A 14-year-old girl was recently raped by six boys inside the Northwest campus of Dunbar High School in Washington, DC. The rape occurred during school hours. The six male students, all juveniles, have been arrested for this crime. They were charged with first degree sexual assault, reports the Washington Post. How could this horrific crime happen at Dunbar High School? Dunbar High School is located at the 1300 block of New Jersey Avenue in Washington, DC.

The adverse effects of a sex crimes conviction are many: incarceration, a criminal record and potential scorn from community and family. But the most enduring consequence may be the requirement that the offender’s residence is registered and publicized. In 21st Century America, this is a scarlet letter that can follow a person for life.

With ongoing economic problems depleting state budgets and funding for sex offender tracking, the federal government is providing assistance in jurisdictions that fail to meet compliance standards. This significant imposition of federal policing resources within local communities is authorized by landmark legislation passed by Congress in 2006. The law’s provision for incarceration of some offenders beyond their authorized sentences recently survived a U.S. Supreme Court challenge, and the reach of this legislation is very broad.

Carlisle Crown Court heard that David Sandham Hodgson, 62, whose offences included raping a girl aged just 11 or 12, had previously served a four-year jail term for abusing four other girls. The defendant gave his terrified victims cigarettes and money after making them perform sex acts. He initially denied all the allegations against him, but eventually pleaded guilty to three sets of offences. As well as the rape and indecent assault of the 11-year-old, he admitted two acts of gross indecency on a girl aged eight or nine; and one act of gross indecency on a girl who was aged 12.

LYNN – A Lynn man was arrested Wednesday afternoon and charged with repeatedly raping a 12-year-old child. Tony Belcher-White, 18, of 35 Hood St., Lynn, was ordered held without bail Friday at Lynn District Court. He was charged with two counts of rape of a child with force and one count of kidnapping. According to reports, the victim told police that Belcher-White has assaulted her approximately five times over the past two months. The first rape occurred in early September during a party. According to the victim, Belcher-White, who had been drinking heavily during the evening, locked her in a room where she had been using a computer and raped her on the floor.

While the current headlines reflect advanced thinking by the Roman Catholic Church on topics such as condoms and the ‘new princes’ elections, I read little on the Vatican’s response to the issue of sexually abusive clergy during Pope Benedict XVI’s historic meeting of worldwide bishops and cardinals last week. The Pontiff surely realizes that the Church cannot advance while dragging these crimes and the mayhem of conspiracies behind it. Nor can it redirect our attention by disavowing what it has done.

The opportunity for accountability, resolution and a promise for the protection of vulnerable children is now. If this chance for doggedness and truthfulness is lost, then so crumbles another pillar of civilization and hope. And if the Church is unwilling, then perhaps it is justice that it should pay with whatever is left of its integrity.

In the wake of several tragedies that have made bullying a high-profile issue, it’s becoming clear that harassment by one’s peers is something more than just a rite of passage. Bullied kids are more likely to be depressed, anxious, and suicidal. They struggle in school — when they decide to show up at all. They are more likely to carry weapons, get in fights, and use drugs. But when it comes to the actual harm bullying does, the picture grows murkier. The psychological torment that victims feel is real. But perhaps because many of us have experienced this sort of schoolyard cruelty and lived to tell the tale, peer harassment is still commonly written off as a “soft” form of abuse — one that leaves no obvious injuries and that most victims simply get over. It’s easy to imagine that, painful as bullying can be, all it hurts is our feelings.

BAY CITY, MI — A Bay City man charged with sexually assaulting a 2-year-old girl has decided not to take his chances with a jury, opting to accept a plea deal instead. Tuesday, James L. Wujek, 21, appeared before Bay County Circuit Judge Joseph K. Sheeran and pleaded guilty to first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a person younger than 13. In exchange, prosecutors agreed to dismiss a second count of the same charge and a single count of first-degree child abuse, court records show. The charge carries a sentence of seven to 15 years imprisonment. Court records indicate prosecutors are requesting Wujek receive the maximum term of incarceration.

An Eau Claire couple waited almost six hours before calling 911 after their 5-month-old daughter allegedly had been thrown against a wall and shaken violently by her father. Even though both parents knew the child had been injured Tuesday night in the 11 o’clock hour and could tell something was wrong with her, they didn’t call 911 until 4:50 a.m. Wednesday. The father, Tyreece J. Triplett, 19, 3143 Runway Ave., is in Eau Claire County Jail on felony charges of first-degree reckless homicide, child abuse and three misdemeanor charges. His bond was set at $500,000 cash during a Friday appearance in front of a county judge. The homicide charge alone has a maximum penalty of 60 years in prison and the child abuse charge carries up to 40 years of prison time, if Triplett is found guilty.

Previously children who were abused had to be taken to Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh where a state police trooper who was a trained forensic interviewer would interview them. Now Pennsylvania State Police Cpl. Ed Thomas and Trooper Joseph Drzal in Somerset have had the specialized training. “It shortens the time and the travel distance for the child victims,” Thomas said. Sgt. James Shaw said that at times the child’s parent is the person who committed the abuse. “The investigators try to make it less traumatic for the child,” Shaw said. Earlier this year the district attorney’s office adopted a standard child abuse investigation protocol as the result of a collaborative approach involving Somerset County Children and Youth Services, the Pennsylvania State Police, the Somerset County Police Chiefs Association and the district attorney’s office.

An Indonesian maid was charged in court on Thursday with 19 counts of ill-treating her employer’s infant daughter. 25 year-old Desi Kurnia allegedly committed the offences at a flat in the east between 30th November and 4th December last year. She is accused mainly of slapping and throwing the year-old child onto the mattress, causing her pain.

Grants Pass, OR — Abraham Fager, 31, is being held at the Josephine County Jail on $50,000 bail after allegedly assaulting his two young nephews with the rotating brushes of a vacuum cleaner. Police say Fager, who lives in the home with the boys’ family, was caring for the children Wednesday night while their parents were out of the home. At some point in the evening, Fager reportedly decided to vacuum the children, ages 2 and 18-months, and both children were left with friction burns to their back, shoulders and rear ends.

A 20-year-old Fort Wayne woman faces a charge of felony neglect of a dependent after allegedly leaving two children – one with significant health problems – alone in a locked house for several hours in June, while she was missing for nearly a week. According to a probable-cause affidavit and online court records, Erin Knight, of the 3000 block of McCormick Avenue, allegedly called her father around June 24 and told him she “has had enough,” that she was having suicidal and homicidal thoughts, and that she was leaving the children locked in a house. The affidavit states that one of the children, who was 8 months old at the time, was born prematurely and requires continuous care because of liver problems, congenital heart defects, chronic lung disease and brain scarring from oxygen deficiency at birth.

MORENCI, MI (WTOL) – Law Enforcement officers in Michigan are looking for three boys reported missing Friday. Five-year-old Tanner Lucas Skelton, seven-year-old Alexander William Skelton, and nine-year-old Andrew Ryan Skelton have been missing since late Thursday night or early Friday morning from 112 East Congress Street in Morenci, Michigan. The boys’ father says he turned the children over to a woman named Joann Taylor who may be driving a white or silver minivan. After turning the children over to this woman, the father tried to take his own life. He is now in the hospital under observation.

A Watauga man was arrested on accusations that he sexually abused a child, Washington County Sheriff Ed Graybeal said Monday in a news release. Wallace David Reed, 61, 1811 Shane Lane, was charged with four counts of rape of a child, aggravated sexual battery and incest.