Jacobs & Crumplar

Restitution Paid to Survivors of Child Pornography

raeann — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 15:29:28 +0000

On January 24, 2013 The New York Times reported about the cases of several survivors of childhood sexual abuse who suffered the added trauma of knowing that videos and pictures of their horrifying childhood sexual abuse were sent over the internet and downloaded and viewed by numerous people. The article is difficult to read because of its horrifying subject matter. But it is worth reading because it effectively expresses the point that even when these viewers and receivers of childhood pornography do not actually engage in the act of sexually abusing the child, they are fueling the demand for it and are accomplices who encourage the abuse to happen in the first place, because of the nature of their crimes and how the pictures and videos are shared among their community. It discusses these survivors’ rights to restitution paid by the perpetrator who downloads or views their images as is discussed in a recent Opinion by the 5^th Circuit Court of Appeals, In re Amy Unknown, 701 F.3d 749 (5th Cir. 2012), which is attached here. There is a Circuit split on this issue which means the Supreme Court will decide the issue to resolve the conflict among the Circuits.

Decision on Boy Scouts Case

raeann — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 02:52:26 +0000

On January 28, 2013 the Delaware Superior Court held in the case of John Doe 6 v. Boy Scouts of America that the Boy Scouts of America must produce their ineligible volunteer files from 1948 to 1973 in plaintiffs’ cases, which is twenty years prior to the abuse of John Doe 6, subject to a confidentiality order and the redaction of certain information. Please see our Sexual Abuse/decisions page for the full Opinion.

BOY SCOUTS

raeann — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 21:20:56 +0000

BOY SCOUTS

As reported by The News Journal on December 13, 2012, a lawsuit against the Boy Scouts was filed in Philadelphia on December 12, 2012 alleging that a young teenager was sexually abused by his scoutmaster in the late 1990′s while he was a member of Troop 84 in Downingtown, PA. The scoutmaster would use tactics such as rewards and membership in a special brotherhood to groom and entice his victim. The Journal reports that the suit alleges that the Boy Scouts of America knew for decades that sexual predators had infiltrated the Scouts to gain access to victims as evidence by their perversion files, a subset of their ineligible volunteer files. The News Journal also reports that at least 14 of those files involve Boy Scout leaders in the Delaware area.

Jacobs & Crumplar represents two survivors of abuse by scoutmasters who led Delaware Boy Scout troops who similarly alleged that the Boy Scouts of America knew or should have known it had a problem of childhood sexual abusers in its midst and failed to take the right steps to prevent the abuse. The lawsuits of John Doe # 6 and John Doe # 7 were filed under the Child Victim’s Act and were the first sexual abuse suits against the Boy Scouts of America to be filed in Delaware. Trial is set for the summer of 2013 and the parties are awaiting a decision from the Superior Court regarding the production of earlier years of ineligible volunteer files than those released to the public by attorney Kelly Clark, as reported by The News Journal on November 4, 2012.

Sexual abuse by religious officials: Not a just a “Catholic Priest thing”

davy — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 19:26:12 +0000

On Monday, December 10th, a NY jury found Nechemya Wberman, an unlicensed ultra-Orthodox Jewish counselor, guilty of sexual assault. As described in the NY Times, Weberman repeatedly sexually abused a young girl who had been sent to him for treatment. Allegations of abuse in the ultra-Orthodox community have been in the news for years, but few prosecutions or civil law suits have been successful, in part because many victims have been reluctant to come forward and all too often few people are willing to support the victims. Sadly those who do support victims can face harsh consequences: Rabbi Nuchem Rosenberg, a victims right advocate in the Ultra Orthodox Community had bleach thrown in his face because of his unwaveringly support of victims.
What this all shows is that sexual abuse of children by religious officials is not a “Catholic thing” or a “priest thing.” Of course, sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests was and is a very prevalent and because the US has such a large Catholic population it often gets the most attention; but that doesn’t mean sexual abuse doesn’t happen in Protestant churches or in various branches of Judaism. Nor does the person have to be a cleric as the conviction of Nechemya Weberman demonstrates. They only need to have a position of trust and authority and access to children.
Here are the NY Times articles.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/12/opinion/justice-in-williamsburg.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/12/nyregion/rabbi-nuchem-rosenberg-doused-maybe-with-bleach-in-williamsburg.html?ref=nyregion

4th Annual Champions for Children Prevent Child Abuse

davy — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 14:57:28 +0000

This past Friday, several staff members of Jacobs & Crumplar attended the 4th Annual Champions for Children Gala of Prevent Child Abuse Delaware. Not only did we attend, but along with Barclays Bank and the Neuberger Law Firm (with whom we’ve tried numerous sex abuse cases), J&C was the principle sponsor of the event.

Held at the Christina River Front Performing Arts, the event gave its annual award to Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden. During his tenure as Attorney General, Biden has been a champion for victims of child abuse and has actively worked to strengthen Delaware’s child abuse laws.

Below are links to Prevent Child Abuse Delaware and the Attorney General’s website.

Prevent Child Abuse Delaware: http://pcadelaware.org/

Profile of Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden. http://attorneygeneral.delaware.gov/office/biography.shtml

Welcome to our new blog!

jcdelaw — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 16:55:32 +0000

Stay tuned here at the Jacobs & Crumplar blog for news and updates.