Abuse Of Children

As I watched Everyman Theatre's production of The Turn of the Screw, I couldn't help thinking about the infamous McMartin Preschool case and the way that the most well-intentioned, pure-hearted adults can instill false - and immensely damaging - memories into susceptible children. The McMartin case involved the six-year prosecution of the proprietors of a California day-care center in the 1980s, and focused on allegations of Satanic rituals and the sexual abuse of young children. No convictions were obtained, and one of the alleged victims later recanted his testimony.

What do parents want to know about preventing or detecting child sexual abuse? Professionals at the Rape Crisis Intervention Service want to know.The private, nonprofit agency in Westminster wants parents to call or write to the service's office with questions they would like to have answered.The input will help community educator Diana Steppling prepare a presentation that will be televised in September on Channel 3, the community access channel, she said."We had done a program last year on why kids need to know about sexual abuse," Ms. Steppling said.

A 53-year-old northeast Carroll man pleaded guilty yesterday to sexually abusing three neighborhood children for at least the past four years.The man, whose name is being withheld to protect the children's privacy, pleaded guilty to one count of child abuse and two counts of battery. As a part of the plea deal, prosecutors agreed to drop nine other charges against him.According to court documents, the man would take the children shopping or to get something to eat and then take them to his bedroom, where he would force them to perform sex acts.

A Middle River couple were charged with distributing and promoting child pornography after both were identified in videos participating in the sexual abuse of children, Baltimore County police said Monday. John Nicklas, 34, and Shannon Leigh Honea, 26, of the 9700 block of Conmar Road, were arrested Thursday and charged with filming, distributing and promoting child pornography. Police said there were several unidentified victims, ranging in age from about 2 to 13, and are asking for the public's help in finding those children and any others who may have been abused or exploited.

PHILADELPHIA -- In the halls of Bishop John Neumann High School, and on the narrow streets throughout the city's Grays Ferry section, the talk was this: "Fast Eddie" was a man known not just to these teen-agers but to the generation before them, their fathers, their uncles.Even mothers, as schoolgirls, had heard of Edward I. Savitz, the AIDS-infected businessman arrested last week on charges of corrupting the morals of minors. The mothers had told their children to stay away. Some heeded the warnings.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- About 40 percent of the female students surveyed in community colleges in Sacramento said they were sexually abused as children, and nearly two-thirds of those victims said they were raped as adults, a new study has found.The high incidence of molestation and rape among the young adults surveyed is consistent with other national studies documenting the growth in reported sexual abuse.Women are not the only victims. The study, conducted by Anthony J. Urquiza, an assistant clinical professor at the Child Protection Center in Sacramento, found that 17 percent to 20 percent of male students surveyed reported childhood sexual abuse.

ROBERT D. KUNISCH, the chief executive officer of PHH Corporation in Hunt Valley, had an idea for bringing new donors to United Way of Central Maryland: PHH would encourage 90 of its vendors and clients to urge their employees to become supporters of the regional aid agency.Mr. Kunisch's "cluster" suggestion is now a pilot program for the United Way campaign that began last Sept. 14 and continues through Dec. 11. If successful, other big companies will lead clusters during next year's fund-raising effort.

IF AMERICA'S cardinals take credit for a proposal to defrock the "notorious" priests, the serial abusers who sexually molest children, they shouldn't. That was the least anyone would have expected from the country's top Catholic prelates, who just concluded an unprecedented session on the problem with Vatican leaders. It's the punishment of priests who haven't yet made a name for themselves, the clerics who are guilty all the same, that causes concern. Can the church leadership assure parishioners that the priest caught molesting once or twice isn't a serial abuser?

HE WAS THE PERFECT candidate to lead a national panel scrutinizing the Roman Catholic church's response to the sexual abuse of children by its priests. Frank Keating was a tough former prosecutor, a governor with a national profile, a devout Catholic unafraid to speak his mind. His resignation this week - after he publicly accused church leaders of obfuscation and likened them to the Mafia - was premature and regrettable. But it shouldn't deter the year-old citizens review panel from holding the bishops accountable in ensuring that children are safe.

The agreement by the Los Angeles Archdiocese to pay $660 million to more than 500 sexual abuse victims is a record amount that pushes the total that the American Roman Catholic Church has paid as a result of clergy sex abuse to more than $2 billion. But from the tearful acceptances by some of the victims, it's clear that money alone cannot ease the pain and suffering they have endured. The church must continue to confront this issue and come clean - not only with past victims, but with itself - in order to prevent more abuse.