By Lynn Selness
Spring Grove, MN
Recently I attended a court hearing in Fillmore County. I was honored to support a friend who had grown up in this Amish community. From her earliest memories as a child, she was often molested by her relatives. Then she was raped repeatedly by an Amish deacon whose farm she worked on as a maid. No one protected her. No one helped her. Why does this “Christian” community allow the children to suffer so much trauma?
When my friend grew up, she left the Amish. It took years for her to find her voice and the courage to go to the police. She felt compelled to protect other Amish children. The perpetrator confessed but was only lightly sentenced. Now he was asking to have his probation cut in half after serving only five years.
The scene in the court room was surreal to me, with the rows of Amish in their dark clothes on the one side, and myself and the other women who had come to support my friend on the other. My friend was too nervous to sit anywhere but in the back row, and as she read her statement her voice shook. Although a strong woman, she was still a terrified child inside. What an insight, to see how far-reaching the effects of trauma experienced at such a young age can be.
I am so grateful that the judge denied this man’s request. The judge called these “crimes against a child.” I know that if he is caught harming another child during his probation, he will serve prison time. This case sets a precedent for the Amish community.
We need to do all that we can to protect innocent children. Jesus says, “whoever harms one of these little ones…it would be better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and he were drowned in the depths of the sea.”
Beth Almeida says
Well, great. Leave a Comment… and then we will erase it even if it’s 100% correct according to SMART. But hey, waste your time trying to educate people if you want, but that’s not what we’re about here. (Moderating true and helpful information means you people SUCK.
Sarah Osgrove says
The problem with this article is in ONE sentence: “I know that if he is caught harming another child during his probation, he will serve prison time.” Thst is basically like saying that you know there is a murderer who lives in the apartment across the hall and WHEN he murders so & so, you KNOW that he will be arrested and punished. But here are some facts that will show that what you KNOW mat just be an assumption based on the fact that you are a decent person and think others are also relatively decent and a moral. 1)Studies show that a large percentage of individuals convicted of sexual offenses do not actually go to prison, with some estimates indicating less than a third are incarcerated. 2)Even when sentenced to prison, sex offenders often receive sentence reductions through mechanisms like good behavior credits or parole, leading to shorter actual time served. 3)Many sexual assault cases are resolved through plea bargains, which can result in reduced charges and shorter sentences. (These facts were available on Google by the search phrase: “how many sexual predators actually carry out their full sentences”.
What is especially galling is that the legal system KNOWS these facts as noted in the following example found on the OJP website, however the best they have troubled themselves to do is to put the sick freaks behind bars AFTER they destroy a child. Because it does destroy children. Indeed, as noted above, you could say that the child r@pist across the hall is a murderer for they change the way a child processes the world forever after one incident.
Grotpeter and Elliot (2002) found that only 2.5 percent of sexual assaults and 10 percent of serious sexual assaults resulted in an arrest and Snyder (2000) found that an arrest was made in only 29 percent of reported juvenile sexual assaults. In addition, a number of studies have found that sex offenders disclose in treatment or in surveys that they had committed a large number of sex crimes before they were first caught or arrested.
You are right that we need to protect children but I am of the opinion that we need to protect them from bot the government and the s3x fiends.
Sarah Osgrove says
The problem with this article is in ONE sentence: “I know that if he is caught harming another child during his probation, he will serve prison time.” Thst is basically like saying that you know there is a murderer who lives in the apartment across the hall and WHEN he murders so & so, you KNOW that he will be arrested and punished. But here are some facts that will show that what you KNOW mat just be an assumption based on the fact that you are a decent person and think others are also relatively decent and a moral. 1)Studies show that a large percentage of individuals convicted of sexual offenses do not actually go to prison, with some estimates indicating less than a third are incarcerated. 2)Even when sentenced to prison, sex offenders often receive sentence reductions through mechanisms like good behavior credits or parole, leading to shorter actual time served. 3)Many sexual assault cases are resolved through plea bargains, which can result in reduced charges and shorter sentences. (These facts were available on Google by the search phrase: “how many sexual predators actually carry out their full sentences”.
What is especially galling is that the legal system KNOWS these facts as noted in the following example found on the OJP website, however the best they have troubled themselves to do is to put the sick freaks behind bars AFTER they destroy a child. Because it does destroy children. Indeed, as noted above, you could say that the child r@pist across the hall is a murderer for they change the way a child processes the world forever after one incident.
Grotpeter and Elliot (2002) found that only 2.5 percent of sexual assaults and 10 percent of serious sexual assaults resulted in an arrest and Snyder (2000) found that an arrest was made in only 29 percent of reported juvenile sexual assaults. In addition, a number of studies have found that sex offenders disclose in treatment or in surveys that they had committed a large number of sex crimes before they were first caught or arrested.
You are right that we need to protect children but I am of the opinion that we need to protect them from bot the government and the s3x fiends.