Thursday, December 31, 2009

Convicted Sex Offender Strikes Again?

A man who has been previously convicted of rape and is listed as a child sex offender is accused of abducting Sarah H. Foxwell. Her body was found on Christmas day. Thomas J. Leggs Jr. knew the sixth grader and was the last person seen with her. One of the sad things is that this man had access to the young girl. He wasn't a stranger, some scary guy from down the street. He was the former boyfriend of the Sarah's aunt who had legal custody of her. Sarah was seen by "a minor" leaving her bedroom in the middle of the night with this man. Obviously Sarah trusted him. She knew him and had most likely been around him. This man should have never had a relationship with Sarah. This man was also considered "high risk". Given his background, why would you allow someone like that to be around your children? This is a sad case that might have been prevented if Leggs had never met the young girl.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091226/ap_on_re_us/us_maryland_girl_s_body_found

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Over 20,000 Rape Kits Not Tested

Yesterday, Debbie Smith, a rape victim was on Capitol Hill. More than six years after she was assaulted, her perpetrator was found because his DNA match. She is sharing her story in hopes to push lawmakers into getting untested rape kits off the shelves and into labs to be tested. Instead of collecting dust, they could be saving others from going through the same traumatic event. Smith's perpetrator was already in jail, but what about the ones roaming the streets? When speaking of prevention, what better way than to stop these people before they can claim another victim? A 2005 bill named after Smith was supposed to reduce the backlog of of the untested rape kits. Senators are hoping to strengthen the bill, which will lead to more arrests for rape.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/12/15/cbsnews_investigates/main5983726.shtml

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Sisters of Mercy Offer $193 Million To Abuse Victims

The Sisters of Mercy are an Irish order of Roman Catholic nuns. They have offered to pay over $193 million to the victims of abuse at the hands of their priests and nuns, charities and government. The abuse occurred at their schools and orphanages and consisted of rape, molestation, physical and mental abuse. Although the Sisters of Mercy stated that they "regret" what happened, they did not apologize. Admitting the abuse occurred is the first step and attempting to "compensate" the victims is important, but it doesn't change what happened. And what did happen went on for many, many years. Someone needs to take responsibility and the victims should not be expected to pay for services they may have sought to help themselves through their tragedy.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34260091/ns/world_news-europe/

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Anthony Sowell Facing 85 Charges

An Ohio man, Anthony Sowell, is facing 85 criminal charges. They include rape, murder, assault and corpse abuse. Authorities found the remains of eleven different women at his home. This story states that all of the victims were "homeless or living alone, and had drug or alcohol addictions". It doesn't really matter if the women were homeless or addicts, they were still victims of horrible crimes. Anthony Sowell has plead insanity. Even though you have to be a troubled individual to commit these crimes,here's hoping that there won't be any leniency if he is found to be insane.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34257000/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/