This is a little off topic, but speaking of child abuse, I was recently called to jury duty for a case of "first degree rape of a child under 12". This was not one of those edge cases where you've got a 12 year old with a boyfriend a few years older, just outside the legal age difference. No, this was a 40+ year old man having sex with a 6 year old girl. (My number was high enough in the jury pool that I didn't get anywhere near the jury box, but I found out later the defendant was easily convicted).
Here's what is interesting about this: in the last year, 3 other people from my area at work (about 10 people) have also been called to jury duty--and ALL of them were child sex cases. Two were also "first degree rape of a child under 12", and one just recalled that it was child molestation.
Two things astounded me about this.
1. That there were so many child rape and molestation cases. I had never though of this area as some kind of hotbed of child sex (Western Washington, across Puget Sound from Seattle), but it seems kind of high to have all 4 people called to jury duty in my office in the last year be called for this kind of case.
2. There was nothing in the news. The defendant in the case I was on had an unusual name. I googled for it, and the only things that show up about him are things like his entry in the county jail booking records:
and his upcoming court dates on the county court calendar. Not a single newspaper story of his arrest, or his conviction, or of his earlier trial that ended in a hung jury.
If a 40+ year old man raping a 6 year old girl is not newsworthy, that leaves me wondering what other horrible crimes go on around me that do not make the news.
Generally stories of this sort that make the news involve strangers, but such events are extremely rare compared to molestation by a friend or relative of the family. Those stories are much less sensational, and so don't tend to make the news.
Which in itself is strange when you consider the massive breach of trust and expected behaviour that would come with a child being abused by a parent/relative.
While all child molestation is vile, it's more vile for it to be committed by a supposed loved one (at least in my eyes)
There's also the issue of not identifying the minor involved (at least in Australian law).
So "Joe Bloggs was convicted of molesting his niece" would not be able to be reported, since it could identify the victim.
And "A man was convicted of molesting his niece" isn't really news - if it's all anonymous, then it probably needs to be a trend story. And thankfully the trend seems to be downwards, though I suspect there's still a tragic amount of unreported crimes of this nature.
TLDR: The market standard of waxed in phonograph movies , confuses the evolutionary trigger that protect adults having desires for females that are not sexually mature.
Virtually none of the crucial citations on that source seem very reputable; just lots of links to pop-psychology sources, and links to the authors' own books. Very sketchy.
Here's what is interesting about this: in the last year, 3 other people from my area at work (about 10 people) have also been called to jury duty--and ALL of them were child sex cases. Two were also "first degree rape of a child under 12", and one just recalled that it was child molestation.
Two things astounded me about this.
1. That there were so many child rape and molestation cases. I had never though of this area as some kind of hotbed of child sex (Western Washington, across Puget Sound from Seattle), but it seems kind of high to have all 4 people called to jury duty in my office in the last year be called for this kind of case.
2. There was nothing in the news. The defendant in the case I was on had an unusual name. I googled for it, and the only things that show up about him are things like his entry in the county jail booking records:
http://www.kitsapgov.com/sheriff/incustody/jailwebsecond.asp...
and his upcoming court dates on the county court calendar. Not a single newspaper story of his arrest, or his conviction, or of his earlier trial that ended in a hung jury.
If a 40+ year old man raping a 6 year old girl is not newsworthy, that leaves me wondering what other horrible crimes go on around me that do not make the news.