Professor Hamilton: “Had the SOL not expired, a court could resolve this. W/o the legal system, everyone is hurt. Even the powerful man being accused, who will not be able to clear the cloud above him without legal proceedings. “
NEW YORK (AP) — Some of Woody Allen‘s allies have come to his defense, casting doubt on renewed accusations by Dylan Farrow that she was sexually assaulted by her then-adoptive father when she was 7.
Allen‘s lawyer, studio and publicist weighed in on Farrow’s open letter, published online Saturday by The New York Times, in which she claimed that in 1992 at the family’s Connecticut home, Allen led her to a “dim, closet-like attic” and then sexually assaulted her. Farrow didn’t specify Allen’s actions but described other abusive behavior.
The movie director’s publicist, Leslee Dart, said in an email Sunday that Allen has read Farrow’s letter.
“Mr. Allen has read the article and found it untrue and disgraceful,” Dart said, signaling that Allen would fight the claims dating back to Allen’s tempestuous relationship with actress Mia Farrow in the early 1990s.
Elkan Abramowitz, Allen’s lawyer, said: “It is tragic that after 20 years a story engineered by a vengeful lover resurfaces after it was fully vetted and rejected by independent authorities. The one to blame for Dylan’s distress is neither Dylan nor Woody Allen.”
Allen was investigated on child molestation claims for the 1992 accusation but was never charged.
Dylan Farrow’s open letter didn’t urge renewed legal action but a retrial for Allen in the court of public opinion. Farrow, who now lives in Florida, is married, and goes by another name, argued for fans of Allen’s movies and actors who star in his films not to “turn a blind eye.”
But on Sunday, Sony Pictures Classics, which regularly distributes Allen’s films including his latest, “Blue Jasmine,” urged caution in any rush to judgment.
“This is a very complicated situation and a tragedy for everyone involved,” the company said in a statement. “Mr. Allen has never been charged in relationship to any of this, and therefore deserves our presumption of innocence.”
Ronan Farrow, the son of Allen and Mia Farrow (though she has said ex-husband Frank Sinatra could be the father), said Sunday on Twitter: “I love and support my sister and think her words speak for themselves.”
Alec Baldwin, who has starred in Allen films including “Blue Jasmine,” was among those Farrow singled out in her letter, asking, “What if it had been your child …?”
Baldwin responded on Twitter to those demanding a comment from him: “You are mistaken if you think there is a place for me, or any outsider, in this family’s issue.”
Dylan Farrow’s most detailed account of the 1992 encounter returned the spotlight to the original police investigation of Allen. The handling of the investigation was criticized after Litchfield County State Attorney Frank S. Maco said at a news conference that he believed there was “probable cause” to charge Allen but decided against prosecution partly to avoid a traumatic trial for the young girl.
A disciplinary panel found that Maco may have prejudiced the ongoing custody fight between Allen and Mia Farrow by making an accusation without formal charges.
Months before Maco’s news conference, a team of child abuse specialists from Yale-New Haven Hospital were brought in to examine the case and concluded that the child had not been molested.
Maco, who retired in 2003, told The Associated Press on Sunday that the statute of limitations on Dylan Farrow’s accusations ran out at least 15 years ago. He said he hopes Farrow was able to watch his news conference and read his statement about his decision not to prosecute Allen.
“I hope she has access to that statement, to know what I did and why I did it,” Maco said. “I hope she finds some peace and solace at this time.”
A spokesman for the Connecticut Division of Criminal Justice said Sunday that the prosecutor’s office won’t re-examine the case unless the office is asked.
The 1992 allegation came shortly after Allen became involved with Mia Farrow’s adopted daughter, Soon-Yi Previn. Allen, then in his mid-50s, was not the adoptive father of Previn, who was about 19 at the time. The two married in 1997 and have two adopted daughters.
A man who investigated child sex abuse claims against Woody Allen more than 20 years ago says time has run out for him to be prosecuted.
Former Litchfield County state attorney Frank Maco said the statute of limitations on accusations by Allen’s adopted daughter Dylan Farrow ran out at least 15 years ago.
The now retired prosecutor said he did not have enough evidence to prosecute Allen back in 1993.
It came after Dylan Farrow, in an open letter published in The New York Times on Saturday, claimed Allen sexually assaulted her when she was seven after he and actress Mia Farrow adopted her.
The message to columnist Nicholas Kristof detailed the alleged 1992 incident.
She said she was motivated to speak out because of Hollywood’s continued embrace of Allen, who has always maintained his innocence.
Australian actress Cate Blanchett arrives for the opening ceremony and screening of Robin Hood at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival
Cate Blanchett was mentioned in the open letter
She wrote: “That he got away with what he did to me haunted me as I grew up. I was stricken with guilt that I had allowed him to be near other little girls.”
In the letter, Farrow said Allen led her to a “dim, closet-like attic” at their Connecticut home before sexually assaulting her.
She added: “For as long as I could remember, my father had been doing things to me that I didn’t like.
“These things happened so often, so routinely, so skillfully hidden from a mother that would have protected me had she known, that I thought it was normal.”
She also mentioned Hollywood actors who have starred in Allen’s films.
“What if it had been your child, Cate Blanchett? Louis CK? Alec Baldwin?” she said in the letter.
“What if it had been you, Emma Stone? Or you, Scarlett Johansson? You knew me when I was a little girl, Diane Keaton. Have you forgotten me?”
In response to the letter, Blue Jasmine star Blanchett reportedly said: “It’s obviously been a long and painful situation for the family and I hope they find some resolution and peace.”
Ronan Farrow and Mia Farrow
Mia Farrow and her son with Allen, Ronan Farrow
Allen was investigated on child molestation claims over the alleged 1992 incident, but prosecutors chose not to charge him.
The New York Times said Allen declined to comment.
The 1992 allegation came shortly after Allen became involved with Mia Farrow’s adopted daughter, Soon-Yi Previn.
Allen was not the adoptive father of Previn, who was 19 at the time.
The pair married in 1997 and have two adopted daughters.
The letter comes not long after Allen was given a lifetime achievement award at the Golden Globes.
Mia Farrow and her son with Allen, Ronan Farrow, both took to Twitter to criticise Allen getting the honour in January.
When the director’s tribute began to start, the actress, who had been tweeting throughout the show, stopped and said on the microblogging site: “Time to grab some ice cream & switch over to #GIRLS.”
Ronan was more explicit, saying on Twitter: “Missed the Woody Allen tribute – did they put the part where a woman publicly confirmed he molested her at age 7 before or after Annie Hall?”
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Professor Marci A. Hamilton: “I disagree. This avalanche of facts occurred because MN took down SOL barriers and let the truth out. This needs to be done everywhere so we can catch up w the hidden pedophiles. What is more disheartening are the states like PA and NY that are keeping the lid on the truth by stalling on SOL reforms.”
“It’s tempting to run away as fast as we can, to hope that someone else will stop it, fix it, assure that no child is ever again harmed. But talking with sex-abuse experts who step into this world daily reminded me that we need to stay invested.”
Rosenblum: Number of sex-abuse allegations is disheartening
Article by: GAIL ROSENBLUM
Star Tribune
February 1, 2014 – 7:18 PM
More allegations of clergy sex abuse arose this week and I know I’m not the only person suffering from a queasy sense of hopelessness about it.
Will. It. Ever. End?
The Ramsey County attorney’s office and St. Paul police are reviewing documents suggesting that the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis failed to notify authorities of a child sex-abuse accusation against a St. Paul priest within 24 hours, as required by law.
Another potential coverup. More grief forced upon victims.
It’s tempting to run away as fast as we can, to hope that someone else will stop it, fix it, assure that no child is ever again harmed. But talking with sex-abuse experts who step into this world daily reminded me that we need to stay invested.
They believe that we return to this place of unease, again and again, because sex abuse is an incredibly complex issue, with no singular solution. And research on sex abuse remains relatively new.
To make real change requires digging deeper with our questions and keeping our minds open to answers that might surprise or upset us. It also means consistent, unambiguous accountability by those in power.
To begin, we all want to see a profile of “the” sex offender and what exactly drives “his” behavior. We aren’t going to get that.
“There are many differences in who sex offenders are and what motivates offending behavior,” said Donna Dunn, executive director of the Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault (MNCASA).
Some perpetrators are motivated by power and control. Others face mental health issues or sexual confusion. Some are pedophiles, although not all.
“When we think that the whole anti-sexual-assault world opened up just over 30 years ago,” Dunn said, “it is easy to understand how the research is just now starting to touch on issues we didn’t know much about before.”
For instance, while we commonly believe that most sexual offenders were once victims of sexual abuse, that is more myth than fact. Most victims are female; the lion’s share of perpetrators are male.
“A tiny minority of victims go on to become victimizers,” said David Clohessy, executive director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).
Most victims more commonly turn their pain inward and blame themselves, he said. Some exhibit self-destructive and numbing behavior, including drug and alcohol abuse, risky sexual activity, cutting and suicide.
“Many become misanthropes, living alone,” he said.
A sex offender, on the other hand, did not become one in isolation. This is a tough but important concept to get our arms around.
While the needs of victims must come first, Dunn and Clohessy agree that attention also has to be given to perpetrators and proven prevention strategies. Those strategies need to begin early and receive adequate funding.
“When someone has been harmed in this way, the community has an obligation to ensure a safe and healing environment,” Dunn said. “But our main prevention focus is really about preventing perpetration — changing the environmental factors that may play a role in supporting, teaching or ignoring offending behavior.
“So who sex offenders are, how they come to be sex offenders, instead of boys who grow into safe men, is very important to us.”
Yvonne Cournoyer, MNCASA’s sexual violence prevention coordinator, adds that we can learn a lot from those who have offended, as well as from those who work with them. “They know more about what leads to this behavior and how they gain access to victims,” Cournoyer said. “That’s information we can use in terms of prevention.”
This means we need to resist the easy “us-vs.-them” dichotomy. Clohessy began this work because he was victimized by a priest for four years as a boy. His younger brother was molested by the same priest. That brother grew up to become a sex-offending priest who was suspended in 2002.
“Everybody looks at the child sex offender as the other, as a real deviant who is in no shape or form like the rest of us,” said Clohessy, 58. “It’s not helpful to demonize them.” Neither is it helpful to excuse them, he said.
“We can forgive a school bus driver who gets drunk and causes kids to be hurt,” he said, “but we cannot give that person keys to another school bus. If we have a choice to err on the side of complacency or err on the side of prudence, let’s err on the side of prudence.”
It tears him up that not everyone is following this path.
“It’s very simple. Whether it’s a bishop or a CEO, we throw the book at those who ignore and conceal child sex crimes. Those who protect predator priests do no one a favor — not the victim, the family, the parishioners or the offenders themselves.
“They only kick the can down the road, leaving their successors to deal with the dozens of victims who come forward.”
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It’s a scourge as old as the ages, yet sexual violence against women and children is fresh in the headlines as President Obama launches an initiative to address sexual assaults on college campuses, while the military tries to fix its own problem and newly released documents shed galling light on the Catholic Church’s pattern of abuse and coverup in the Chicago diocese.
As the priests’ crimes remind us, religious institutions, at their worst, have often proved complicit and sometimes out-and-out guilty when it comes to sexual advances against vulnerable people. As real as that problem is, however, there’s a counterstory emerging that could redeem religion’s role in this ugly dynamic:
Faith organizations are beginning to address sexual abuse with a new energy and earnestness — a welcome step toward the fulfillment of their enormous potential to do good on this front.
Silent complicity
Given the morality and virtue idealists associate with faith, one would expect that congregants would be safe from abuse. If only that were so. Statistics show that people in religious communities are just as likely to experience sexual violence as those who are not — which is to say, very likely. Nearly one in five women in this country have been raped, according to a 2010 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than half by an intimate partner.
Despite churches’ well-known exhortations about sexual morality, critics can make a legitimate case that some traditions in church culture actually contribute to the problem. How? By promoting the idea of male superiority and by pastors shying away from addressing the disturbing topic from their pulpits or in their counseling roles.
“Silence is the most important form of complicity,” says David Leslie, executive director of Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon, which is one of a growing number of religious organizations working to end that silence.
Leslie’s Portland-based organization was part of a coalition of faith groups, including IMA World Health and the Spiritual Alliance to Stop Intimate Violence (SAIV), thatteamed up for Speak Out Sunday last fall — an effort to mobilize pastors to preach against sexual violence inside and outside churches. The Speak Out campaign and groups such as the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests are doing brave work to give voice to those victimized by clergy or other church authorities.
Religious response
Disturbing candor about sexual violence might not bring the uplift that church-goers are seeking. Yet raising a voice of consciousness against injustice is an act of hope and the first step toward churches becoming a first line of defense against the sexual victimization. “By raising their voices to proclaim that children and women deserve to live free from terror and violence, spiritual leaders are building momentum for this long overdue movement,” says Rhonda Case, Portland liaison for SAIV.
To those cynical about churches, the notion of their intervention in the sex abuse epidemic might seem like sending the fox back to the hen house. But as is often the case with religion gone wrong, the solution is not to throw out religion, but to summon religion at its best to help change things for the better.
The Faith Trust Institute — an organization helping lead the religious response to sex violence — frames the notion well in its guiding principles statement: “We believe that the teachings of our religious traditions have been a source of pain and confusion as well as a source of strength and healing for those facing sexual and domestic violence.”
Hard to argue with that. Those who study the issue also point out this unavoidable fact: Women in church communities who experience sexual violence often turn first to their churches for refuge. Why not provide support where support is naturally sought?
In confronting sexual violence, don’t count out the faith community. If anything, expect more, and better, of it.
Tom Krattenmaker, a Portland-based writer specializing in religion in public life, is a member of USA TODAY’s Board of Contributors. He is author of The Evangelicals You Don’t Know.
In addition to its own editorials, USA TODAY publishes diverse opinions from outside writers, including our Board of Contributors. To read more columns like this, go to theopinion front page or follow us on twitter @USATopinion or Facebook.
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REFORMING THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS TO HELP VICTIMS OF CHILD SEX ABUSE Beall Calls for Giving Victims More Time to Seek Prosecution or File a Lawsuit
SACRAMENTO – Legislation to stop child molesters from leveraging the statute of limitations to escape prosecution or civil damages was introduced today by Senator Jim Beall, D-San Jose.
“California must not allow sex abusers to turn the law on its head so they can continue to molest children,’’ Beall said. “Changing both the criminal and civil statutes of limitations will give victims more time to report crimes and allow the justice system to get child molesters off the streets.
“Medical research now acknowledges the trauma inflicted on victims of childhood sex abuse can result in memory loss and severely affect their ability to report the crime to authorities. But the law fails to recognize pedophiles are using that psychological harm to help them hide from justice. We can’t allow this injustice to continue.
“Under my proposal to extend the civil statute of limitations, an adult survivor of childhood sexual abuse will have additional time to recognize and understand their psychological trauma so they can seek restitution against their assailant.’’
Senate Bill 926 would reform the criminal statute of limitations by raising the age at which an adult survivor of childhood sex abuse can seek prosecution from 28 to 40 years. The bill would affect sex crimes against children including lewd and lascivious acts, continuous sexual abuse of a child, and other offenses. The bill has co-authors from both parties.
A second bill, SB 924, proposes to reform the two standards that now govern the statute of limitations for civil lawsuits by:
· Increasing the age deadline to file to 40 years old from 26. This existing deadline is currently used when the victim makes his or her causal connection to their trauma before they reach their 26th birthday.
· Increasing the time from the date of discovery of their trauma to child sex abuse to five years from the current standard of three years. Additionally, it stipulates the five-year period starts when a physician, psychologist, or clinical psychologist first informs the victim of the link between their adult psychological injures and the abuse.
Last year, Beall introduced SB 131, legislation that would have applied retroactively to a small number of adult survivors of abuse, allowing them to sue the organizations that harbored their abusers. The bill was passed by the Legislature but vetoed by the Governor.
Unlike SB 131, the bills introduced today apply both to public and private entities and will be applied prospectively on Jan. 1, if passed and signed into law.
SB 926 is jointly authored by Senators Beall and Richard Lara, D-Long Beach. Its co-authors are Senators Mary Block, D-San Diego, and Andy Vidak, R-Hanford; and Assemblymembers Steve Fox, D-Palmdale, and Isadore Hall III, D-Los Angeles.
SB 924 is jointly authored by Beall and Lara.
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Jesse Ryan Loskarn couldn’t, and because of that, one tragedy became another and another. And yes, the Senate staffer is a victim — and an abuser, too.
Ben Terris JAN 28
Ex-staffer for Sen. Alexander was arrested on child porn charges late last year and killed himself last week.
Loskarn, 35, spoke from the grave this week in a sad, searing letter he apparently wrote before hanging himself in his parents’ basement.
The chief of staff for Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) was arrested last month after a child pornography investigation led to his Capitol Hill home, where he tried to hide a computer hard drive that contained seriously horrid films of children being raped.
Loskarn had these films for a couple of years. After going to committee meetings, campaign fundraisers and Hill happy hours, he came home and watched, according tocourt charging documents, a video of a young girl being raped in the woods. And hundreds of others like that. While watching them, he wrote in his letter, he “felt a connection.”
He spent 30 years feeling alone. And then he found others like him.
“He found out that he wasn’t alone through the child porn,” said Curtis St. John, a sexual abuse survivor who tries to help others through a network called MaleSurvivor. “He found the same scenarios that he was put through.”
Loskarn didn’t find a sense of belonging through support groups or Politico Playbookmicrofame or in the bottom of happy-hour glasses. He found companionship in child porn.
“I found myself drawn to videos that matched my own childhood abuse,” he wrote. “It’s painful and humiliating to admit to myself, let alone the whole world, but I pictured myself as a child in the image or video. The more an image mirrored some element of my memories and took me back, the more I felt a connection.”
I know. Ugly. Really ugly. And that’s the problem.
Loskarn used that letter, which his mother posted online this week, to divulge that he had been sexually abused when he was ages 5 and 9, somewhere in the Maryland suburb of Carroll County.
We don’t know who abused him. It could have been anyone. Statistics say it was someone he knew and trusted — about three-quarters of abusers are a friend, teacher, coach or family member.
We don’t know if Loskarn’s parents knew about his abuse. Sounds like they didn’t because Loskarn said he hadn’t told anyone until he was on suicide watch at the D.C. jail after his Dec. 11 arrest, and one perceptive counselor drew it out of him.
Before that, he felt alone, even though he never was.
“If you know more than six men, then you know someone who has been abused,” said St. John, who kept silent until his abuser, middle-school teacher Albert Fentress, went on to abuse, kill and cannibalize a teenage boy in his home town of Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
Then, when St. John showed up to testify at a parole hearing, he ran into his best friend, who had been abused, too. They were both in their own private hells, keeping quiet, being stoic, sparing everyone from the ugliness.
Loskarn did that, too.
“As a child I didn’t understand what had happened at the time of the abuse,” he wrote. “I did know that I must not tell anyone, ever. In my mind I instigated and enjoyed the abuse — even as a five and nine year old — no matter the age difference. Discussing what had happened would have meant shame and blame.”
The cycle of abuse continued when Loskarn bought and watched child porn.
Certainly, most victims do not go on to become abusers. And all abusers weren’t once victims, said Scott Berkowitz, president and founder of RAINN, the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, based in Northwest Washington.
But the culture of silence is the most dangerous incubator of abuse.
Loskarn was not innocent and made it clear that he knew what he was doing was wrong. His history as a victim is an explanation but not an excuse.
He’s guilty, but so are we. Because we are a society so reluctant to confront sexual abuse, to go beyond oversimplified “good touch/bad touch” explanations, to call police, we are perpetuating the cycle, too. Being a victim of sexual abuse is so taboo in our society, Loskarn made it a badge of honor in his mind.
“I told myself that I was superior to other people because I had dealt with this thing on my own,” he wrote. “In retrospect, the qualities that helped me succeed on Capitol Hill were probably developed partly as a result of the abuse and how it shaped me.”
He did not, in the end, succeed in dealing with repercussions on his own. Instead, he became an abuser himself, trafficking in other children’s misery and then taking his own life amid the guilt and shame.
If only it had been okay for him — and for us — to talk about the ugliness. Maybe Loskarn would still be alive.
Twitter: @petulad
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Woody Allen’s allies cast doubt on abuse claims
/in Connecticut, New York /by SOL ReformNEW YORK (AP) — Some of Woody Allen‘s allies have come to his defense, casting doubt on renewed accusations by Dylan Farrow that she was sexually assaulted by her then-adoptive father when she was 7.
Allen‘s lawyer, studio and publicist weighed in on Farrow’s open letter, published online Saturday by The New York Times, in which she claimed that in 1992 at the family’s Connecticut home, Allen led her to a “dim, closet-like attic” and then sexually assaulted her. Farrow didn’t specify Allen’s actions but described other abusive behavior.
The movie director’s publicist, Leslee Dart, said in an email Sunday that Allen has read Farrow’s letter.
“Mr. Allen has read the article and found it untrue and disgraceful,” Dart said, signaling that Allen would fight the claims dating back to Allen’s tempestuous relationship with actress Mia Farrow in the early 1990s.
Elkan Abramowitz, Allen’s lawyer, said: “It is tragic that after 20 years a story engineered by a vengeful lover resurfaces after it was fully vetted and rejected by independent authorities. The one to blame for Dylan’s distress is neither Dylan nor Woody Allen.”
Allen was investigated on child molestation claims for the 1992 accusation but was never charged.
Dylan Farrow’s open letter didn’t urge renewed legal action but a retrial for Allen in the court of public opinion. Farrow, who now lives in Florida, is married, and goes by another name, argued for fans of Allen’s movies and actors who star in his films not to “turn a blind eye.”
But on Sunday, Sony Pictures Classics, which regularly distributes Allen’s films including his latest, “Blue Jasmine,” urged caution in any rush to judgment.
“This is a very complicated situation and a tragedy for everyone involved,” the company said in a statement. “Mr. Allen has never been charged in relationship to any of this, and therefore deserves our presumption of innocence.”
Ronan Farrow, the son of Allen and Mia Farrow (though she has said ex-husband Frank Sinatra could be the father), said Sunday on Twitter: “I love and support my sister and think her words speak for themselves.”
Alec Baldwin, who has starred in Allen films including “Blue Jasmine,” was among those Farrow singled out in her letter, asking, “What if it had been your child …?”
Baldwin responded on Twitter to those demanding a comment from him: “You are mistaken if you think there is a place for me, or any outsider, in this family’s issue.”
Dylan Farrow’s most detailed account of the 1992 encounter returned the spotlight to the original police investigation of Allen. The handling of the investigation was criticized after Litchfield County State Attorney Frank S. Maco said at a news conference that he believed there was “probable cause” to charge Allen but decided against prosecution partly to avoid a traumatic trial for the young girl.
A disciplinary panel found that Maco may have prejudiced the ongoing custody fight between Allen and Mia Farrow by making an accusation without formal charges.
Months before Maco’s news conference, a team of child abuse specialists from Yale-New Haven Hospital were brought in to examine the case and concluded that the child had not been molested.
Maco, who retired in 2003, told The Associated Press on Sunday that the statute of limitations on Dylan Farrow’s accusations ran out at least 15 years ago. He said he hopes Farrow was able to watch his news conference and read his statement about his decision not to prosecute Allen.
“I hope she has access to that statement, to know what I did and why I did it,” Maco said. “I hope she finds some peace and solace at this time.”
A spokesman for the Connecticut Division of Criminal Justice said Sunday that the prosecutor’s office won’t re-examine the case unless the office is asked.
The 1992 allegation came shortly after Allen became involved with Mia Farrow’s adopted daughter, Soon-Yi Previn. Allen, then in his mid-50s, was not the adoptive father of Previn, who was about 19 at the time. The two married in 1997 and have two adopted daughters.
http://movies.msn.com/movies/
Prosecutor has some more explaining to do
/in Connecticut /by SOL ReformWoody Allen Sex Abuse Accusations ‘Expired’
An former prosecutor says the statute of limitations on assault claims by Allen’s adopted daughter ran out at least 15 years ago.
http://news.sky.com/story/
A man who investigated child sex abuse claims against Woody Allen more than 20 years ago says time has run out for him to be prosecuted.
Former Litchfield County state attorney Frank Maco said the statute of limitations on accusations by Allen’s adopted daughter Dylan Farrow ran out at least 15 years ago.
The now retired prosecutor said he did not have enough evidence to prosecute Allen back in 1993.
It came after Dylan Farrow, in an open letter published in The New York Times on Saturday, claimed Allen sexually assaulted her when she was seven after he and actress Mia Farrow adopted her.
The message to columnist Nicholas Kristof detailed the alleged 1992 incident.
She said she was motivated to speak out because of Hollywood’s continued embrace of Allen, who has always maintained his innocence.
Australian actress Cate Blanchett arrives for the opening ceremony and screening of Robin Hood at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival
Cate Blanchett was mentioned in the open letter
She wrote: “That he got away with what he did to me haunted me as I grew up. I was stricken with guilt that I had allowed him to be near other little girls.”
In the letter, Farrow said Allen led her to a “dim, closet-like attic” at their Connecticut home before sexually assaulting her.
She added: “For as long as I could remember, my father had been doing things to me that I didn’t like.
“These things happened so often, so routinely, so skillfully hidden from a mother that would have protected me had she known, that I thought it was normal.”
She also mentioned Hollywood actors who have starred in Allen’s films.
“What if it had been your child, Cate Blanchett? Louis CK? Alec Baldwin?” she said in the letter.
“What if it had been you, Emma Stone? Or you, Scarlett Johansson? You knew me when I was a little girl, Diane Keaton. Have you forgotten me?”
In response to the letter, Blue Jasmine star Blanchett reportedly said: “It’s obviously been a long and painful situation for the family and I hope they find some resolution and peace.”
Ronan Farrow and Mia Farrow
Mia Farrow and her son with Allen, Ronan Farrow
Allen was investigated on child molestation claims over the alleged 1992 incident, but prosecutors chose not to charge him.
The New York Times said Allen declined to comment.
The 1992 allegation came shortly after Allen became involved with Mia Farrow’s adopted daughter, Soon-Yi Previn.
Allen was not the adoptive father of Previn, who was 19 at the time.
The pair married in 1997 and have two adopted daughters.
The letter comes not long after Allen was given a lifetime achievement award at the Golden Globes.
Mia Farrow and her son with Allen, Ronan Farrow, both took to Twitter to criticise Allen getting the honour in January.
When the director’s tribute began to start, the actress, who had been tweeting throughout the show, stopped and said on the microblogging site: “Time to grab some ice cream & switch over to #GIRLS.”
Ronan was more explicit, saying on Twitter: “Missed the Woody Allen tribute – did they put the part where a woman publicly confirmed he molested her at age 7 before or after Annie Hall?”
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Rosenblum: Number of sex-abuse allegations is disheartening
/in Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania /by SOL ReformProfessor Marci A. Hamilton: “I disagree. This avalanche of facts occurred because MN took down SOL barriers and let the truth out. This needs to be done everywhere so we can catch up w the hidden pedophiles. What is more disheartening are the states like PA and NY that are keeping the lid on the truth by stalling on SOL reforms.”
“It’s tempting to run away as fast as we can, to hope that someone else will stop it, fix it, assure that no child is ever again harmed. But talking with sex-abuse experts who step into this world daily reminded me that we need to stay invested.”
http://www.startribune.com/
Rosenblum: Number of sex-abuse allegations is disheartening
More allegations of clergy sex abuse arose this week and I know I’m not the only person suffering from a queasy sense of hopelessness about it.
Will. It. Ever. End?
The Ramsey County attorney’s office and St. Paul police are reviewing documents suggesting that the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis failed to notify authorities of a child sex-abuse accusation against a St. Paul priest within 24 hours, as required by law.
Another potential coverup. More grief forced upon victims.
It’s tempting to run away as fast as we can, to hope that someone else will stop it, fix it, assure that no child is ever again harmed. But talking with sex-abuse experts who step into this world daily reminded me that we need to stay invested.
They believe that we return to this place of unease, again and again, because sex abuse is an incredibly complex issue, with no singular solution. And research on sex abuse remains relatively new.
To make real change requires digging deeper with our questions and keeping our minds open to answers that might surprise or upset us. It also means consistent, unambiguous accountability by those in power.
To begin, we all want to see a profile of “the” sex offender and what exactly drives “his” behavior. We aren’t going to get that.
“There are many differences in who sex offenders are and what motivates offending behavior,” said Donna Dunn, executive director of the Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault (MNCASA).
Some perpetrators are motivated by power and control. Others face mental health issues or sexual confusion. Some are pedophiles, although not all.
“When we think that the whole anti-sexual-assault world opened up just over 30 years ago,” Dunn said, “it is easy to understand how the research is just now starting to touch on issues we didn’t know much about before.”
For instance, while we commonly believe that most sexual offenders were once victims of sexual abuse, that is more myth than fact. Most victims are female; the lion’s share of perpetrators are male.
“A tiny minority of victims go on to become victimizers,” said David Clohessy, executive director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP).
Most victims more commonly turn their pain inward and blame themselves, he said. Some exhibit self-destructive and numbing behavior, including drug and alcohol abuse, risky sexual activity, cutting and suicide.
“Many become misanthropes, living alone,” he said.
A sex offender, on the other hand, did not become one in isolation. This is a tough but important concept to get our arms around.
While the needs of victims must come first, Dunn and Clohessy agree that attention also has to be given to perpetrators and proven prevention strategies. Those strategies need to begin early and receive adequate funding.
“When someone has been harmed in this way, the community has an obligation to ensure a safe and healing environment,” Dunn said. “But our main prevention focus is really about preventing perpetration — changing the environmental factors that may play a role in supporting, teaching or ignoring offending behavior.
“So who sex offenders are, how they come to be sex offenders, instead of boys who grow into safe men, is very important to us.”
Yvonne Cournoyer, MNCASA’s sexual violence prevention coordinator, adds that we can learn a lot from those who have offended, as well as from those who work with them. “They know more about what leads to this behavior and how they gain access to victims,” Cournoyer said. “That’s information we can use in terms of prevention.”
This means we need to resist the easy “us-vs.-them” dichotomy. Clohessy began this work because he was victimized by a priest for four years as a boy. His younger brother was molested by the same priest. That brother grew up to become a sex-offending priest who was suspended in 2002.
“Everybody looks at the child sex offender as the other, as a real deviant who is in no shape or form like the rest of us,” said Clohessy, 58. “It’s not helpful to demonize them.” Neither is it helpful to excuse them, he said.
“We can forgive a school bus driver who gets drunk and causes kids to be hurt,” he said, “but we cannot give that person keys to another school bus. If we have a choice to err on the side of complacency or err on the side of prudence, let’s err on the side of prudence.”
It tears him up that not everyone is following this path.
“It’s very simple. Whether it’s a bishop or a CEO, we throw the book at those who ignore and conceal child sex crimes. Those who protect predator priests do no one a favor — not the victim, the family, the parishioners or the offenders themselves.
“They only kick the can down the road, leaving their successors to deal with the dozens of victims who come forward.”
gail.rosenblum@startribune.com
612-673-7350
Follow Gail on Twitter: @grosenblum
Please comment on this article! He misses most important issue–churches need to stop lobbying against victims. Till then, it is sadly just show
/in Uncategorized /by SOL ReformChurches confront sexual violence: Column
Several faith-based groups are giving voice to those victimized by clergy.
It’s a scourge as old as the ages, yet sexual violence against women and children is fresh in the headlines as President Obama launches an initiative to address sexual assaults on college campuses, while the military tries to fix its own problem and newly released documents shed galling light on the Catholic Church’s pattern of abuse and coverup in the Chicago diocese.
As the priests’ crimes remind us, religious institutions, at their worst, have often proved complicit and sometimes out-and-out guilty when it comes to sexual advances against vulnerable people. As real as that problem is, however, there’s a counterstory emerging that could redeem religion’s role in this ugly dynamic:
Faith organizations are beginning to address sexual abuse with a new energy and earnestness — a welcome step toward the fulfillment of their enormous potential to do good on this front.
Silent complicity
Given the morality and virtue idealists associate with faith, one would expect that congregants would be safe from abuse. If only that were so. Statistics show that people in religious communities are just as likely to experience sexual violence as those who are not — which is to say, very likely. Nearly one in five women in this country have been raped, according to a 2010 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than half by an intimate partner.
Despite churches’ well-known exhortations about sexual morality, critics can make a legitimate case that some traditions in church culture actually contribute to the problem. How? By promoting the idea of male superiority and by pastors shying away from addressing the disturbing topic from their pulpits or in their counseling roles.
“Silence is the most important form of complicity,” says David Leslie, executive director of Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon, which is one of a growing number of religious organizations working to end that silence.
Leslie’s Portland-based organization was part of a coalition of faith groups, including IMA World Health and the Spiritual Alliance to Stop Intimate Violence (SAIV), thatteamed up for Speak Out Sunday last fall — an effort to mobilize pastors to preach against sexual violence inside and outside churches. The Speak Out campaign and groups such as the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests are doing brave work to give voice to those victimized by clergy or other church authorities.
Religious response
Disturbing candor about sexual violence might not bring the uplift that church-goers are seeking. Yet raising a voice of consciousness against injustice is an act of hope and the first step toward churches becoming a first line of defense against the sexual victimization. “By raising their voices to proclaim that children and women deserve to live free from terror and violence, spiritual leaders are building momentum for this long overdue movement,” says Rhonda Case, Portland liaison for SAIV.
To those cynical about churches, the notion of their intervention in the sex abuse epidemic might seem like sending the fox back to the hen house. But as is often the case with religion gone wrong, the solution is not to throw out religion, but to summon religion at its best to help change things for the better.
The Faith Trust Institute — an organization helping lead the religious response to sex violence — frames the notion well in its guiding principles statement: “We believe that the teachings of our religious traditions have been a source of pain and confusion as well as a source of strength and healing for those facing sexual and domestic violence.”
Hard to argue with that. Those who study the issue also point out this unavoidable fact: Women in church communities who experience sexual violence often turn first to their churches for refuge. Why not provide support where support is naturally sought?
In confronting sexual violence, don’t count out the faith community. If anything, expect more, and better, of it.
Tom Krattenmaker, a Portland-based writer specializing in religion in public life, is a member of USA TODAY’s Board of Contributors. He is author of The Evangelicals You Don’t Know.
In addition to its own editorials, USA TODAY publishes diverse opinions from outside writers, including our Board of Contributors. To read more columns like this, go to theopinion front page or follow us on twitter @USATopinion or Facebook.
Beall Calls for Giving Victims More Time to Seek Prosecution or File a Lawsuit (CALIFORNIA)
/in California /by SOL ReformFor Immediate Release: Jan. 29, 2014
REFORMING THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS TO HELP VICTIMS OF CHILD SEX ABUSE
Beall Calls for Giving Victims More Time to Seek Prosecution or File a Lawsuit
SACRAMENTO – Legislation to stop child molesters from leveraging the statute of limitations to escape prosecution or civil damages was introduced today by Senator Jim Beall, D-San Jose.
“California must not allow sex abusers to turn the law on its head so they can continue to molest children,’’ Beall said. “Changing both the criminal and civil statutes of limitations will give victims more time to report crimes and allow the justice system to get child molesters off the streets.
“Medical research now acknowledges the trauma inflicted on victims of childhood sex abuse can result in memory loss and severely affect their ability to report the crime to authorities. But the law fails to recognize pedophiles are using that psychological harm to help them hide from justice. We can’t allow this injustice to continue.
“Under my proposal to extend the civil statute of limitations, an adult survivor of childhood sexual abuse will have additional time to recognize and understand their psychological trauma so they can seek restitution against their assailant.’’
Senate Bill 926 would reform the criminal statute of limitations by raising the age at which an adult survivor of childhood sex abuse can seek prosecution from 28 to 40 years. The bill would affect sex crimes against children including lewd and lascivious acts, continuous sexual abuse of a child, and other offenses. The bill has co-authors from both parties.
A second bill, SB 924, proposes to reform the two standards that now govern the statute of limitations for civil lawsuits by:
Last year, Beall introduced SB 131, legislation that would have applied retroactively to a small number of adult survivors of abuse, allowing them to sue the organizations that harbored their abusers. The bill was passed by the Legislature but vetoed by the Governor.
Unlike SB 131, the bills introduced today apply both to public and private entities and will be applied prospectively on Jan. 1, if passed and signed into law.
SB 926 is jointly authored by Senators Beall and Richard Lara, D-Long Beach. Its co-authors are Senators Mary Block, D-San Diego, and Andy Vidak, R-Hanford; and Assemblymembers Steve Fox, D-Palmdale, and Isadore Hall III, D-Los Angeles.
SB 924 is jointly authored by Beall and Lara.
These secrets are killers. Sunshine and justice are disinfectants
/in Missouri /by SOL ReformJesse Ryan Loskarn’s death shows danger of silence about abuse
Jesse Ryan Loskarn couldn’t, and because of that, one tragedy became another and another. And yes, the Senate staffer is a victim — and an abuser, too.
Ben Terris JAN 28
Ex-staffer for Sen. Alexander was arrested on child porn charges late last year and killed himself last week.
Loskarn had these films for a couple of years. After going to committee meetings, campaign fundraisers and Hill happy hours, he came home and watched, according tocourt charging documents, a video of a young girl being raped in the woods. And hundreds of others like that. While watching them, he wrote in his letter, he “felt a connection.”
He spent 30 years feeling alone. And then he found others like him.
“He found out that he wasn’t alone through the child porn,” said Curtis St. John, a sexual abuse survivor who tries to help others through a network called MaleSurvivor. “He found the same scenarios that he was put through.”
Loskarn didn’t find a sense of belonging through support groups or Politico Playbookmicrofame or in the bottom of happy-hour glasses. He found companionship in child porn.
“I found myself drawn to videos that matched my own childhood abuse,” he wrote. “It’s painful and humiliating to admit to myself, let alone the whole world, but I pictured myself as a child in the image or video. The more an image mirrored some element of my memories and took me back, the more I felt a connection.”
I know. Ugly. Really ugly. And that’s the problem.
Loskarn used that letter, which his mother posted online this week, to divulge that he had been sexually abused when he was ages 5 and 9, somewhere in the Maryland suburb of Carroll County.
We don’t know who abused him. It could have been anyone. Statistics say it was someone he knew and trusted — about three-quarters of abusers are a friend, teacher, coach or family member.
We don’t know if Loskarn’s parents knew about his abuse. Sounds like they didn’t because Loskarn said he hadn’t told anyone until he was on suicide watch at the D.C. jail after his Dec. 11 arrest, and one perceptive counselor drew it out of him.
Before that, he felt alone, even though he never was.
“If you know more than six men, then you know someone who has been abused,” said St. John, who kept silent until his abuser, middle-school teacher Albert Fentress, went on to abuse, kill and cannibalize a teenage boy in his home town of Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
Then, when St. John showed up to testify at a parole hearing, he ran into his best friend, who had been abused, too. They were both in their own private hells, keeping quiet, being stoic, sparing everyone from the ugliness.
Loskarn did that, too.
“As a child I didn’t understand what had happened at the time of the abuse,” he wrote. “I did know that I must not tell anyone, ever. In my mind I instigated and enjoyed the abuse — even as a five and nine year old — no matter the age difference. Discussing what had happened would have meant shame and blame.”
The cycle of abuse continued when Loskarn bought and watched child porn.
Certainly, most victims do not go on to become abusers. And all abusers weren’t once victims, said Scott Berkowitz, president and founder of RAINN, the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, based in Northwest Washington.
But the culture of silence is the most dangerous incubator of abuse.
Loskarn was not innocent and made it clear that he knew what he was doing was wrong. His history as a victim is an explanation but not an excuse.
He’s guilty, but so are we. Because we are a society so reluctant to confront sexual abuse, to go beyond oversimplified “good touch/bad touch” explanations, to call police, we are perpetuating the cycle, too. Being a victim of sexual abuse is so taboo in our society, Loskarn made it a badge of honor in his mind.
“I told myself that I was superior to other people because I had dealt with this thing on my own,” he wrote. “In retrospect, the qualities that helped me succeed on Capitol Hill were probably developed partly as a result of the abuse and how it shaped me.”
He did not, in the end, succeed in dealing with repercussions on his own. Instead, he became an abuser himself, trafficking in other children’s misery and then taking his own life amid the guilt and shame.
If only it had been okay for him — and for us — to talk about the ugliness. Maybe Loskarn would still be alive.
Twitter: @petulad