Laws governing age of consent are different in different states. One of the problems is that teens don't always know the law before 'attraction" takes over. How do we protect children from child predators and keep kids who fall into the system by mistake off the sex register lists?
Watch this thought provoking video clip:
The Jeffrey Johnston Stand Up for All Students Act requires schools in the state to adopt policies to discourage bullying in person and online or risk losing state funding. "We tried reason, we tired logic, we tried morality, we tried legality to take care of these students and it didn't work," Tirella told ABC News. "So you know what we're trying now? The pocketbook."
We're seeing the same situation with oil. We could have easily worked towards alternative energy when we hit the crisis at the pumps in the late 70's. We put it off until it really is hurting our pocket book. Will it be the same with victimization of children? Will most schools wait until they are "threatened" not only with violence in their schools but with loss of funds before they seriously address the core issues of personal safety with research-based curricula?
While 35 states encourage schools to spell out anti-bullying policies, Florida is only the second state to penalize schools that don't comply. Under the law, Florida schools will also have to follow up on reports of bullying by contacting the parents of all students involved, including the bullies.
Jeff Johnston grew up a well-liked, straight-A student, who seemed to have a bright future. But after enduring two years of taunts and Internet attacks, Jeff took his own life at 15. "He said, 'Mom, where can I go? Everybody knows. There's no place I can hide,'" she said. Johnston said Jeff reported the bullying to school officials and told them that Robert Roemmick was his primary tormenter.
Roemmick said he apologized to Debbie Johnston over the phone, but despite Jeff's suicide, he still justifies his behavior. "I said I was sorry for her loss, but even in his passing, I'm not sorry for why I said it," Roemmick said.
How are you handling the bullying issue with the children in your care?
Dexter follows Dexter Morgan, a forensic blood-spatter expert for the Miami Dade Police Department whose perfectly respectable persona hides a dark compulsion: HE IS A SERIAL KILLER MADE RESPECTABLE . He hunts down people who have escaped justice. (Questions: Who is he to decide who should be killed? Who will use his example to justify who they chose to kill in real life?)
Dexter, rated in the top four shows on television, is one of the most popular shows on SHOWTIME with a particular strong fan base among gamers. Marc Ecko of Entertainment Today announced it has entered into a production agreement with Showtime Networks to design a video game based on the Emmy and Golden Globe winning hit television series "Dexter".
When I learned of their intent to make a video game out of Dexter, I emailed Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, author of Stop Teaching Our Children To Kill, to see what he would have to say:
"The Dexter video game is truly sick. Not only have we turned a serial killer into a hero, but now the kids get to play Dexter in the video game. They are not just the passive viewer of Dexter's murders, they now actively inflict the crimes and are rewarded for it."
To learn more from Lt. Col. Grossman check out the Yello Dyno Memo:
Download dexter_to_video_games_so_hood_magazine.pdf
Children as young as six are taking up the controversial sport of "cage fighting", alarming medical experts and sports officials...The violent sport, also known as "ultimate fighting", combines martial arts, wrestling and boxing but with few rules and often looks like little more than a brawl.
Experts say the child version of the sport is growing along with the popularity of the adult equivalent,
now showing on cable television and even in a new film, Never Back Down described as The Karate Kid for the YouTube generation. The movie has taken in almost 17 million in two weeks at the box office.
Police are investigating a video posted on YouTube showing young children being goaded into a fight. All the time the adult cameraman, who is thought to be the father of one of them, laughs and urges them to "smack the s*** out of each other". It was uploaded to the internet last week but has since been removed after YouTube was inundated with complaints. West Sussex County Council's social services department are trying to find the cameraman so he can be prosecuted.
States laws vary. Oklahoma said youth fights are banned. Unauthorized fights are generally a misdemeanor offense. In most states, mixed martial arts is overseen by boxing commissions. In Missouri, the Office of Athletics regulates the amateurs. The regulation is done by sanctioning bodies that have to register with the athletics office.
Violent television, violent movies, violent video games and now let's take it right into the living room. For family time let's fight! Violence has become our "prime time" lesson.
Download boys_fight_on_youtube.pdf
Wilmer, Texas -- A registered sex offender, who was arrested after using the Internet to arrange sex with someone he thought was a 15-year-old girl, is running for mayor of his small town...James Brian Sliter, 42, said he is sorry and needs to prove he can be an asset to his suburban Dallas community.
Should we give him a chance?
OKLAHOMA: People with specialized firearms training, such as military personnel, would be allowed to carry concealed weapons on Oklahoma's college campuses, under a bill that passed the state's House Thursday. The measure is opposed by college administrators...
Rep. Jason Murphey said his bill was a "commonsense step" to expand Oklahoma's concealed weapons law to combat campus violence. "The concealed carry law is about 12 years old. It worked out very well," Murphey said, "There are more than 60,000 Oklahomans licensed to carry concealed weapons, and there has been no widespread gun violence in the state, which opponents had warned of."
What do you think we should do to protect our campuses? Is this a good solution?
Download oklahoma_may_allow_guns_on_campus.pdf
UTAH: Students and staff with permits have been allowed to carry guns on campus since last fall when the Utah State Supreme Court struck down the U's gun ban. The new debate is whether those with concealed permit have an exception that would let them openly carry on a college campus. Once again is the school overstepping it's boundaries and trying to draft their own legislation or do they have a case?
Download google_image_result_for_http_.pdf
"Forms of child pornography that are banned in other countries but not in Japan...are still widely available on the Internet and on the street...If Japan, known worldwide as an IT and software contents giant, is left uncontrolled, hundreds of thousands of children... will continue to be sexually exploited," UNICEF said in a statement.
Who's going to police the Internet or should we?
Fear has permeated the ivy covered walls of America's serene campuses, following a recent string of campus shootings and the seemingly random murders of two college students this week...
Noted by Fox News was that both girls were shot in the head. Since I have just completed the series of Yello Dyno Memos, The Recipe for Making Kids Into Killers, Part IV: Violent Behavior is the Solution To Problems: The Video Game Tells Me So, I can't help but wonder why the media chose to focus on this. Certainly it is very disturbing. Had this been a pattern learned by the young men in violent video games where more points are earned for head shots? How much have we, as a society, inadvertently participated in the development of the two men who killed these girls? As we mourn two senseless deaths, we are sure to reap more tragedy because of the patterning of action in a crisis learned through these violent games.
On our campuses today: There were about 42,000 burglaries, 3,700 forcible sex offenses, 7,000 aggravated assaults and 48 murders reported in 2003, the most recent year for which data are available, according to U.S. Department of Education statistics... From Campus Law Enforcement
At least 5 million unique visitors go to the criminal history section of the Texas state's database each month, most to the sex offender portion. This year, www.toptenreviews.com, a Web site that reviews online registries, listed the Texas state agency's sex offender registry as the fourth-best in the nation.
The Texas Department of Public Safety plans to update its online sex offender registry this spring to let people know where offenders work or go to school. When the registry is revised, sex offender records will also show complete registration histories, former addresses and conviction information in Texas and out of state. People will be able to sign up for e-mail notification when a sex offender moves into their ZIP code and when that offender's information is updated or changed.
But Ruth Epstein, a spokeswoman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Central Texas, said people's ability to find sex offenders in their workplaces or classrooms raises privacy concerns and could send offenders who are trying to get treatment into hiding. "What happens to a criminal who can't work because he is being harassed?" she asked. "He goes underground, and he commits more criminal activity."
What do you think of her concern?
Download revised_sex_offender_registry_coming_soon.pdf
Where's Daddy?
Even though only 16 percent of American families fit the "traditional" model of gender roles - with Dad as the breadwinner and Mom raising the kids - the father's role in parenting is largely missing from even modern parenting books. One study of 23 recently published parenting guides found that mothers were referenced three times as often as fathers. The researcher, who published the study in the journal, Psychology of Men and Masculinity, contend that even today, fathers' roles are portrayed as largely voluntary and negotiable.
- Willow Lawson, Psychology Today
Download Wheres_Daddy.pdf
March 10, 2008 in Commentary | Permalink | Comments (2)