Are we particularly aghast about crimes like Vanessa George's because it's "contrary to the instinctive nurturing role with which it is generally assumed most women are born?" More »
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Though awareness of childhood sexual abuse has come a long way in the past few decades, one area remains uncharted: sexual abuse by women. More »
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Thirteen-year-old "Emily" was flying home by herself from a weight-loss camp in Philadelphia when Jackson Senyonga, a pastor with ties to Pat Robertson, allegedly molested her. The details of the case are especially disturbing, but sadly, it's not unique. More »
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When an 18-year-old man with severe mental disabilities was convicted of performing sex acts on a six-year-old neighbor, a Texas jury sentenced him to 100 years in prison. "He couldn't understand the seriousness of what he did," says his father. More »
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Last night's Charm School actually did what it purports: Helping women grow beyond their difficult pasts in order to better their lives. During an exercise about fear, one woman revealed that she'd been molested. And she wasn't the only one. More »
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A 40-year-old mother has become the first woman in the history of the Ireland to be charged with incest. The dubious honor comes as a result of truly heinous behavior. More »
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Candice Dinsdale, now 44, was just six when she was first sexually abused by her father Anthony Allen. Now she's gone public. But should that be so unusual? More »
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Click to viewMary Franks is a churchgoing, doting grandma who collects decorative bunny rabbits. She's also a convicted sex offender. About 10 years ago, Mary, and a number of female family members (including her two daughters and sister-in-law) raped a man in the ass with a large cucumber after finding out that he was molesting Mary's then 5-year-old granddaughter. Mary went straight to child services and the police, but was frustrated when there was no follow through (the molester was the granddaughter's stepdad). For their crime, the women were all charged with rape, torture, attempted murder and kidnapping, but were convicted only of rape, and sentenced to jail time; Mary's grandchildren were removed from her home and placed in foster care. Above is a clip from the 2003 documentary about the case called The Cucumber Incident. So are Mary and her family awful rapists or vigilante heroines?
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Karen Fletcher, a 54-year-old disabled grandmother in Pittsburgh, was indicted last week on federal obscenity charges for publishing fictional stories involving the torture, molestation, and murder of young children and babies. Fletcher, who faces up to 30 years in prison, maintains that she wrote the stories as a way to deal with her own childhood molestation, but authorities took issue with the fact that she was charging a fee — via PayPal — to those interested in reading her work. (The site, RedRose, has since been taken down.) We're all for freedom of speech, and we particularly hate the ever-constrictive obscenity laws, since they're really subjective and leave tons of room for interpretation, but she must've written some really nasty stuff, as this is the first text-only obscenity case since the Supreme Court invented the Miller Test for obscenity in 1973. More »
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