We'll Get You! 161 Registered Sex Offenders Live Near Somer

The day after Somer Thompson's body was identified, authorities said they had ruled out all 161 registered sex offenders who lived within a 5-mile radius of Somer's home. 

The list of registered sex offenders has given us the false impression that their children are safe. With experience and statistics, we have estimated that only one in ten child predators ever enters the legal system. On Dateline, a series To Catch a Predator aired for three years. With adults posing as children they lured online predators to come to see them when they were supposedly home alone.  Chris Hansen was astounded to find that only 5-10% were already in the legal system. 

Registered predators are only the tip of the iceberg. To create safe environments for children each of us must learn to recognize those who mean our children harm. You must know how to recognize behavior that means danger. Use Yello Dyno's Red Flags created by law enforcement experts to learn how to spot child predators. If you know someone who meets 2 or 3 of these red flags be sure to take a closer look.

Eight Red Flags for Identifying Child Predators In Your Child's Life Pass the Red Flags on to friends and family.

Identify Child Predators Before They Strike!

Related articles: Mother of slain girl sends message to unknown killer.
 Sex offenders not suspects in Florida girl's murder.

Children For Sale

This had been a topic few have wanted to address. It's too painful. But now our lost children are coming home. 

The FBI in conjunction with the Department of Justice Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children launched the Innocence Lost National Initiative. Their combined efforts were aimed at addressing the growing problem of domestic sex trafficking of children in the United States.

To date, these groups have worked successfully to rescue over 575 children. Investigations have successfully led to the conviction of more than 300 pimps, madams, and their associates who exploit children through prostitution. These convictions have resulted in lengthy sentences including multiple 25-year-to-life sentences and the seizure of real property, vehicles, and monetary assets. Read on..

Download innocence_lost.pdf

Brain Scan Shows Bullies Enjoy Others' Pain

When youths with aggressive conduct disorder watch an individual intentionally hurting another (like closing a piano lead), regions of the brain that process painful information are activated, as well as the amygdala and ventral striatum (part of the neural circuit involved in reward processing. (Jean Decety, University of Chicago/Handout/Reuters)

Download brain_scans_show_bullies_enjoy_others_pain.pdf

Violent video games linked to child aggression.

About 90 percent of U.S. kids ages 8 to 16 play video games, and they spend 13 hours a week doing so ( more if you're a boy). Now a new study suggest virtual violence in these games may make kids more aggressive in real life.

Kids in both the U.S. and Japan who reported playing lots of violent video games had more aggressive behavior months later than their peers who did not, according to the study, which appears in the November issue of the journal Pediatrics. The researchers specifically tried to get to the root of the chicken-or-egg problem -- do children become more aggressive after playing video games or are aggressive kids more attracted to violent videos? Read on...

Download violent_video_games_linked_to_child_aggression_cnn.com.pdf

Tuck in your shirt! Concealed weapons?

I saw a demonstration similar to this video clip from UTube. Take a moment to see how easy it is to conceal weapons and why a dress code in your school should reflect tucking in a shirt.

Tuck in your shirt!

Young children are better than adults at detecting sociopathic people.

   

 "The Power of Nice, How to Conquer the Business World with Kindness" by Linda  Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval has a section titled "Fine Tune Your Instincts"  has  a powerful reminder about our children and reinforcing their “trusting their feelings.”

 For some people, reading body cues is a professional necessity.  Poker players, for  example, will tell you that if a person looks down and to the left, they're lying. We might not all have the skills of a professional poker player, but deep down we all have solid instincts that enable us to detect when someone isn't being straight with us. 

"Harvard psychologist Martha Stout says that because young children don't have fully developed language skills, they're much more reliant on nonverbal cues, like body language and tone of voice.  It's for this reason that young children, as well as dogs, are much better than adults at detecting dishonest, and even sociopathic, people." 

There's more that's very interesting in this section (including how brain-damaged people read others. Martha Stout is the author of "The Sociopath Next Door" and "The Myth of Sanity: Divided Consciousness and the Promise of Awareness.

Student faces porn charge over text sent by classmate.

Sanger Middle School - A controversy has arisen out of Denton County, Texas, involving a 13-year-old boy, a cell phone and a text message. That message has landed the middle schooler in juvenile detention on child pornography charges.  

"I know some girl was taking pictures of herself and sending it to multiple guys. Obviously, they've still got their picture on their phone because they are now getting in trouble," said Bethany Mitchell, a classmate.

Ease of cell phones and the web to transmit images are stepping curious children into illegal activity. The laws are going to have to be taught to both parents and children so they know how this could damage their lives. 

Download new_student_faces_porn_charge_over_text_sent_by_classmate.com.pdf

"Horrors" Found In Tween, Teen Dating

(CBS) Tweens and teens in dating relationships are experiencing significant levels of various forms of abuse, many don't know the warning signs of an abusive relationship, and many parents don't know what's going on in those relationships, a new survey says.

Among the findings:

One-in-five 13-14 year olds in relationships (20 percent) say they know friends and peers who've been struck in anger (kicked, hit, slapped, or punched) by a boyfriend or girlfriend.

69 percent of all teens who had sex by age 14 said they have gone through one or more types of abuse in a relationship.

Only half of all tweens (51 percent) claim to know the warning signs of a bad/hurtful relationship.

Concerned by the trend toward abusive tween and teen dating, the National Association of Attorneys General passed a resolution urging states to establish educational programs on teen dating violence and abuse. 

Learn more...

Download new_tween_teen__dating.pdf

Movie, Dead Run, Plot Linked To Serial Killer

The similarities are haunting to Rael. Watch this video clip to learn more about a real life Dexter: Gorgia Killer Made a Murder Movie

When attorney-turned-movie producer Samuel Rael decided he wanted to make a film about a serial killer in 1995, it was former legal client Gary Michael Hilton who he says came up with the plot. Rael's adviser was the same Gary Hilton who confessed in January to killing 24-year-old Meredith Emerson in the North Georgia mountains and is the prime suspect in the killings of a Florida woman and a North Carolina couple.

It was Hilton, according to Rael, who found one of the film's prime shooting locations: a cabin in the mountains of North Georgia near the town of Cleveland. In the movie, the killer held women captive in the cabin. Emerson's body was discovered in the woods 13 years later, 30 miles southwest of that location. She had been held captive for three days before Hilton killed her.

Download producer__georgia_killer_made_murder_movie_cnn.com.pdf

Older Kids Need Your Love More Than Ever

The love we show our children in their early years has a powerful effect on their behavior, life choices and self-esteem. But parents sometimes forget that older children, including teens and those who have already left home, need just as much love.

A quick refresher course for helping all the kids in your life: Download kids_need_your_love_more_than_ever__bernie_siegelmd.pdf