[MLUG] false charges of sexual abuse (was "baby!")

[Mike Miller <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

On Tue, 2 Aug 2005, Jerry Gamblin wrote:

> ...it reminded me of a story I saw a week or so ago about parents that 
> were charged with sexual abuse for having a picture of the father 
> kissing his sons belly.
>
> http://www.nbc17.com/news/4773243/detail.html
>
> /Probably not all of the story, but I'd be careful what pictures I had 
> developed in North Carolina.


Let me guess "Hamaty" is an Arabic or Persian name, right?  In some 
nations, women will masturbate infant sons to sooth them.  This is not 
consindered a sexual act.  It is harmless.  Most sexual abuse is also 
fairly harmless, believe it or not.  There have been good studies of this, 
but the conclusion of harmlessness is unpopular.  (But think about it - 
how severely damaged should people be by some fondling of their genitals?)

I don't know of any studies of the harm caused by forcibly separating 
parents from their young children and imprisoning one of the parents for 
six months, but I would guess that it is pretty harmful.  It certainly 
costs them massively in terms of their income, court fees, attorney's 
fees, etc.

Conclusion:  We should be very cautious when approaching cases of sexual 
abuse in families.  The family should be broken up only when it is clear 
that such an intervention will cause more good than harm.

If people (average people as well as DAs and police) would be reasonable, 
we could easily do a much better job of protecting children from harm.

Mike

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