Strollerderby : pedophiles

Son of America's Most Wanted Creator, Adam Walsh, Murder Solved

JeanneSager — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 21:55:00 GMT

Before there was Caylee, there was Adam. The six-year-old boy who went missing and was later found dead spurred his distraught father, John Walsh, to create America's Most Wanted, the TV program that's been credited with getting more than one thousand dangerous fugitives off the street.

Now, twenty-seven years after Adam Walsh went missing, Florida police have announced the man responsible for killing the little boy - responsible for setting a father on a lifelong mission to rid the world of bad guys, has been positively identified. He's been dead for more than a decade.

Ottis Toole is the man John Walsh has long thought killed his little boy. Toole twice confessed to grabbing the boy in a Hollywood, Fla. mall and later dropping his head in the water - to be discovered in a canal one hundred twenty miles from where he first went missing some two weeks after his disappearance. Toole later recanted each confession, and the Walshes have long criticized police for botching the investigation.

Today, Hollywood Florida Police Chief Chadwick Wagner said it's his department's "determination and conclusion that Ottis Toole was the abductor and murderer of Adam Walsh."

If the missing Lindbergh baby was the child kidnapping that changed the way parents looked at strangers, the Adam Walsh disappearance was the one that made parents take action. It forced them to not only be more cautious, but to stand up for child security measures in schools and daycare centers, to expect others to take better care of their children.

On the Website for his TV show, John Walsh and wife Reve said today that they can finally move forward, at least knowing who killed their little boy.

"We, along with our children, Meghan, Callahan and Hayden, pray for the thousands of parents of murdered and still-missing children. We continue to fight for their safety, and to make sure that no child -- especially Adam -- died in vain."

Do you think the Adam Walsh case changed America?

Image: NBC

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Bart and Lisa Simpson Sex Ruled Child Porn

JeanneSager — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 13:24:00 GMT

Think you're just being funny when you make your kid's Dora doll do the nasty with GI Joe? Better be careful - an Australian man has been convicted of child porn possession for looking at pictures of cartoons Bart, Lisa and Maggie Simpson having sex.

A judge ruled that despite the Simpsons being both fictional and drawn, they could be considered to depict a person under Australian law. And since the Simpsons are all kids - albeit imaginary ones - well, you know where I'm heading with this. Alan John McEwan lost his appeal, and he's been forced to pay a $3,000 fine plus submit to a two-year good behavior bond.

This one really rattled me. I'm all for packing pedophiles away in prisons, but cartoon porn? Can that really be pedophilia? Let's face it, we all have that friend - you know, the one who never gets any and always talks about it (he might be a father . . .) - who likes to send the e-mails with the dirty jokes about Sesame Street characters. I vaguely remember one accompanied by crudely drawn pictures of Cookie Monster with giant blue balls - for a joke about, well, blue balls (see what I mean about not getting any?). It was far from stimulating - sexually or any other way.

But Cookie Monster, Elmo and the gang are famous for never growing up; does that make the people who drew up that forward to be something more than your garden variety perv? Are they pedophiles? How about going a step farther - let's look at every teenage boy who draws a dick on the characters in the Highlights magazine accidentally left in the high school library. Or the dad who takes his kid's Leapster alphabet toy and presses the letters "S" and "X" in rapid succession.

Or maybe they'll come and hit Babble - after all, both Cole and I posted mashups from the net last week of rap songs transposed over children's TV shows. I posted one of my personal favorites - Dora the Promiscuous Girl - no nakedness in sight, but if the genitals on fictional kids count as porn, what do you make of Dora and Timbaland?

It sounds like big brother's moving in on kid sister's toys.

Image: PopArt UK

Mix Rap With Kid Shows and Whaddya Get?

Nintendo Scrabble Game Drops the F-Bomb

Man Forced to Pay Child Support for Another Man's Child

No, the Vagina Doesn't 'Heal Up and Close' from Disuse

Is It OK To Be Scary And Inappropriate To Get Through To Teens?

Amy S.F. Lutz — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 20:45:00 GMT

A police officer's talk on internet safety outraged an auditorium of high school students in Windsor, Colorado on Tuesday, when he made examples of students' actual MySpace pages without asking them first.

John F. Gay III was trying to teach the students about how easily pedophiles can access personal information posted on MySpace and similar sites - which, I think we can all agree, is an important lesson. But the students and their parents think he crossed the line when he referred to one girl's page as "slutty," and told another girl that he showed her page to a prisoner, who then masturbated to her picture. When that student fled the room crying, Officer Gay called her, with a phone number he had found on the internet.

Now, maybe Officer Gay went a little too far when he painted a picture of a convicted sex offender jerking off to some poor high school girl's photo - but on the other hand, would anything less shocking have gotten through to these kids?? And these teens are at risk - they're posting a lot of personal info on their web pages, which makes them vulnerable to online predators. Would a straightforward presentation with a few bullet points on a blackboard have driven the point home as effectively?

Check Out the Rack on This 10-year Old

Adrienne Martini — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 21:00:00 GMT

This Jezebel post about the PSAs for the Family Violence Partnership in Milwaukee has been in my to-do queue for a couple of days now. I keep clicking on the link, looking at the posters, blinking, then wandering off to do something that doesn't make my head ache.

What I can't figure out -- and if you can offer some insight, I'd appreciate it -- is who these ads are pitched to. Your average pedophile gets off on young girls looking like girls. The boobs scare them, if research accurate. So the campaign can't be for them. Besides, most pedophiles are aware that they are doing something wrong, right?

So let's narrow it down -- who looks at pre-pubescent girls and sees a sex object? Slightly post-pubescent boys are near the top of the list -- but that hardly seems fair. Most pubescent boys see just about anything as a sex object. And most manage to not act on their impulses.

So are large institutions the target for the campaign? The fashion industry? Professional gymnastics? Child beauty pageants? Advertising itself?

No, it all seems too meta. Is this just a crappy PSA? Or is there something else going on that I can't see?

Roman Catholic Archdiocese Fights Sexual Abuse With a Coloring Book

Kelly Mills — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 14:31:00 GMT

The Catholic Church has not exactly done a stellar job when it comes to preventing sexual abuse of children by priests, as the numerous and horrifying scandals of past years have demonstrated. Now the Archdiocese of New York is using a new method to show they won't tolerate pedophile priests--they are, um, sending out coloring books to kids. Excuse me? As Amy, our resident practicing Catholic said, "A coloring book? Instead of, oh, STOP ORDAINING PEDOPHILES?" Or transferring them to different churches when they get caught, or sending them to unproven treatment programs and then releasing them back to lead a new flock, or...yeah, I'm a little skeptical on this one.

But I was actually really surprised to see what the coloring books say: In addition to messages about how every one of us is special and we should be nice to others, the angel narrator warns kids, "For safety's sake, a child and an adult shouldn't be alone in a closed room together. If a child and an adult happen to be alone, someone should know where they are and the door should be open or have a big window in it." There's a picture of what could be a priest and an altar boy below. Oh my, well, that's direct. David Clohessy, the national director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, says about the books, "We welcome any innovation, especially from an institution that has such a horrific track record."

Now that's an excellent strategy, and one I use in my own life--when you do a really, really crappy job at something, any effort, no matter how pathetic, looks great by contrast. But I just have to say, I know this isn't all the Church is doing to combat child abuse, but this education effort feels like it puts the onus on children to avoid being abused by someone they trust, when in fact the Church needs to do some serious work on its own clergy. I mean, how many kids are gonna make sure to check to make sure the door is open if they are in a room with a priest? Priests are authority figures and in positions of trust. It shouldn't be on kids to keep them in line. Maybe that angel narrator ought to be talking to the priests for a change.

Two Unrelated Stories: New Standards Set For Catching Pedophiles, and Neverland Ranch Is In Foreclosure

Kelly Mills — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 20:31:00 GMT

Well, when there just isn't enough time in the day to write two whole blog posts (and believe me, I throw my soul into each and every one of these) I am left with no choice but to cover two stories at once. The first is that Interpol reports they have set a new precedent in the way they conduct international hunts for pedophiles. Detectives in many countries were trying to find Christopher Paul Neil after German authorities found photos of him abusing children on the internet. He had concealed his identity by digitally swirling his face in photos, but law enforcement figured out how to unswirl the pics and released his photo worldwide. He was caught, and Interpol voted to use this tactic again. They decided the dangers to children outweighed the fear people would try and seek their own brand of justice on the suspects.

In other news, Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch is in foreclosure. How's this for fuzzy math? Jackson owes $23,212,963 on a $23,000,000 loan. That is not fiscally good. Since Jackson's trial, he hasn't spent much time at the old ranch, opting instead to board in hotel rooms and rented houses. We hear the llamas have been lonely. There's no clear information on whether he has the cash to pay this bill and is chosing not to, or if he's in financial deep doo-doo. So there you have it: two unconnected stories loosely strung together for the sake of convenience. Bad news for pedophiles and Jackson. Ahem.

Pedophiles More Likely to Be Short

Madeline Holler — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 17:01:00 GMT

More bad news for short people. Last week we brought you a study that showed women under 5 feet tall and men under 5 feet four inches think their mental and physical health is perceive their mental and physical health to be worse off than those who are taller.

Now comes a study that says short people, men especially, might be predisposed to an extra sick sickness: pedophilia. (That sure adds to the whole Napolean complex thing.)

The study found that pedophilic males were shorter on average than males without a sexual attraction to children, suggesting kiddie-touchers may have been exposed to conditions affecting their development in the womb. A difference in average height – were talking two centimeters – is a trait found in some illnesses, like pedophila, with biological links.

Researchers note, a tad defensively in my opinion, that this doesn’t mean pedophiles aren’t criminally responsible for their behavior. Hmmmm. That might be up to the courts, some day.

Oh, and get this – pedophiles also have lower IQs, are three times more likely to be left-handed, failed school grades more frequently and suffered more head injuries as children. Hey, I went to school with that guy!

Pedophiles’ Brains Studied

Madeline Holler — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 21:34:00 GMT

Know the enemy, I say. So I forced myself to read this bit about pedophiles and their brains. But really, does it take a scientist to tell us that chronic kid-touchers have something different going on in their heads?

Here’s what the study did: Both healthy subjects and those with disorders were shown arousing images of adults while an fMRI recording their brain activity.When pedophiles were shown the images, they had reduced activation of the brain area associated with arousal compared to healthy individuals. They also had reduced reactions in the pleasure center of the brain when shown the adult pictures. In other words: not interested.

These findings are only the beginning of understanding pedophilia. What researchers still don’t know is whether this kind of brain activity is the cause or result of the subject’s sexual interest in children. But further research may help in developing treatments of the disorder, which could involve stimulating the pleasure areas of their brains in ways that don’t actually harm society.

Yuck. Difficult to even think about. Glad something’s being done about it.

Pedophile's Blog Angers Parents

Karen Murphy — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 20:14:00 GMT

Los Angeles area parents are frightened and angry over the online blogging antics of self-described pedophile Jack McClellan. Run out of Washington state after media and concerned parents made his life there difficult, McClellan has returned to his roots, and kid-magnets like Disneyland, in southern California. He's broken no laws, claims never to have inappropriately touched a child, and doesn't post photos of children on his site, yet his chilling descriptions of how he trolls for children, specifically girls, has parents angered.

Damn right. And I hesitate over saying that because I passionately believe in free speech. But even though technically no laws have been broken here, people feel terrorized. I think I would, too.

And they're fighting back, posting about his whereabouts, likely not an easy task because he lives mostly in his car and posts to his blog from library computers. If he's spotted in public, parents yell things at him.

How do you feel about this? What would you do if this was your neighborhood, your child, possibly? I must say I'm on the fence about what should be done, if anything. I know I'd likely feel frightened and uncomfortable, but is that feeling enough to push legal action on a man who technically hasn't done anything? Should laws be changed so that he technically has done something illegal? And what effect does that have upon the future?

On the other hand I've recently been the victim of some pretty awful online stalking, and I know how helpless one can feel when this sort of thing happens. I confess I really don't have any answers here. Do you?

Obama Sues Self-Described Pedophile

Patti — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 19:33:00 GMT

"Lover of Little Girls", reads the website of Lindsay Ashford, a self-confessed pedophile with a twist: he handicaps political campaigns based on the attractiveness of the candidates' daughters. At least one candidate is taking exception: Barack Obama is suing Ashford, who rated the Obama children cutest and places Obama in the lead for the presidency.

According to legal experts, Obama's suit may be groundless, as Ashford did not make any statements that would be considered threatening or fall under the category of stalking. Ashford has been the target of other suits which he has successfully won on the basis of his right to free speech, including a 2005 suit brought by parents who took exception to a site Ashford devoted to missing children.

Canadian Kids Unsafe Online, Declares Report

Karen Murphy — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 18:32:00 GMT

I love Canada. I've been there three times, and was always impressed in one way or another. And somehow I've assumed that, because it's not Wal-Mart America, people in Canada are smarter than Americans.

Apparently, though, Canadian kids who go online are just as clueless and inappropriately trusting as American kids. In fact, in a new study conducted by Microsoft Canada and Ipsos Reid, a full 25% of 10-14 year olds think it's perfectly okay to meet in person someone they've only known online. (Pedophiles, take note.) And 70% think that whatever they send via Teh Internets is private (the Patriot Act has awfully long arms but someone needs to tell these kids about it).

Fortunately, this being in Canada, people are doing something about this situation, and beginning next month Microsoft Canada is beginning a program for kids and their parents to educate them about the realities of the internet. (Not that it'll actually do much or reach many people, but at least this way Microsoft can claim due diligence). For now, though, it's suggested that parents try to keep tabs on their kids when they are using computers, not an easy task when 85% of kids have access to the internet outside the home. Still, it's a good reminder that part of being a wise parent is staying in your kid's face, whether he likes it or not.

How Do We Treat Parents Who are Registered Sex Offenders?

thezeroboss — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 13:32:00 GMT

Some parents have a shady past. It might be as frivolous as a cocaine bust back in the swingin' Reagan 80s, or as sad as a 26-year string of convictions for driving drunk.

But what if the parents' crime is a sex crime? That poses an interesting dilemma when it comes time for said parent to attend school functions. Your average parent, after all (hi), isn't gonna be thrilled about a child molester or rapist wandering around school grounds no matter how many sprogs they call their own. The Granite Board of Education in South Salt Lake City had to tackle this thorny issue. Their solution: require sex offenders to call ahead before they attend events, and ensure that one or more adults have an eagle-eye on them at all times.

How does that make you feel as a parent? Damned if I can tell you how it makes me feel. I'd prefer to see these issues addressed on a case by case basis rather than by a blanket rule. Otherwise, who knows who the hell you're letting through? Chronic sex offenders can do some sad shit to get their pedophilia jones. Take Canadian dad Robert Alan Girard, who used his 6-year-old daughter's sleepovers as a front for molesting her friends. All it takes is one moment of "I thought YOU were watching him!" for a child to fall into harm's way.

And yes, I'm being paranoid parent, and treating sex offenders as if they'll offend again. Sue me. The odds are overwhelmingly in danger's favor.