Lord Herbert wrote on May 13^th, 2014 at 12:58pm:




sadly herb.. thats the case with anything that involves a child..

when I read the stories about child abuse and how some even die.. the first thing I ask is where were their extended family.. very few of us grow up without any family at all only parents...

I just know I would know if something was wrong with one of my grandchildren and I would hope even a neighbour would notice as well..

babies are dying and they have broken bones...tell me someone doesnt know about it..

tell me no one heard the crying...

I just do not believe it..I do not believe no one sees or hears nothing....they can make all the excuses under the sun... to me its just as big a crime to turn a blind eye..

I see the protection of the innocent being elevated in circumstances related specifically to children (or, more accurately, to any group of people with particular vulnerability, such as the disabled and the elderly as well).

I do believe that we have gone a bit too far in protecting the rights of the excused to the degree that this can be at the expense of victims generally, but that's a separate issue.

False accusations do occur and I'm very conscious of that (I've done work on death penalty cases). However, equal to the paranoia that sometimes pervades us about paedophiles, I also think there is paranoia about false accusations.

Although it is hard to get statistics on the prevalence of false accusations of child sex abuse due to under-reporting of it full stop, unreliability of children's evidence and inconsistent questioning related to false accusations, it seems to be somewhere in the vicinity of 10-15%. That sounds bad at first, but when that is further broken down it turns out that in approximately 80% of those cases the false accusations occur in child custody matters (either a parent basically feeds a child the idea to get them to make a false accusation against the other parent or a parent is so paranoid about sexual abuse that they unintentionally push the child into making something up). Statistics aren't accurate per se, but they are a good starting point and in the case of these there is a lot that makes sense.

To go with that there are estimated to be substantially more unreported cases of child abuse than there are false accusations.

What is the damage done by a false accusation to an adult compared to the damage done to a child if abuse has occurred but nothing is done? I think we tend to worry a bit too much about the former still, and not quite enough about the latter.

Lord Herbert wrote on May 13^th, 2014 at 12:58pm:




If he was doing Jake the Peg, I think you mean he threw all three, as a matter of fact.

Prime Minister for Canyons wrote on May 13^th, 2014 at 3:07pm:




You shouldn't make light of such a serious subject.

I believe you owe us an apology.

Seems to be an epidemic afoot with Pom TV blokes!

Click here.

Wot's going on over there, Walter?

I greatly admire Rolf Harris's daughter who has very bravely been conducting herself with quiet dignity and poise.

************

Larry Pickering is just wild about Harry ...

link

Another paedophile who is being sentenced today is 'Hey!Dad' actor Robert Hughs.;

Earlier this month Hughes's sentencing hearing heard harrowing victim impact statements from girls still suffering from the abuse they endured.

One woman, now 37, said she would never have children because of Hughes, and had come to hate the word "dad".

Another told the court that she wished Hughes "nothing but misery".

"I hate anyone looking at me. I have no self worth," she said.

"I never thought I'd see this day. For 26 years I've tried to deal with the fact that this just happened. Maybe now I can try to piece my life together again, to not feel ashamed or dirty.

""I hope the punishment fits the crime and you will have to suffer for years to come just like I have ... I wish you nothing but misery."

link

It's a little surprising to me (a mere male) that these women could be so consumed by these events after so many years, and be so deeply effected by what were trivial episodes compared to full-on acts of gross paedophilia.

I suspect the outrage is mostly due to Western cultural precepts that regard this sort of behaviour as taboo, whereas in other cultures it wouldn't raise an eyebrow.

I watched the whole series of 'Tribal Wives' in which Western women would spend a month with various African tribes. Sex at the earliest age was the norm.

Watching the daily feed of the Rolf Harris trial is like chewing nails, yet it is morbidly fascinating.

Seeing a golden icon, trundling up to court each day, aged wife on one hand, aging daughter on the other.

It reminds me of the classic line from the movie Apocalypse Now! "The horror!, the horror!"