The accused

[Ed62]

The thread on Joe Paterno turned out to be quite a thread. I read every post, and I'd like to see what you have to say about people accused of child molestation.

When someone has his name in the paper as an accused child molester, his place in society is automatically damaged, often beyond repair, even if he is found innocent by a jury. So this begs the question: Should a person accused of such a crime have his name protected until he has been found guilty by a jury? Or is it in more important to have his name out there in an effort to protect our kids? We all want our kids to be safe, but none of us wants an innocent man to have his entire life changed by a wrongful charge against him. What do you say?

Ed

[leehljp]

One truth of human nature that I have long known is this: Most people will believe and usually continue to believe the first thing they learn of some one or some thing in the news, or in sermons, or speeches, or TV, or newspaper - even when provided with direct evidence to the contrary later on.

You pose a difficult question.

The reason for the law - as it is "supposed" to work - is to interview the child as fast as possible, by having a qualified DOPW (Department of Public Welfare) or QUALIFIED counselor question the child - to determine if there is a possibility of fact or fantasy on the part of the child. This stage is critical because it is usually "after the fact". I think names should be protected until there are two qualified counselors that are not co-workers who concur. I say that because as I listen to my daughter and even from the training that my wife and I have been through, it is EASY to draw out wrong conclusions and think you are asking the right ones. Watching for body language is also necessary.

You do bring up a point - If the adult IS innocent, they are destroyed for life unless they move far away and start a new life. What can make this even worse is the personality of the spouse they have: Supportive, or constantly suspicious. I don't mean those that are suspicious for a viable reason but those that have that nature! Even untrue accusations from the outside break up these type of families.

. . . not to mention recommendations needed to start a new career or job.

I mentioned a "Friend" in the other thread who was accused of sexual activity by a young teenager. I was in the States when it happened. Organizational officials tried to keep it quiet but it got out. It was difficult for my friend and we talked several times back and forth. He had as supportive wife and physical evidence of video proved the accusations 100% wrong. The young girl fooled lots of people but when confronted with her testimony and evidence of the fellow in another city with US family on the days described, she eventually confessed it was a fantasy.

It did little to erase the suspicion in some people's mind. There is more to it that I will not write, but I will say that there was more evidence not mentioned on my friends innocence that most people did not know about.

These things DO happen!

[JoeyGee]

I assume this is all hypothetical? I don't believe there is any practical way for any accused person to remain completely anynomous, expecially in a case like this.

In a perfect world, yes a person should be protected from a "public" accusation until given due process. I don' see that happening in a real world scenario. That being said, protection of alleged victims is paramount.

[herb fellows]

I don't know how it could be accomplished, but it certainly should be out of the public eye until the individual is convicted.
Unfortunately, 'innocent until proven guilty' is an ideal, not a reality.

I used to work for Coca Cola, and one of my drivers came back one day with a story that will remain with me for the rest of my life.
He had a ghetto delivery area with mostly poor people. This day, a young girl jumped into his truck, ripped her pants, and said 'if you don't give me $20, I'm going to scream rape'.
He promptly replied 'well, if I'm going to be accused of it, i might as well enjoy it'.
The girl ran out of the truck, never to be seen again.
I'm guessing she wouldn't have actually done it, but the threat was clear and present.

[LCHIEN]

its very difficult to balance the rights of the accused and the rights of the victim.

[cabinetman]

It would be difficult to keep the incident private. Police reports are public record. False reporting of incidents should be prosecuted to the fullest extent.

An "innocent victim" of false reporting happened to a guy that had a shop next to one of mine. One day several police cars showed up and arrested him. He was charged with rape. What really happened was that he was on his way to work, and stopped for a signal light. A girl on the side asked him for a ride and he refused. She took his license plate number and reported him.

Her report included the type of car and his description. Although he was innocent, he got arrested. It was eventually dropped, but the whole process of the trauma of being arrested, how his family and friends dealt with the case, and the costs of defending himself put an extreme burden on his life.

It was so easy for him to be charged. I don't know whether or not the girl was charged with filing a false report or not.

.

[dbhost]

It would be difficult to keep the incident private. Police reports are public record. False reporting of incidents should be prosecuted to the fullest extent.

An "innocent victim" of false reporting happened to a guy that had a shop next to one of mine. One day several police cars showed up and arrested him. He was charged with rape. What really happened was that he was on his way to work, and stopped for a signal light. A girl on the side asked him for a ride and he refused. She took his license plate number and reported him.

Her report included the type of car and his description. Although he was innocent, he got arrested. It was eventually dropped, but the whole process of the trauma of being arrested, how his family and friends dealt with the case, and the costs of defending himself put an extreme burden on his life.

It was so easy for him to be charged. I don't know whether or not the girl was charged with filing a false report or not.

.

Absolutely they should be charged for knowingly making false reports. I also feel they should be held financially responsible for the costs incurred by the defendant for any false claims.

[os1kne]

I once had a neighbor that was also a co-worker. His father-in-law worked with my uncle, and they were both upper-level managers for a very large company that had 5k+ employees in the local office. Each of the men had 300+ people under them.

One of the female employees in my friend's FIL group received a performance evaluation that she was unhappy with, so she retaliated by accusing the FIL of sexual-harassment. He was placed on administrative leave pending investigation and was exhonorated. Even though he was exhonorated, his opportunity to further advance his career at the company was over. The accusation caused some difficulty in his marriage and it caused hundreds of coworkers to treat him differently (awkward silence on the elevator, etc.)

Unfortunately, the same rules that are intended to prevent whistleblowers, etc. from being treated improperly can sometimes be used as a shield for those that make false accusations.